06.28.98

...If Cubitt and Roberts are known commodities, Scott Speedman represents the promise of the future. He plays one of four leads in the new series Felicity, which trade papers have pronounced one of two new hits of the fall season based on a sensational pilot. He plays the shy hunk, Ben, whose dazzling good looks disguise an unhappy childhood and a desire to run away from life's realities. Felicity (Keri Russell) spots him at high school commencement and on a whim decides to follow him across the continent from their hometown San Jose to New York University. ''He's not who he seems to be,'' Speedman says. Already executives at the WB network are tagging Speedman as the poster boy for fall and suggesting they'll be plastering his photo in teen magazines. Speedman may not know what hit him. ''My anonymity is very important to me,'' says the young star,
who was brought up in Willowdale, attended Earl Haig Secondary School and was a member of the Canadian National swim team in 1988 and 1992.  Felicity dramatizes the perils of first-year university, a thought that makes Speedman grin. ''I know all about that. I flunked out. I got my first role just as school began and studying no longer seemed so important.''  Speedman says he took a dare from his agent and videotaped an audition for the series. He was hired on the spot, something that's rarely done, and a few days later was on an L.A soundstage doing his first scene. ''It's been very hectic and I'm rather dazed by it all. ''
Speedman's first big role in a homegrown film, The Kitchen Party, will be out in weeks. He'd like to keep his Canadian options
open, he says, but, ''My future right now is going to be in Los Angeles.''