She's Amanda

HOLLYWOOD _ Though not quite 20, Amanda Bynes is a show business veteran. She started her acting career at the age of 10 on Nickelodeon's "All That," and she has worked steadily ever since.
For the past four seasons the green-eyed brunette, who previously hosted a variety show on Nickelodeon, has starred in the popular WB comedy series "What I Like About You." In it Bynes plays
an independent-minded teenager who shakes up the life of her conservative older sister (played by "Beverly Hills, 90210's" Jennie Garth).
"It gets a little bit tiring and it's a little bit monotonous doing the same character," says the native Angelena, who today is dressed in a white cotton top and black miniskirt. But "I'm happy to be working so I don't mind."
Now the versatile young actress is taking on a dual role in the big-screen comedy "She's the Man," playing both a girl and a boy. Loosely based on Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night," "She's the Man" is set in high school and involves mistaken identities, romantic triangles and a bit of gender bending.
Bynes plays Viola, a high school soccer star who devises a plan to keep playing soccer after budget cuts scrap the girls' team at her school: She disguises herself and pretends to be her twin brother, Sebastian (who has skipped town to play in a band), at his all-boys private school.
Trouble ensues when Viola develops a crush on Duke, Sebastian's hunky roommate, who is attracted to Viola's beautiful friend, Olivia, who only has eyes for "Sebastian" (who is actually Viola). Got it?
Bynes says she liked the role's Shakespearean connection and thought it would be fun to play a gender-bending character. "One of my favorite movies is `Tootsie,'" she says.
To play a boy, the actress joined director Andy Fickman ("Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical") in "guy watching" at a Los Angeles-area mall and other teen hangouts. "We just started to watch guys walk and how they compared to (the way) girls walk," she recalls.
Fickman also advised the young actress about key psychological differences between men and women. "We talked about the idea that women will talk about emotions and explore their feelings; guys don't necessarily turn to each other and say, `So I'm feeling a little uncomfortable about the whole thing,'" he recalls. "The other guy would be like, `Dude, shut up.'"
Bynes took notes during her research trips, but her impressions only served to remind her that she would be playing a completely different character from any she had done before.
In the film, a hairdresser friend helps transform Viola into a boy by giving