Talk about a busy boy: Ethan Embry started acting at 11 - and has done about a film a year since then. Surely you've sighed over him in Vegas Vacation, White Squall and That Thing You Do! among other flicks. This spring - following a blink-and-you'll-miss-him part as a mob boss' son in the dark drama Montana - Ethan blossoms in two coming-of-age stories.

In Dancer, Texas, Ethan plays a guy who vows to leave town after graduation. "It's about all the questions that come up when you try to leave," he says. "The movie is touching. It's drama and comedy, and you'll feel good at the end." Next up is The Party, also starring Brecken Myer (Clueless) and Jennifer Love Hewitt (I Know What You Did Last Summer). Ethan's got the role of a guy who's severly smitten withe the prom queen - and the role was so important to him, he cut his longish locks and went totally clean cut. The reason? "My character is a normal guy," Ethan explains.

That's a switch from the quirky shorts he's played in the past, but Ethan doesn't want to be typecast as the adorable flake. Bottom line for Ethan: The script's gotta move him or he won't take the part. "If I can't see myself fitting in there, or if I can't find something in the character I like, I know it isn't going to work," he says. "I'm into whatever comes my way, really, and never plan what I want to do, but I'll always take a part I feel is good."

Sounds downright dedicated - but Ethan has a life outside of his career. He's passionate about photography - taking pictures and even collecting antique shutterbug equipment. If acting makes him antsy, he might consider switching gears and going behind the camera and a director of photography. Right now, though, he's staying on-screen - which makes us way happy.