There's something about their over-the-top personas that allows divas like Madonna and Courtney Love to carry SAG cards without raising eyebrows, but the decidedly more coffee-shop friendly Lisa Loeb seems the type that would be more in her element with a library card. Nevertheless, the granny glasses-wearing pop singer is timidly testing the acting waters, albeit just in the sitcom wading-pool for now. |

After appearing as herself on last week's episode of The Drew Carey Show, Loeb will portray Sophie Gill, a singer/songwriter, on the Oct. 17 episode of the new show Cupid, which stars Jeremy Piven. After that, though, Loeb would like to make the leap to feature films.

"I acted a lot in high school [in Dallas] and college [Brown University], and it's something I'd like to focus on professionally," Loeb explains on her cell phone while waiting to shoot a commercial for the Dallas Morning News. "But I'll have to audition like any other actor."

While her friendship with actor Ethan Hawke helped propel the then unsigned and virtually unknown Loeb to a major-label record deal, courtesy of the hit single "Stay," Loeb says she and Mr. Uma Thurman have no current plans to work together on the big screen. "He's a new father and a really busy actor. We talked about [working together] a long time ago when we were both doing theater, but nothing recently."

Loeb will take off a few months from touring to pursue her sideline career, but don't expect to see her at a theater near you anytime soon. Loeb is taking baby steps, keeping her spectacled eyes peeled for the proverbial "right role." "I just want to work with a great director, actor or writer," she says. The ball's in your court now, Mr. Hughes.

ARI BENDERSKY(October 8, 1998)