The Smart money's on Amy

Amy Smart is right this second popping Hollywood's thermometer like no other new girl in town.

At just 24, this fresh-faced Southern Californian former model, who's already clocked up a dozen movies, is the talk of Tinseltown. After relatively small roles in mediocre successes such as Outside Providence, which co-starred Alec Baldwin, and The Last Time I Committed Suicide, with Keanu Reeves, Smart nailed one of the leading roles in off-the-wall pubescent comedy Road Trip.

Smart caught the acting bug at the impressionable age of 12, when her best friend began acting in films. 'She would go away for a couple of months to shoot children's films and I would visit her on the sets. Watching her career just sparked my curiosity,' she says. By the time she reached 16, Smart was so taken with showbiz that she enrolled in an improvisation class. 'I thought this is the study of human behaviour at its best. Psychology and the human mind totally fascinate me.' Laughing she adds, 'Initially, I thought I was too shy to be in front of the camera, but it didn't take long for me to realise I wasn't!'

Following the success of Road Trip, which topped the US box-office charts in the summer, Smart is currently on location all over the country, shooting the comedy Rat Race, which also stars two of Britain's finest talents, Rowan Atkinson and John Cleese. So, how does she feel about being dubbed the Next Big Thing? 'Oh, it's fine,' she smirks, 'just as long as you don't start believing it. If I started to believe my own hype, then I'd probably start acting like a jerk! But the freebies ain't bad...while shooting Road Trip I was sent workout gear and kick-boxing boots from Reebok, because I wear their trainers in the movie. Good advertising, you see.'

If Smart has promised herself anything, it's that she's going to enjoy the attention while it lasts. 'Because,' she reckons, 'it's just a headline for the month. Next month, you know somebody else's face is gonna be there!'