Chad Michael Murray Ready to Be Taken Seriously

Chad Michael Murray wants to join the grown-ups.

At 23, the newly married star of the WB's "One Tree Hill" says he's ready to give up his teen-idol image and start being taken seriously. "House of Wax," his latest movie, opens Friday.

"I want to feel artistically happy and creatively challenged, but I also need to remember the people who brought me to the party. It's going to be a tough trick to handle," Murray says.

He's starting with his hair.

While making "Wax," he got a buzz cut. "Hill" producers weren't happy.

"They chewed my (behind) and hung (me) from the top of Stage Seven," he says. "It was horrible."

To compensate for the cut, producers made Murray wear a wig for a few scenes of "Hill" this season.

But Murray says he's winning on other fronts. He says he has spoken up about "Hill" scripts, though he has no creative so-say on the show. He says he is tired of going shirtless on the tube.

"I don't do that as much anymore," he says. "To be honest, it has gone overboard. I don't want to be known as a teen idol. If my job is to take my shirt off, I don't want that job."

The producers have complied with his request so far this season, he says.

Just married to "Hill" co-star Sophia Bush, Murray says he is a changed man altogether.

"She has taught me a lot about being human, a lot about life," he says. "She has a very, very trusting heart. She always looks for the positive. Having that around has helped me (not to be) so negative about life."

Murray is usually an affable type during interviews. He is candid about the sore points of his past. His mother left his family when he was in grade school, and they have been estranged.

Even Murray's friends say he has had a tendency to be sullen and pessimistic. Bush has helped Murray see himself in another light.

"She is a believer in what I want to do," he says. "A lot of times, as a human being, you want to do something and people may not believe you can accomplish those goals. You don't have someone who truly believes in who you are."

Bush doesn't take the credit. "He is an amazing person, an amazing man," she says. "He surprises me every day. He is my soul mate."

Murray says he's never been overly confident _ despite the fact he's a poster boy for teen girls across the country. He says he has allowed insecurities to shade his perception of his goals.

His career has skyrocketed in the past three years. A former teen model, he moved from upstate New York to Hollywood after high school to test the waters. The WB scooped him up and used him in "Dawson's Creek" and "Gilmore Girls" while trying to develop his own vehicle.

"I was fortunate," he says.

"I was raised in a family of four, moved out here and didn't know what to expect. Imagine if you had been born here and wanted to get into acting. It might change how you look at (the world)."

In 2003, "Hill," about a small-town high-school basketball player dealing with his distant biological father, became a hit for the WB. Soon Murray starred on the silver screen with such lighter-than-air projects as "A Cinderella Tale" and "Freaky Friday."

"Wax" is a remake of the 1953 3-D horror film that starred Vincent Price. It marks Murray's first big-screen role outside the teen-romantic-comedy genre.