Jason Behr blasts off in 'Roswell,' new movie

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Jason Behr was making the guest rounds on various teen-angst shows on the WB -- from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" to "Dawson's Creek" -- when it all changed.

Well, sort of.

He landed the lead in this season's teen alien-ation series "Roswell," a "My So Called Life"-meets-"X-Files" drama about fictional survivors of an alleged 1947 spacecraft crash.

"It does sound funny when you first try to explain it: three alien teen-agers going to high school," he says. "In the wrong hands it could have been a very bad Saturday morning special."

It wasn't. In fact, the show's success has landed the 26-year-old Behr among the WB's stable of young actors taking Hollywood by storm.

With a best acting nomination in this year's Santa Monica Film Festival for the yet-to-be-released independent "Rites of Passage," also starring Dean Stockwell, Behr reveals he can stand up alongside the best of young Hollywood. The film won best of show at the festival.

But unlike many of his colleagues, he's avoided the pitfalls of such exposure -- tabloids, paparazzi and public disputes. (Read: Jessica Biel's attempt to get out of her "7th Heaven" contract and the tabloid fare of the cast of "Charmed.")

                                     'Wiser than his years'

Maybe, it isn't Behr's turn yet. More likely, says "Roswell" executive producer Jonathan Frakes, "he's got a good head on his shoulders."

"There's something wiser than his years there when you talk to him," Frakes said. "This business is a real privelege and real honor, and it's not something to be taken lightly. He gets that."

Sitting in a cubicle-sized dressing room recently on the lot of Paramount, Behr is modest about his success despite the attention he has received of late from critics, including being named among TV Guide's "10 To Watch."

"For people to tell you nice things or compliment you is rewarding, but if you allow yourself to buy into the notion you are now a star then you stop being an actor," he said.

Born and reared in the Minneapolis suburb of Richfield, Behr credits his stability to his upbringing by a single mother raising five kids.

His mother encouraged his acting from the time he could memorize lines.

"It started out as a hobby, something fun to do," Behr said. "My mother was always there, but never threw me into anything. Her attitude was always, 'Whatever you want to do, Jason.'"

At 19, Behr decided to make a go of it, hopping on an airplane with $200 in his pocket and a promised spot on a friend's couch.

"Major culture shock," he said. "People have a very different way of thinking out here. Not to say that it's better or worse. It's just different."

Cut off from his tight-knit family and old friends, the first couple of years were tough.

"I wished for a long time I could do this from Minneapolis," he said.

But slowly, his youthful appearance, dark good looks and talent helped land him guest spots on a variety of shows, and a role in the 1998 if-you-blinked-you-missed-it ABC drama "Push."

During that time, his family began a "mass exodus" to California, seduced by the warm weather.

                Family makes the move to Golden State

"I can't tell you what it means to have them here -- the support," he said. "I'm in a very happy place in my life right now, and I want to share it with people who mean a lot to me."

These days he's more at home with friends and family than he is making public appearances, such as presenting at a recent music awards show with the Irish girl band Bewitched.

"Surreal," he says of the experience.

Actress Shiri Appleby, who plays Behr's love interest on the show, says the Midwestern charm "is not an act."

"That's really him. He's really a nice guy," she said. "He takes what he does seriously, but he doesn't take himself too seriously."

When "Roswell" was picked up for a full season, she and Behr were sent to New York to meet possible future advertisers.

"It was his first trip there and he lays on the floor of the limo, looking through the (roof) at all the buildings," Appleby said. "He wouldn't get up from the floor. He was so funny."

Behr is serious about his job.

His focus right now, he says, is the television show. While many actors are scrambling for projects to do on their hiatus, he's taking his time, considering several independent and studio movie offers.

"You don't have to take the first thing to be successful. There are a lot of people who want you to keep doing the same thing, like that saying, 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it,"' Behr said. "I want to be involved in telling a good story. ... If I fail because of that, I failed my way. If I succeed, it's going to be that much more rewarding."