NEW YORK -- Playing the role of the mini-skirt-clad action star doesn't appeal to Jessica Biel much these days.

"I don't want to do that anymore," she said. "I don't want to lose roles because they found me sexy in my last movie."

At 27, Justin Timberlake's girlfriend wants to be taken seriously, which can be a tough mission to accomplish when you keep getting crowned "sexiest woman alive".

But Biel said it can be done.

"I'm in this business because I like to change myself," she explained. "I definitely gravitate toward characters that are shy, weird and uncomfortable with their body.

"I would love to do something like Charlize Theron did in Monster, like losing or gaining weight, uglyfying myself."

So far, that hasn't happened.

Biel is starring in the Noel Coward film, Easy Virtue (opening in theatres today), which is essentially Meet the Parents for the 1920s.

She will play the role of Larita, an American race car driver and femme fatale who marries a member of the English middle class (Ben Barnes). Larita ends up having to charm her unlikable new mother-in-law, played by Kristin Scott Thomas, something she has never had to do with Mrs. Timberlake since the two apparently get along great.

On the first day of shooting, director Stephan Elliott was worried when he saw how calm and reserved Biel was, prompting actor Colin Firth to tell him, "she's going to steal the picture". That's exactly what happened.

In one scene, Biel bursts onto the set complete with her platinum blond locks and perfect smile, pulling all the attention away from even a seasoned actress like Scott Thomas.

Biel wouldn't even talk to Scott Thomas between takes in order to create a realistic distance and coldness in the film.

"We just didn't have a natural relationship, and that's perfect like that," said Biel, adding that being the only American actress on set was also intimidating. "They all went to drama school, I didn't!"

On-screen husband Barnes added that he received the all-important approval from Timberlake when the musician visited the set.

"He's really the coolest guy I've ever met," he added.

He also managed to get into Biel's good graces before they began filming.

"I showed up with flowers when we first met," said Barnes of his first meeting with Biel. "She had to like me right away."

Timberlake and Biel meanwhile, recently purchased a place in Manhattan and can often be spotted jogging along the Hudson River.

As for Biel, she prepared for the role by watching tons of movies starring Jean Harlow and Katharine Hepburn to "learn how to kill with a smile."

Director Elliott said shooting the film marked the first time he had an actress tell him that she "didn't feel the bitterness" and asked him to teach her how to act that way.

"She can't say anything bad about anyone," Elliott said, who took a big risk casting Biel in a dramatic period piece. Aside from The Illusionist, the only films she had done until now were romantic comedies.

Biel said the challenge of the role was what attracted her to it.

"I was intimidated by (the character) and that's why I wanted to play her," she said. "I'm excited by that kind of stuff. If I have no idea how to do it, then I should do it. She has the best comebacks. I don't have a comeback to save my life. I'm that person who ends up saying ... 'Shut up!' That's my kind of comeback!"

Arriving for our interview wearing a simple blue dress, light makeup and no jewellery, Biel has the calm of an Olympic athlete. I met her on the night of the Easy Virtue's New York premiere. She walked the red carpet solo, with Timberlake skipping the photo-op so as to avoid stealing attention away from Biel.

Biel will be back on the big screen in the coming months in Nailed with Jake Gyllenhaal and James Marsden. Another movie, The Powder Blue, with Forest Whitaker, Patrick Swayze and Ray Liotta, will be released directly to DVD after several racy scenes involving Biel were leaked online.

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