12.18.98

The crowd of teenage girls waiting outside a Vancouver TV
studio for Toronto actor Scott Speedman this week was a sign of how
his life has changed, post-Felicity.

Speedman was back in Vancouver to talk up Kitchen Party, a little
teen satire he filmed here two years ago that's just now hitting
theatres. Since then, he scored a lead role on the WB network's
Felicity as the guy who unwittingly lures a California girl (Keri
Russell) to follow him to university in New York.

Now the attention has started -- pictures in magazines, celebrity
parties and the girls waiting outside VTV for that Felicity guy.

``I guess they were waiting for me, that's what they said,'' says
Speedman afterwards, over a cigarette in his downtown hotel room.

He hopes his TV profile will help the movie, filmed in Vancouver in
1996 by Calgary director Gary Burns.

``Kitchen Party was my first lead,'' says the 23-year-old. ``Really
it was one of the first good things that I'd done, that I took part
in and enjoyed working on.''

He made some good friends while filming the movie, among them
Vancouver actors Laura Harris, herself starring in the big-ticket
horror film The Faculty out later this month, and Tygh Runyan, who
had a reunion with Speedman this week.

``I think there'll be more interest in it now because of what
Laura's doing and what I'm doing,'' Speedman says. ``That's why I'm
here -- Felicity doesn't need any help and Kitchen Party needs a
push.''

Speedman got into acting on a dare at age 18, taping an audition at
MuchMusic's speaker's corner in Toronto. His bit was spotted by a
casting director.

Felicity came along last February after he'd dropped out of a New
York theatre school and returned to Toronto.

He says his life hasn't changed much since moving to L.A., where he
lives in a Hollywood cottage and drives his rented Toyota out of the
city on his days off.

But then he mentions that he's just back from 40 hours in the
Bahamas for the huge opening party at the new Atlantis resort where
the featured entertainment was Michael Jackson. That's the party
where Leonardo DiCaprio insisted that organizers fly 15 of his
friends along.

``I wasn't too fazed, I just had a couple of beers,'' says Speedman
of the star-studded bash. ``I'm not what you'd call an A-list
celebrity. There's a transition I'm going through now, getting used
to living in the public eye a bit more. I haven't quite figured out
how to do it yet.''

He doesn't hesitate when asked which he had more fun doing,
Felicity or Kitchen Party. ``I'd have to say Kitchen Party. Being in
Vancouver for six weeks with a bunch of kids who've never been away
from home. I wasn't known, it was just fun and thrilling.''