The Secret Past of Adrian Grenier

After picking through a few scraggly T-shirts and pajama tops, Grenier holds up a plain brown button-down shirt that looks almost preppy. "I like this one," he says.

"I tried giving that to you and you wouldn't take it," Paris says, scattering a few obscenities.

"Maybe it didn't fit right," Grenier answers. "I've got big shoulders and you're not as buff as I am. It might have been too long. I like short shirts. I don't like it when they hang down too far.

"I got you a T-shirt just last week," Paris reminds him. It was a birthday present. Grenier heads through the living room to find it. There is a plastic lawn chair for furniture and an ample collection of porn tapes on top of the TV. Wall art consists of cutouts of religious icons and a few of Grenier's pre-pubescent headshots that are aptly defaced.

Pre-Star Years

Grenier is lost in that hazy time between independent film obscurity and becoming a teen idol. He's had small parts in other movies ‑- the indie Hurricane Streets and Woody Allen's Celebrity ‑- but little money has come in so far, and he's had even less time to cash in on whatever fame has come to him since January, when Sebastian Cole was at Sundance. People sometimes recognize him, but mostly because he looks like Benicio Del Toro. The Hollywood machine wants him to be a Ryan Philippe type, but he doesn't quite know what he wants, except, he says, "I want to enjoy what I'm doing and feel that I'm contributing something that's serious.