By Nancy Mills

New York Daily News

(KRT)

HOLLYWOOD – Jennifer Love Hewitt became a star playing sexy teens on TV’s “Party of Five” and in the “I Know What You Did Last Summer” movies. She also posed shirtless on the cover of her 2002 album, “Barenaked,” and showed up at this year’s Grammys in a skimpy, chest-baring dress.

But the petite brunette – who stars in “Garfield: The Movie,” opening Friday – insists that she’s more than just her measurements.

“I don’t want people to think of me and automatically think of my figure,” says the curvy actress/singer.

“I’m not a person who feels very comfortable flaunting it.”

According to Hewitt, figuring out you don’t always have to flaunt it is a hard lesson to learn in Hollywood.

The reason? Peer pressure.

“Before, if my friends were half-naked, I had to be half-naked,” says Hewitt, 25. “I thought it was me doing that, but part of it was me not choosing the right friends.”

She’s developed “a good base of friends I wasn’t trying to compete with and impress,” says Hewitt. “I wear less makeup and dress more casual.”

“Garfield” is based on the wildly popular orange comic-book cat, and combines real actors with computer-generated effects.

Bill Murray gives voice to the lazy, lasagna-loving feline, and Hewitt plays his vet, Liz.

But even Hewitt’s animal doc ended up oozing sex appeal.

“I thought I’d be wearing jeans and a T-shirt,” she says. “But once we got into the comic-book world and I got my new haircut, Liz became a little hottie.”

Still, compared with other young actresses, Hewitt’s reputation is squeaky clean.

She just can’t help it.

“It takes too much energy to be a bad girl,” says Hewitt, who still lives with her mother, Pat.

“There’s definitely a part of me that would love to be not completely sensible, responsible, ethical, moral and driven.

“Just for one day I’d like to go out and do stupid, crazy things and not care whether it were safe or not. But I couldn’t. It’s just not me.”

Hewitt began performing when she was 10 and convinced her mother to leave her birthplace, Texas, for L.A. She was soon cast in Disney Channel’s “Kids Incorporated” and has worked steadily ever since.

“I used to think that I had to run out and be seen all the time, and I had to go to every single event,” she adds. “Any invitation that came along, I had to take it.

“I’m a little more relaxed now.”

But Hewitt – who’s had a string of high-profile boyfriends, including talk-show host Carson Daly and “Boy Meets World” star Will Friedle – has not been sitting at home.

“I’m doing what every “Sex and the City’ watcher does when they’re young and single, trying to find Mr. Right,” she says.

“I’ve met versions of him and hopefully very soon will have him.”

And she accepted a date to co-host the recent live finale of “American Idol.” “I’m such a huge fan,” she says. “I know what that dream feels like. I sympathize and root on their courage every week.”

Last month, Hewitt lost her own competition for a spot on the ABC fall schedule with “In the Game,” in which she played a single mom and sports reporter. Although the pilot wasn’t picked up for the fall, network executives are still considering it for a midseason slot.

Meanwhile, she has three films awaiting release: a British drama, “If Only,” now playing the festival circuit; “The Devil and Daniel Webster,” with Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin (she’s the Devil), and “The Truth About Love,” in which she plays a married woman.

She wants Hollywood to take her seriously.

“People still don’t see me grown up enough to do the parts I want to play – a romantic comedy like “My Best Friend’s Wedding’ or an action-hero role like Wonder Woman,” she says.

For now, Hewitt has resigned herself to being, as she puts it, “a perky little Gidget.”

“I used to think that was to my detriment, but now I think it’s a good thing. The sexy siren stuff eventually fades. And the cute girl next door sometimes has that other stuff underneath.”

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(c) 2004, New York Daily News.

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Jennifer Love Hewitt

AP-NY-06-09-04 1032EDT