HOLLYWOOD — Becki Newton plays a, well, witch for a living, and she couldn't be happier about it.

"It's all a dream," said Newton, who stars as Amanda on ABC's "Ugly Betty," one of the surprise hits of the season. "I'm just trying to enjoy it as much as possible because I know this is a once-in-a-lifetime thing."

Amanda is, well, pretty awful sometimes. From the moment poor Betty (America Ferrera) began working at the fashion magazine Mode, Amanda has been, well, pretty awful to her.

But Newton — who's as nice as her character is mean — had a handle on the character from the beginning. And makes us like a character who, on paper, would seem utterly unlikable.

"I thought a real (w)itch doesn't know she's a (w)itch. A real (w)itch would never admit to it. So I was convinced you can only get someone who gets that it's funny," Newton said on the set of "Ugly Betty." "In my mind, I'd like to think that I'm not anything like Amanda. But I've met many girls that come across that way, and I have a good time sort of playing with that and sort of making fun of it at the same time."

And over the course of the show's first season, Amanda has become less cartoon-like and much more layered.

"Little by little, I think that as people saw my character just fall apart at the seams, they thought, 'Aw, that (w)itch is kind of sad,"' Newton said. "We can laugh at her because we can see that she's a real mess. She's got no love in her life. Her parents probably don't like her. She clearly binge-eats every chance that she gets. I mean, clearly, this girl is just falling apart.

"You can't hate her. You have to feel sorry for her."

And there have been moments when the mean girl has been nice.

"Just when you think, 'That girl really does have a heart,' she looks at Betty and says, 'This never happened, OK?' And just stomps off," Newton said. "Just when you see her becoming nice, she'll say something horribly racist and offensive. I think that that balance is going to continue because I think that's what keeps it fun."

And she's having a lot of fun playing Amanda.

"It's amazing. And every week so much different," Newton said. "I think the writers are doing such a great job of always changing the characters in unexpected ways. When I get the scripts, I'm surprised most of the time with the direction."

STARSTRUCK: These days, fans are coming up to Newton and gushing about how much they love her and "Ugly Betty." It's a new experience for the actress, who isn't so far removed from being a starstruck fan herself.

Well, she's not really removed from that at all.

Newton and the rest of the "Ugly Betty" cast were at the Golden Globes in January when she had an unexpected star encounter.

"I actually was in line for the ladies room, and I looked behind me and I was like, 'That's Renee Zellwegger!"' Newton said.

"She said to me, 'Nice dress.' And I was, like, 'I will remember this moment forever!"'

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E-mail: pierce@desnews.com