By MIKE McDANIEL
Houston Chronicle TV Editor
What would Joshua Jackson be doing if he weren't signing autographs at Hermann Park for the recent Houston Children's Festival?
"She can tell you," he said, motioning to his younger sister, Asleigh, accompanying bro while on spring break. "I'd be sleeping."
Ah, the high life.
But here was Jackson, submitting to countless autographs and photos and responding to countless questions.
"Nah, I don't mind it," he said in an early-afternoon conversation, and you'd believe him when he says it, which may be a tribute to his acting.
But lately Jackson has earned a rest. As 15-year-old Pacey Witter, he's helped set the television world on its ear, pulling off one of the most controversial plot lines in recent TV history and making Dawson's Creek one of only two new series this dismal season with any kind of buzz (the other is Fox's Ally McBeal).
"It's been unbelievable," said Jackson of the whirlwind year he's having.
It began last year, during a break in his schedule from a small guest part he had on another show. Dawson's Creek producers were having trouble casting the role of Pacey, having tried out many actors before Jackson.
But they liked what they saw in the sea-eyed Vancouver native, and, in Hollywood fashion, whisked him off to North Carolina, where filming of the series was about to begin.
"I got off the plane and barely had a chance to meet the rest of the cast before I had to start acting," he said.
The significance of what was happening to him -- being cast in a seminal, coming-of-age series written by one of Hollywood's hottest writers -- Kevin (Scream) Williamson -- didn't sink in, really, until January, a few weeks before the WB show premiered. (It airs here at 8 p.m. Tuesdays on Channel 39.) The cast was welcomed to Los Angeles with billboards and bus placards blaring, and a press frenzy belying their calm, Wilmington, N.C., shooting retreat.
"All of a sudden, it's like, `Wow, what is this all about?' " said Jackson.
Today, Jackson has grown a bit weary of defending his role in Dawson's Creek. The plot had Pacey romantically involved with one of his teachers, and many parents didn't like it.
But, as Jackson points out, the events that played out are not unlike highly publicized real-life events. Besides, he noted, there have been repercussions to his character (and the teacher, who resigned and left town) on the show.
Jackson has experienced media attention before. He's been acting since age 9. After commercials came movies, including a part in all three Mighty Ducks flicks, a title role in 1996's Ronnie & Julie and a bit part in Scream 2.
Next up, he has a supporting role in the Apt Pupil, playing pal to Brad Renfro, who discovers that an old man living in his neighborhood (Ian McKellen) is a Nazi war criminal. David Schwimmer (Friends) also stars. The film is scheduled to open in theaters in October.
