Kevin Zegers: his days playing second fiddle to a dribbling dog are about to become a distant memory

"I just didn't want to make any more animal movies," says Kevin Zegers, star of the sex- and sexuality-oriented new film Transamerica, best known, at least until now, for playing wingman to a basketball-playing dog in Air Bud (1997), 'Tin not trying to whitewash my history, but I didn't want to rely on being a child star." Indeed, with Transamerica, which will be released under Bob and Harvey Weinstein's new banner following their exit from Miramax at the end of this month, the 21-year-old actor from Woodstock, Ontario, is poised to indulge in some edgy big-screen revisionism. Zegers plays Toby, a New York City hustler with a heroin problem who is rescued from prison by Bree, a pre-op male-to-female transsexual (Desperate Housewives' Felicity Huffman) who is actually Toby's father--a far cry from helping a golden retriever shoot hoops.

Until Transamerica hits theaters, Zegers plans to tread carefully. "There's a small window for an actor to build up heat, which I don't want to waste by just taking another project," he says. "I'm honestly excited about Transamerica. Everyone who's ever felt like a freak should see this movie."

Leslis Cafferty last wrote about Amanda Seyfried in the May issue.

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