Piper Perabo

Hometown: Toms River, New Jersey, a small town in a state Perabo proudly defends. "People are such haters!" she bemoans. "Bruce Springsteen just made it into the New Jersey Hall of Fame. His [acceptance] speech was so beautiful! You should totally read it."

Currently: Making her off-Broadway debut as more than a pretty face in MCC Theater's production of the third installment of Neil LaBute's trilogy of plays on beauty, Reasons to be Pretty.

Back to the Stage: "I hadn't done a play since I graduated college 10 years ago," Perabo, best known for performances in films like 2000's Coyote Ugly and 2006's The Prestige, says of her professional stage debut. "I had small parts in school plays," she recalls of her high school years, "but my best friend was the one who had all the leads." Perabo took time after college to train briefly at LaMama, studying with Ellen Stewart and various artists in residence. Now, a decade later, the articulate actress is delighted to be sharing the stage with Alison Pill, Pablo Schreiber and Thomas Sadoski. "I never choose film over theater," she insists. "I auditioned for plays before this one—I just didn't get cast!"

An Unexpected Discovery: Despite some early rejections, Perabo did encounter a stroke of professional luck: Before graduating from Ohio University, where she majored in theater, Perabo caught the eye of a New York casting director. "I was in the city to visit my [college boyfriend] and he was going on a casting call for an indie film. I went with him just to see what a professional audition was like." Sitting on the sidelines, Perabo was tapped to read next. When the young student explained she was just observing, casting director Denise Fitzgerald handed her a script. "I went in and read, and she was like, 'You're not going to get the part, but who represents you?' I said, 'Nobody.' She made a lot of phone calls and found me representation. It was amazing!" A year later, living in New York and armed with a manager, Perabo landed her first film, 1999's indie rap drama White Boyz, paving the way for her breakout role.

Jersey Girl: "It was definitely the big break," Perabo says of Coyote Ugly, a film almost synonymous with the actress's name. The movie, about a small-town Jersey girl who takes a job as a sexy, bar-dancing bartender while trying to make it big as a songwriter, became a commercial success and even spawned a sequel. The real-life daughter of an English professor and a physical therapist, Perabo explains that the similarities with her Coyote character are more than coincidence. "I walked into the audition and was like, 'I'm from New Jersey, I work in a bar, I play guitar—there's no reason you shouldn't give me this part. And it worked!" she says with a laugh. But the role of "Jersey" was hard to shake. "It still gets me in doors. But then I have to work harder to convince them I'm not that character."

Sitting Pretty: As an effortlessly lovely security guard married to a volatile factory worker played by Schreiber, Perabo personifies the theme of LaBute's play, the worth of physical beauty. The other couple, played by Pill and Sadoski, find their relationship wrecked over his offhand remark that she's not beautiful. But the actress herself isn't really interested in analyzing the importance of a pretty face. "Any kind of label limits you," Perabo says simply. "How you're cast, even—I mean, I'd rather it be that label than another, but there are labels that are better, if you're going to pick."

Reasons to be Nervous: "New York audiences are very discerning, so I was nervous!" Perabo confesses about her new gig. But succeeding in a demanding role alongside a trio of stage vets has been thrilling. "Those three actors are so good that to get to watch them rehearse and see how they put a role together—I learned a lot," she says of Tony nominees Pill and Schreiber and off-Broadway vet Sadoski. The audience completed the puzzle. "With film, there's always this final character that's missing," she muses. "[Here], as soon as we had an audience, it was like the final person had arrived. Whether they participate in the show or not is the most exciting part." And are they participating? "One night we were onstage when Tommy [Sadoski, who plays Schreiber's estranged best friend] was beating the final blows on Pablo. We heard a little woman in the audience go, 'GOOD!' I was like, 'Oh my god!'

Broadway Bound: The day after Reasons' July 5 closing at the Lucille Lortel Theater, Perabo will be off to Detroit to film a TV pilot called The Prince of Motor City with Andie MacDowell. Though enthusiastic about the pilot, she was equally vocal at the time of our interview about returning to the stage as soon as possible. "I'm just very involved in working on the play and being in the theater. I'd like to do another play, like, right away, if I can. I love it." An announcement made on June 18 means Perabo will get her wish: Reasons to be Pretty—and its entire cast—will be moving to Broadway beginning January 26, 2009. And that's pretty cool.