The Arizona Republic 6/11/2000
Final Chaser
Page 49
(Copyright 2000 Phoenix Newspapers, Inc.)

Roswell star Brendan Fehr may be the coolest thing to come out of
Winnipeg, Manitoba, since Neil Young. Like the enigmatic Young, the
22-year-old Fehr has created a bit of mystique around himself.

"A lot of times," he says, "just walking around, I've got squinty
eyes, and I've got this look on my face. I just don't go around
smiling. My natural look is more of ... it looks like something's
wrong or I'm angry about something or something's just got me angry.
That's my general look, even though it's not what I'm feeling on the
inside.

"So people might find me unapproachable in that sense. It's not that I
put on, that's just the way my face falls."

Fehr's close pal and fellow Canadian, Popular star Carly Pope, agrees
that, with Fehr, looks can be deceiving.

"He's such a chick magnet, and he doesn't take advantage of it at
all," she says, "which is beautiful. He doesn't take advantage of it
one bit, and that's what I love about him. He's such a good boy.

"He's got that allure that a lot of people love. He's got the
personality; he's not just a trophy, he's not one of those ones. He's
not that guy. He's got depth as well, which is really nice. He's very
handsome. He's very intriguing. He's got that kind of mysterious bad-
boy thing, but in a good-boy shell."

Part of the persona may come from the wild, upswept mop of hair that
Fehr wears to play Michael, the rebellious teen alien on the
Monday-night WB hit series, which was just picked up for a second
season.

"I'm the one with the hair, exactly," he says, "which is a good and a
bad thing. So, we change it up once in a while. I don't always wear it
up. I'll go to premieres with it down. I'm looking to grow it out for
the hiatus and have it Tom Cruise-long, see if I don't look like an
idiot.

"It's a little different. It makes me stick out, but I hope my acting
will do that as well eventually."

Asked if it's true, as Pope says, that he doesn't take romantic
advantage of his stardom, Fehr replies, "Ah, yeah, sure, some girls
are attracted to me, and some couldn't care less, and even some think
I'm probably ugly and obnoxious. But being on a television show helps.
Before, I could walk down a street and maybe get a couple looks, but
nothing significant, but now, being on a TV show, your stock
increases.

"You become three times better-looking and twice as approachable, and
all the rest of it. It's kind of funny. I'm sure Matt Damon and James
Van Der Beek and Brad Pitt and all the rest of them, they could have
walked down the street before they got a show, and people would have
stared, but they would not really have thought of anything. But now,
they make the girls faint and cry.

"It's funny, because even the ugliest person - and I don't think very
many people are ugly at all - but if you put them on TV, their sex
appeal increases by 100 percent. It's all a bit sketchy.

"For me, it hasn't come to the point yet where I have women coming up
to me and asking me out for dinner or a date or anything like that.
That's where it would be a little hard to tell (if they're sincere),
but I haven't got any such propositions."

That may all change soon. In a Roswell episode called "Sexual
Healing," Fehr's co-star, Jason Behr , who plays alien leader Max, had
a fair amount of bare-chested screen time with human love interest
Liz, played by Shiri Appleby. And while Michael had plenty of romantic
moments with love interest Maria ( Majandra Delfino ), the shirt
stayed on.

"It's because I've got a terrible body!" Fehr says. "That's why! And
I've got no qualms about it. That's just the way it goes. I'm beefin'
up. Next season, when we come back, I'll be all nice and ripped."

Over the second half of its season, Roswell began shifting away from
teen angst and romantic storylines to a greater emphasis on the
science-fiction aspects of the series.

The season finale, "Destiny," answered many questions about how the
young aliens - Max, Michael, Max's sister Isabel ( Katherine Heigl ),
and newcomer Tess (Emilie De Ravin) - came to Earth and offered hints
of a possible interstellar conflict for next season.

"The sci-fi aspect is so important," Fehr says. "That's the way the
show should definitely go. That's what makes it more exciting for the
actors. Hopefully, the writers enjoy the challenge of that, and I
think that's ultimately what the fans will like as well."

In other projects, Fehr could be seen briefly at the beginning of the
teen thriller Final Destination, from the team of writing/ directing
team of Glen Morgan and James Wong. Fehr was one of the students who
were blown to bits on a flight to Paris at the beginning of the film.

"We're not done with doing cameos necessarily," says Fehr of his small
role, "but we're done with something like that. We're probably done
with doing the three-liners.'

Fehr may need to do that, if only to keep people from messing him up
with sound-alike co-star Jason Behr .

"I've had people come up to me with Jason's picture," he says, "and
say, 'Jason, can you sign this?' "