In "Anywhere But Here," the Natalie Portman character invites Allred to her house when her mother is gone. Portman's character plans to have sex with Allred's character, but he's nervous and scared. She tells him to remove his clothes, and he strips to his boxers. He says all he wants to do is kiss her. They kiss and embrace, and she cries because she has never experienced pure affection from a male, and the scene ends with the impression that Portman craves love and affection, not sex. (Originally, the scene was going to show them having sex, but it was changed for Allred.)

Allred was on his mission when the movie was released.

"I got hate mail from members of the church," he says. "That was my first taste of how careful I have to be and how quickly judgment is passed. I don't fault those people, but at the same time I'm going to have to play characters who are different than who I am.

"If the message is that certain things are wrong, I will consider playing the bad guy who does those things. There has to be a consequence to wrong actions — that it resulted in jail, or that it caused heartache. But there are certain things I won't do — sex scenes or nudity. The violence is fake. The drug and alcohol use is fake. But sex and nudity are not fake, and foul language and blasphemy are not fake. I would hope fans consider the greater message of the movie."

It's a credit to his acting skills that Allred can play the rougher characters, because in reality he is a humorous, happy man with a sweet disposition and boyish charm. He doesn't play the part of an actor off the screen. He favors jeans and T-shirts and drives a Jeep with 140,000 miles on it that he bought when he turned 18. About the only thing he splurged on was a trip to Hawaii for him and his family, not to mention a handful of guitars.

He carries a guitar with him when he boards airlines and finds a corner of the airport to play music to kill time. He writes his own songs, including one he sang to his wife at their reception. (He proposed to his wife, McKenzie, in typical Allred style, falling to the ground with a fake ankle sprain so he could get to one knee without her suspecting what was coming.)

Allred and Onorato believe he has a promising future in Hollywood; it just takes the right job, they say.

"There's a naturalness and honesty about (his acting) that you don't teach people," says Onorato, referring to Allred's lack of professional training. "There are certain people who learn by doing and excel by doing it."

For his part, Michael, Allred's father, believes his son has built a career without losing himself in the process. Michael Allred turned his back on an entertainment career because he didn't believe the lifestyle was conducive to raising a family. He let his son venture into Hollywood with some trepidation.

"The entertainment industry can be very ugly," he says. "We read about it all the time. But he's stayed grounded. His values are right, and we never saw a lot of ego in him. He's kind to other people, which is important to us, and he works hard. We've been playing at this game a long time, and he's handled it well."

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E-mail: drob@desnews.com