Ethan Embry usually plays the skinny underdog. "I'm always the

Anthony Micheal Hall character instead of the John Cusack

character," says Embry, 19, who has appeared in White Squall,

Empire Records, Vegas Vacation, and That Thing You Do! But

this summer, Embry moves into the spotlight with not one but

two movies. In the drama Dancer, Texas Pop. 81, currently in

theaters, his most difficult scene entailed eating a plate of Spam.

"We had to do 10 takes - I threw up about 4 times," laughs

Embry, who was born Ethan Randall in Southern California.

In this month's comedy Can't Hardly Wait, Embry finally gets the

girl (Party Of Five's Jennifer Love Hewitt). "I have a girl of my own

[Heather, an aspiring actress] and I haven't kissed anybody else

in two years, so that was weird," says Embry. "Maybe I should

stick with the underdogs."