Ellen Page: how many teenagers could hold their own while wearing a leather suit and hanging 70 feet above the ground with Halle Berry? Ellen Page can

Ellen Page was high off the ground, suspended on wires and about to be dropped 70 feet, performing a stunt for X-Men: The Last Stand. "I'm in a leather suit," says the 19-year-old actress from Halifax, Nova Scotia. It's the most surreal thing you could imagine. I'm in this recreation of Alcatraz in Vancouver, and I look over and there's Halle Berry suspended in midair with me, and she turns and gives me the most genuine smile of pure joy."

For most young actresses, landing in a big Hollywood blockbuster, featuring a cast of Who's Who in Acting (including Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Kelsey Grammer, and Ms. Berry, among others), would be the culmination of a dream. But for Page--whose first role came at the age of 10 and who has already made a name for herself with a series of gutsy, wise-well-beyond-her-years performances in independent fare--it's another film that captured her heart this year. In the spring release Hard Candy, a two-person set piece with Patrick Wilson (Angels in America, 2003), Page put in a bravura turn as a young teen lured to the home of a thirtysomething photographer. Candy is a disturbing game of cat and mouse that leaves in doubt exactly who is toying with whom. "A lot of people hate my character. It's a difficult movie. By the end there's no real good guy and no bad guy. That's what I loved about it."

After the high-wire act of X-Men, Page returned to indies with a 14-day shoot on Canadian director Bruce McDonald's The Tracey Fragments. "I don't want to be labeled as some anti-Hollywood actress," she says. "because I loved the experience of X-Men and learned a ton. But when you shoot these smaller films, you have to trust each other. Everyone is there because they are passionate about it. And when I get passionate, I'm totally gone."

Jarret McNeill wrote about Yaya DaCosta in the April issue. Above: Ellen Page wears a vest and top by J. LINDEBERG. Opposite: Shirt by ORIGINAL PENGUIN, Underwear by AMERICAN APPAREL. Cosmetics by PHYSICIANS FORMULA. Hair products by MATRIX, Fragrance: L'INSTANT DE GUERLAIN. Styling: CHRISTINA TURNER. Hair: PETER BUTLER/artistsbytimothypriano .com. Makeup: MATIN/artistsbytimothypriano .com. Special thanks: DRIVE IN STUDIOS, Fashion details page 111. Photos: NICOLAS WAGNER,

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