Nice Girls Finish First
by Marilyn Johnson

So what does it mean that a very nice girl playing a very thoughtful girl has become TV's teen idol? Consider it a good sign.

Today is Katie Holmes's last day as a teenager. "What should I do? Eat a bunch of cookie dough? Play ding dong ditch? Call random boys on the telephone? She laughs and pushes a pair of thick black geeky glasses against the bridge of her nose.Two years ago, she was a catholic school girl from Ohio, a straight A student who didn't date much, now she's the most popular teen on TV. She's kidding about ringing somebody's doorbell though. She has better things to do.

As Joey on the WB network's hit drama Dawson's Creek, Holmes now 20, has seismic influences on teen life. She plays a smart, sarcastic 15-yr. old who faces challenges ranging from a father in prison for dealing pot to a romance with her male best friend. Through it all, Joey has managed to hang on to her integrity--and virginity. The teens are thoughtful and articulate. It's there parents going around acting like children, netray each other and get caught making out in the living room. The show -- and Katie's character in particular-- has touched a nerve. On a break from taping the show in Wilmington North Carolina, Katie relaxes in a trailer littered with birthday presents ( among them a very fetching hat, and a bottle of vodka.) She has everything she wants and more money than she could ever spend.

But amazingly, she seems unspoiled. "We have so much freedom these days," she says of her generation. "We know there are ways besides money to fulfill our dreams." She started out small in Toledo, acting out scenes with her 20 Barbie dolls and there accessories. "the house, the hot dog stand, the workout center. Santa was good to me." But she knows life isn't about having the most toys, making movies when CREEK is on hiatus. She is trying to balance a career as challenging as Meryl Streep's with a stint in College like another role model Jodie Foster. "There's so much growing I want to do as a person" she says Playing the diva is not her style. When she is called to the set, she's too unassuming to stride arrogantly through a stream of extras-- college boys paid 6 dollars an hour--stricken mute in her presence.

Once in position Katie-- five foot seven or so, apple cheeked, the girl next door begins to gossip with a friend on the tech crew about scripts sent to her. "I read a great one, " she says gleefully, "I'd get to be a heroine addict and die of an overdose!" Katie's parents, Marty and Kathy, know she's just acting, but all the same, Mom is glad that she plays a "pretty nice character" on Dawson's Creek. a lawyer and a homemaker who have four older children, they-- and the whole clan--are loving but strict ( " I don't have four siblings I have 6 parents") Such is their relationship that Katie was unsure, on a recent trip home, whether her 12:30 am curfew was still in affect. The restrictions never extended to Katie's creativity. They let her attend a local modeling school and at 16 compete in the international Modeling and Talent Competition in New York City. ( she won best talent of the year ) A manager followed who landed her a role in the acclaimed motion picture the Ice Storm.

But education is more important to the Holmes' ( mom is in school studying nursing) and they made it clear that Katie could pursue acting as long as she finished highschool. When she got a call to audition for Dawson's Creek the same weekend as her opening night of Damn Yankees, the high school production in which she was the lead, Katie and her parents decided agreed that she could not let down her friends. The producers settled for a video tape-- shot two weeks earlier with a family video camera on a tripod in the basement sewing room-- until she was free. She and her mom acted out a conversation between Joey and her best friend, a boy named Dawson.

Among Katie lines: "Well YOU have genitalia and HOW often do you MASTURBATE?" I had to say this to my mother" she groans. She won the role In Wilmington, she misses Saturday morning coffee with her mom and sister, and spends a lot of time on the phone with her friends from home or reading. She likes the Oprah's recommended list. She's had one serious boyfriend but can't yet imagine marriage and children. Her best time just might have been during last summer's hiatus when she shot Killing Mrs. Tingle with Helen Mirren in LA and spent Friday nights hanging out with the crew, perfecting their karaoke act.The only time she gets nervous it seems is when she is trailed in public, mainly by 13 year old girls. "they giggle and I feel so stupid, I feel like my stomach will explode inside. I want to tell them Joey doesn't exist, I hope kids also look up to people who are real like their parents. They are the real people doing really good things in the world. I'm not doing anything." she says with enviable modesty and perspective, the adds, "I'm having a blast"