Paris gets serious!

Name: Paris Whitney Hilton
Age: 27
Significant other: Paris is single at the moment
Career high: Landing her own reality TV show The Simple Life in 2003
Career low: Her performance in House Of Wax was generally panned
Famous for: Notorious sex video One Night In Paris with her former boyfriend Rick Salomon - and for that stint in prison
Words of wisdom: "I think the biggest misconception about me is that I'm this spoiled brat. But I'm not. I'm the total opposite."

Heiress, entrepreneur, reality TV star, singer, party girl and sometime jailbird - Paris Hilton has played some fairly diverse roles in her life. But it's as a serious film actress that the 27-year-old now wants to be known.

Her movie career got off to a mixed start with her Best Scream-winning performance in 2005 horror House Of Wax followed by flops Bottoms Up and National Lampoon's Pledge This!

She's now back on the silver screen in her most high-profile film role to date, playing, somewhat predictably, a glamorous blonde in The Hottie & The Nottie.

"This is the first film I've actually really been serious with," Paris admits, flicking her blonde hair extensions - her own branded line - out of her tanned face.

"Like, before, I never had an acting coach, I just really winged it and this time I worked with (coach) Ivana Chubbuck every single day for hours a day. I've worked really hard for it."

Paris plays Christabelle Abbott, a typical Californian babe, beloved by most of the men in Los Angeles, and former childhood friend Nate Cooper (Joel Moore).

When Nate realises Christabelle is the only girl he's ever loved, his attempts to woo her are slightly hampered by her hideously ugly best friend June.

"The producer came to me and said there was no one else who could play the 'Hottie' the way that I could," says Paris, giggling. "So I read it and fell in love with it.

"Reading the script I was laughing out loud and I also love the ending. I just thought it was such a sweet story and a really fun film with a really beautiful message. I thought it was a really cute love story."

Unlike the token specs and braces of other on-screen ugly ducklings, 'Nottie' June, played by Christine Lakin, was given prosthetic teeth, a thinning hairpiece, a huge mole and an infected toenail - enough to make most men run a mile.

"It was hard looking at her at first but I got used to it!" admits Paris. "I couldn't have done it. It would be funny though..."

As Nate gets closer to Christabelle, she reveals she has vowed not to date another man until June finds true love.

Undaunted, Nate sets out to find the perfect man for June - even if it means hypnotising people before they'll go anywhere near her.

Enter blond hunk Johann, who happens to be a dentist, and seems to see beyond June's flaws as he offers to give her a new set of pearly whites.

Inner beauty is the film's profound message, believes Paris, who co-produced the project.

"I think every girl has bad days. We are all human. What matters is how you are on the inside that shines through," she says. "June's true beauty does shine through in the end. It doesn't matter how you look, it's more how you feel."

These are strong words from a woman who has built her own fortune through modelling and various fashion and beauty lines.

New York-born Paris spent her childhood moving between exclusive homes in Beverly Hills and Manhattan.

At 19, she was signed to Donald Trump's modelling agency and has worked with various agencies, fronting campaigns for Tommy Hilfiger, Christian Dior and Guess.

She soon earned a reputation as a socialite and the tagline of "New York's leading It Girl". A couple of years later, in 2003, she landed her own reality TV show, The Simple Life, with best friend Nicole Richie and international fame followed.

So far so good. But The Simple Life got a bit more complicated when Paris and Nicole publicly fell out and was cancelled by Fox after three series.

Paris turned her hand to writing and singing, releasing her autobiography, Confessions Of An Heiress in 2004, followed two years later by her debut album Paris.

Last year, to the general glee of paparazzi and tabloid hacks around the globe, she was sentenced to spend 45 days in prison for driving with a suspended licence.

In the end, she spent just over 20 days in detention, and left saying she was a changed woman.

Acting is, she believes, another opportunity for people to see the "real", reformed Paris.

"My coach always says actors are really great if they've led a life of a lot of things happening to them and I've had a lot happen to me in my life. Now I'm willing to use those experiences in my acting. It's exciting! It'll be cool to do some more fun movie projects."

So she's a method actress? "Yeah, if there's a scene where I have to get upset I think of someone I've lost or something sad that's happened in my life and use that and it really works," she says.

She is adamant that her true personality is quite similar to Christabelle's, who ends up doing the right thing by her friend June.

"That's really how I am in real life with my friends and my family and the people who do know me.

"People who think they know me, only know the made-up media character. But that's not who I really am," she adds.

Like Christabelle, Paris has also had her fair share of male attention, including the odd stalker.

"I've had a few," she says, calmly. "But one in particular showed up at my house and slept outside it for a week. He stole my cat then pretended to find him for me. It was very weird!"

Despite rumours she's dating Good Charlotte guitarist Benji Madden, for now the twice-engaged Paris insists she is single ("It's hard to be in a relationship with my schedule").

But she knows what she wants in a man: "Someone who can make me laugh. They have to be sweet, fun to be around and honest."

At a time when her former party pal Britney Spears seems to be falling apart, Paris says she's never been happier.

"I'm literally having the time of my life. I don't pay attention to the media and paparazzi or any of that. I try to have my real friends around me and my family and all my animals and pets. I have a lot of normal friends.

"People sometimes feel they have an obligation to be mean about me for some reason and I can't really change their opinion but I'm proud of myself and that's all that matters to me. "I just want to make people smile. I want to bring some colour into the world."

And her acting career is set to continue, with a singing role in musical horror Repo! The Genetic Opera, alongside Sarah Brightman and Paul Sorvino.

"I'm not blonde in the movie. I have different hair and eyes," she reveals. "I sing 12 songs in it! It was fun and awesome to get a role like that."