Jun 25/01 9:00a by Dicker Ron Hartford Courant

What else could a man want?

Well, lunch for starters. Diesel sits in a chair on a Universal Studios back lot with the Southern California sun beating down on him. He watches cast mates converge on a buffet under a tent while he conducts yet another interview. His cane corso puppy, Roman, sniffs around the grass for scraps. None will be forthcoming until Diesel gets a break.

It is a minor inconvenience, really. Diesel, 33, waited more than 20 years to get recognized. What's another 20 minutes without shish kebab?

Diesel wears day-old stubble on his head and face, and his deltoids and biceps sprout from a thermal undershirt with the sleeves cut off. It is not exactly "Meet the Press" attire, but Diesel isn't selling himself as a full-on "mensch." Once a bouncer in New York City, Diesel has parlayed his swarthy looks, deep voice and animal energy into a burgeoning career as the tough guy who wrestles with right and wrong.

"We can identify with anti-heroes almost better than we can heroes," he says. "When we see a hero on screen, we think, 'We can never be that good.'"

In "The Fast and the Furious," his character, Toretto, soups up cars by day and races them on the streets of Los Angeles by night. An undercover cop (Paul Walker) suspects Toretto is hijacking trucks to finance his need for amphetamines, so he infiltrates Toretto's circle.

"The car aspect of this movie was fresh to me," he says. "I was always the person who would spend the money that I could spend on a car to make a movie."

The son of a drama teacher and astrologer, Diesel has acted most of his life.

He began bodybuilding to get the attention he was not getting onstage. That led to a minicareer as a velvet-rope sentinel at New York hotspots including Tunnel.

"My experience bouncing has liberated me," he says. *"I don't have to be tough all the time. I don't have to live by that, like a rapper might have to, because I really did it, and I'm not a violent person by nature. I have all the strength in the world to protect my sensitivity."

Two recent films have given him more muscle in the industry. He played a stockbroker who recovers his conscience in "Boiler Room" and a psychopathic killer who tries to save fellow castaways in the modest sci-fi hit "Pitch Black." Two upcoming movies highlight his thug side. In "Knockaround Guys," he is one of four mob sons who converge on a small Montana town to retrieve a cache of money. In "Diablo," he portrays a newly anointed drug lord.

"Every character that I have, no matter how menacing he may appear to be, I try to layer it with colors," he says. "And usually somewhere in that character, you'll find a door to his innocence."