WINNING AN OSCAR at age 11 put Anna Paquin in a rare breed of child actors; rarer still is continuing to find work as an actor. But after she took 1993's Best Supporting Actress award for her first role, the precocious daughter of a deaf-mute in The Piano, Paquin never resumed the quiet life she enjoyed before tagging along with friends to an open audition for the Jane Campion movie. Paquin, 18 on July 24, plays a complicated superhero in this month's X-Men, based on the Marvel comic books. She talked with USA WEEKEND about growing up in front of the camera and beyond it.

In X-Men, you play Rogue, a genetic mutant who can transform herself into anyone she touches but who'd rather be a normal girl. Can you relate to her?
She's lonely and doesn't fit in, and she has all these special abilities that mean she can't change that. I don't think I'd be alone in saying that at some point during adolescence you do often feel like you don't fit in or you're different, or you feel lonely for various reasons. I can relate to that.

X-Men has a huge cult following. Are you worried about meeting fans' expectations of a rather dark comic book character?
You have to take it seriously while you're making it; otherwise, it won't work. I would wake up in the morning and be like, "I'm playing a superhero in a comic book." That's cool. It's just really funny: Little me is a superhero person.

Which one of Rogue's powers would you like to possess?
I'd like to be able to fly.

Instead, you're enrolling in college this fall at Columbia University in New York. Do you know who your roommate is?
I'm just going to get who ever they assign me. I'm excited.