In the action hero genre, hot, buff Vin Diesel is the flavor of the month. He garnered international attention as a tuff but emotional street racer in The Fast and the Furious and has chosen to play a new kind of super spy in XXX. In his deep voice, roughened by hours of interviews, he talked to the press in L.A. about his new film, how he was affected by the events of 9-11 and his pet project Hannibal (the guy hiking through the alps with elephants, not the Anthony Hopkins dude who eats fava beans). Vin has often been seen with his huge dog which was absent from this press event.

TeenHollywood: Where is your dog?

Vin: The dog is too big to bring now. This isn't a normal dog. He's a 170-pound beast. His name's Roman and he's an Italian Mastiff. They used these as war dogs.

TeenHollywood: You were a bouncer for several years. Did dealing with people on that level help you with the b.s. of Hollywood?

Vin: As an actor you want to pull from all of your experiences. I think the bouncing actually hurt me in earlier years. When you bounce you speak with a certain strength and it's hard to leave that strength behind even if you are trying to be amiable or pleasant. You can come into a room and say, "Hi, my name's Vin Diesel" and you have the threat of 'if you don't like me, I'll punch ya in the face' kind of feel which is not what you really want to do when you're going on auditions. It could almost be detrimental in the Hollywood game.