Having taken the red-eye from Los Angeles, the willowy Weisz (she's 5 foot 7 and slender as a siren) is gracefully enduring a jam-packed schedule to promote About a Boy. It's an unnaturally warm April day in New York City, and she's feeling a bit chilled in her air-conditioned hotel room, where she has retreated for a brief respite and a healthy lunch (steamed fish and vegetables, and a green salad).

"My theory is, working actors have got no right to grumble," she says squarely, popping a water chestnut into her mouth and delighting at its crunchy reward. Indeed, Weisz graciously accepts all the perks of her own celebrity as the lucky gifts of a charmed lifestyle, one that she has finally begun to accept.

"I used to think, Oh, I better get a proper job, because it never really seemed like a job to me," she confesses, dismissing the stress of her career as typical, and the luxury of first-class travel, makeup artists and hair stylists at your disposal as marvelous. "It's astonishing to me that you get paid. It's an incredible life; it's an incredible thing to do for a living. It's like when you put on plays when you're a child; it's make-believe, it's pretty extraordinary."