Fresh Face - Matthew Morrison of Hairspray

Age: 23

Currently: Wooing everyone in sight at the Neil Simon Theatre as teen heartthrob Link Larkin in the Broadway hit Hairspray.

Hometown: Huntington Beach, California. "It's kind of by Long Beach. It's about 20 miles south of Los Angeles."

Tiger Beat: Hairspray is hardly Morrison's first brush with the life of a teen idol. He's lent his talents to three mock boy bands, most notably Fresh Step yes, like the cat litter, a recurring segment on the Late Show with David Letterman that proved so popular that they found themselves on MTV's Total Request Live. Morrison also performed with a real boy band, LMNT pronounced "Element", an experience that he doesn't recall fondly. "I call it Lament. It wasn't where I wanted to be," Morrison says. "As a performer, you know you're not meant to be there when you're embarrassed to be onstage."

People Will Say We're In Love: When the original actor set to play Link, James Carpinello, dropped out during rehearsals, Hairspray dynamo Marissa Jaret Winokur wouldn't hear of anyone but Morrison taking the role. "She has really been my champion through this whole process," Morrison beams. "There was a question after James left whether they would audition people. Marissa was like, 'He needs to be my Link.' I owe a lot of this to her." Winokur, who plays plucky dance show integrationist Tracy Turnblad, has also made no secret of her love for her co-star. Morrison returns the compliment saying, "In the jail scene when we're frozen and Penny and Seaweed are doing their scene, we always do this kiss where I lick her nose, she licks my nose and we rub our noses together. She's so adorable. She's my girl."

Goonies 'R' Good Enough: With credits that include Footloose, The Rocky Horror Show, a workshop of a musical version of Dirty Dancing and now Hairspray, Morrison seems to have made a career out of musical film adaptations. "Well, I'm not working on it, but I've had the idea for a long time, and I want to start really putting it to work: The Goonies. Wouldn't it be awesome onstage? I could play the older brother."

A Star Is Born: With over $10 million in advance sales, Hairspray is shaping up to be a hit of gigantic proportions. Is Morrison ready for the attention headed his way? "I'm kind of scared of fame in a way, because you lose your life to it. I would be fine just playing good parts. I just want to make a living doing this, and I'm happy that I've been able to so far." But whether he's ready or not, it seems like Hollywood's coming knocking on his dressing room door. "It's weird doing this show, because all these famous people are coming back wanting to meet me. I was like, 'Whoa! Easy, Nicole Kidman! Back off!'"