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NEW YORK -- Neve Campbell has plenty to scream about. Her life has turned into one big party.
Campbell, who plays Julia Salinger on the popular Fox TV drama Party Of Five, stars as a teen being stalked by a masked serial killer in Wes Craven's new horror comedy Scream.
She's also one of the stars in this month's fast-renting video movie The Craft in which she plays a teen witch.
Not bad for a 23-year-old former ballet dancer from Toronto.
"Theatre is literally in my blood," explains Campbell.
"My mother and father met while starring in a play in Windsor. My dad went on to run an amateur theatre company and my mom opened a small dinner theatre.
"My brother Christian (Campbell), who's a year older, has a role on Malibu Shores and my 12-year-old brother Alex is already acting in Toronto and studying dance."
Her love of dance guided Campbell to Hollywood.
"I've been dancing since I was six. When I was 15, I got cast in the original Toronto company of Phantom Of The Opera. I was 10 years younger than the next youngest person in the company so I had dozens of surrogate parents for the two years I stayed in the show."
Her parents didn't balk at the idea of Campbell going professional at such a young age.
"It was my parents' dream for themselves, but they married young and had my brother Christian and I right away so they couldn't pursue professional acting careers.
"They're living their dreams through us and have been our greatest supporters and fans."
After 800 consecutive performances of Phantom, Campbell got offered a role in the short-lived Canadian series Catwalk and then snagged roles in several American TV movies being shot in Toronto.
During this period, Campbell met Toronto actor Jeff Colt who had his own children's TV talk show called It's Alive. The couple married then moved to Los Angeles to broaden their careers. Within two weeks, Campbell had been cast as Julia on Party of Five, which airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on c.
Colt has kept himself busy in small roles in TV series.
"Jeff is not jealous of my success, but he definitely wishes things would be more equal. It's frustrating as an actor not to be working to your potential."
What's frustrating for Campbell is the loss of her anonymity.
"Jeff and I went on vacation to Greece to get away from the Party mania in Los Angeles only to discover it's worse in Greece.
"Party is a huge hit in Europe. No matter where we went, I'd get recognized. People were very gracious but they did want to speak to me and get my autograph."
Campbell is not knocking her celebrity because with it has come wealth and security.
"I grew up poor. I lived in apartments all my life. Now I own my own house in L.A. I have a car and I'm able to turn down offers of thousands of dollars just because I don't like the script."
Best of all, Campbell was able to build herself a private dance studio in her home.
"Dancing is still my soul. I used to dance seven hours a day. Now I can hardly get that much in each week but I could never give it up.
"I'd love to find a role in a series or a movie that would let me dance."
Until then, Campbell will have to content herself with screaming, running and hiding, which she does a great deal of in Scream.
In this spoof on such teen slasher series as Halloween, Friday The 13th and Nightmare On Elm Street, Campbell plays a teen who's being stalked on the anniversary of her mother's brutal murder.
"No more horror movies or thrillers for a while. I don't want to turn into the new Jamie Lee Curtis. It's enough to parody her in Scream. I don't want to become the new queen of terror."