Getting used to the glare of the Hollywood spotlight
By Sheela Raman| August 14, 2005

Garrett Hedlund is pacing around a hotel room, wiping off makeup that had just been applied to prep him for media photos.

Certain aspects of Hollywood stardom still seem strange to the 20-year-old, who grew up on a Minnesota farm.

''Not really my thing," he says, grimacing as he scrubs his cheek.

Only after making sure every bit of cosmetics has disappeared does Hedlund sit down in an armchair with his legs sprawled straight out, waiting for questions with his face set in stone.

Hedlund has just completed his most significant film role yet, as Jack Mercer in John Singleton's ''Four Brothers," alongside Mark Wahlberg, Andre Benjamin, and Tyrese Gibson. Before that, he appeared as a football player with an abusive father in ''Friday Night Lights" and as Achilles's younger cousin in Wolfgang Petersen's ''Troy."

Hedlund was cast in ''Troy," his Hollywood debut, as an 18-year-old who had just packed up his belongings and driven to LA, hoping to crash with friends and pursue acting dreams.

Interviews are still foreign terrain to the laconic actor, who says his first ''roles" were opposite imaginary friends while walking through the woods on his family's farm.

''I'm not necessarily an open book," he says. ''It's about controlling your extension [to the media]. I don't really know how to do that yet."

Such inexperience sets him apart from his ''Four Brothers" costars, who are all seasoned performers, each of whom has also had success in the music business. There was no time for rehearsal, and instantly acting like their real younger brother was just another of many adaptations he's had to make in his life, such as moving from Minnesota to Phoenix when he was beginning high school and then adjusting to life in LA.

Mentors have also made his experience as a fledgling actor easier, Hedlund says. While filming ''Troy," he says, he found a kindred spirit in fellow Midwestern sex symbol Brad Pitt. During ''Four Brothers," Wahlberg adopted the role of his big brother both on and off the set.

''I love Mark. I can keep up with him, but I don't mean that in a competitive sense," Hedlund says. He says he thinks he and Wahlberg share a similar adventurousness.

''I'm kind of like a turtle," Hed-lund says, because he is largely self-contained, owning few possessions and preferring to fly with only a carry-on bag. He thinks of himself as a free spirit, and still lives in the one-bedroom apartment he bought with his payment for ''Troy."

With his piercing blue eyes and lean physique, Hedlund could be pigeonholed by some as another young actor who gets prominent roles because of his looks.

He refuses to discuss the matter. ''I'd prefer not to address that through speaking about it, but through my acting. It's not about proving anything to those people."

His next role is opposite John Malkovich and Jeremy Irons in the fantasy adventure ''Eragon," based on a Christopher Paolini novel. He'll soon journey to Budapest for the filming. World travel fits perfectly with Hedlund's personality, he says, and beats attending a Santa Monica community college to study journalism, which is what he had planned to do if his acting career didn't take off.

''I'm very fortunate," he says. ''I never even had a passport before 'Troy.' "