He launched his film career as a feisty preteen in the John Hughes flick Dutch, under the name Ethan Randall. But he's grown into an edgily handsome teen with raging cheekbones and a new moniker (actually, his grandfather's). And it's a John Hughes-alike romancer that, Hollywood buzz has it, will put him over the top.

For one thing, his costar is Party of Five's popular Jennifer Love Hewitt. For another, it's sure-fire box office with its young cast and theme of "teens at the center of the universe." Hewitt calls the Betty Thomas-produced The Party, due out this summer, a combination of Sixteen Candles, Say Anything and Animal House.

It also will establish Embry--vet of smaller roles in That Thing You Do, Empire Records and White Squall--as the boy next door: "It's the first time in a while I've played somebody who isn't off the wall."

Not that he wants to be typecast in '90s Gen-X ensemble flicks. Coming this spring is Dancer, Texas, Pop. 81, about a kid whose drunk father hits a cow while driving through this tiny town and decides to pull over until he sobers up.

Except it's now some 10 years later: "He never sobered up, so we never left," jokes Embry. Then there's the mobster comedy Montana, with Kyra Sedgwick, which just world-premiered at Sundance.

And he's currently at work on the thriller Disturbing Behavior (starring our two Sizzlers James Marsden and Katie Holmes), while producing his own film, Taken, about three friends and a kidnapping. In his spare time, he plays speed metal with brother Aaron in their band, Southern Comfort Colonic.

But mostly, Embry is pleased to have made it out of the ranks of Child Actor: "I'm lucky I was able to cross over. I understand more of what's going on around me--I'm becoming more aware of my work."

So, indeed, will we be.

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