Toby Hemingway: steal scenes—also steals hearts

When your feature-film debut includes the line "Harry Potter can kiss my ass," it should come as no surprise that your fans on the Internet take notice. Though 24-year-old Toby Hemingway self-effacingly refers to the occasion for that remark--last year's macabre supernatural thriller The Covenant--as "a very teen, cheese movie," it nevertheless caused many people to pay attention to his sharp cheekbones and dark charisma.

This month Hemingway can be seen in the very unteen, uncheesy Feast of Love, from Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) director Robert Benton. As part of an impressive cast that includes Morgan Freeman and Greg Kinnear, Hemingway appears as a recovering heroin addict who falls hard for a girl, played by Alexa Davalos, the moment she walks into the coffee shop where he works. For the role, Hemingway needed barista lessons and, among other things, a crash course in American football. Only half-joking, he wonders, "Isn't it funny that that's work?"

Born in England, Hemingway began acting when a sympathetic teacher gave him two options for how to spend his time after school-detention or drama. Moving back and forth between the U.K. and the United States throughout his teens, he eventually settled into drama school in New York City before migrating to Los Angeles three years ago.

Next he will be reuniting with his Covenant co-star Laura Ramsey in the gritty drama Street. Hoping that he's now in a position to pick roles with an eye toward the long haul of a career, Hemingway notes that "certain scripts you get early in your career just aren't appealing later on."

Mark Olsen is a Los Angeles-based writer.

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COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning