It takes something special for a guy to steal focus from five sexy women.

That's what Aussie Adam Garcia accomplishes in the babes-in-the-bar melodrama Coyote Ugly.

Garcia's little striptease manages to upstage all the bumping and grinding Maria Bello, Piper Perabo, Izabella Miko, Bridget Moynahan and Tyra Banks do as the seductive bartenders in Coyote Ugly.

Garcia is a modest guy, so he suggests the attention he's been receiving is because the core audience for Coyote Ugly is women.

"I don't think many guys who saw the movie even know I'm in it, let alone remember my number on the bar," says Garcia in an interview from New York, where he is filming Penny Marshall's new movie Riding In Cars With Guys.

"That little striptease wasn't even in the movie when I signed on.

"One day on the set, someone mentioned they'd seen me in the London (stage) version of Saturday Night Fever. (Producer) Jerry Bruckheimer asked if I could dance and I told him I'd done a little.

"He told me to do a dance on the bar. His instructions basically boiled down to: 'Get up there on the bar. Take off your clothes and humiliate yourself,' " recalls Garcia.

Garcia's confession that he'd done a little dancing was a modest understatement. He's been dancing since he was eight.

Garcia, 27, who was born and raised in Sydney, became the star pupil of his dance school's tap instructor Dein Perry. After graduating from high school, Garcia toured Australia for two years in Perry's hit tap show Hot Show Shuffle.

The stage sensation eventually transferred to England, where it ran for six months in London's prestigious West End theatre district.

After the show closed, Garcia was immediately snapped up by producer Robert Stigwood to star in the London stage revival of Grease.

"I looked so young, the only role I could play was Doody, but it was good training and even better exposure."

He went on to grab the plum role of Tony Manero in the London premiere of Saturday Night Fever.

At the height of his success in Britain, Garcia packed his bags and headed back to Australia to star in Perry's dance flick Bootmen. It was while he was filming Bootmen that Garcia received word Bruckheimer wanted him to audition for Coyote Ugly.

Garcia was in the middle of filming Bootmen, so he sent word he could not come to L.A.

Bruckheimer is not one to take no for an answer, so he told Garcia to send an audition tape.

"We sent a few scenes from Bootmen. Jerry had no idea it was a dance show, but he was impressed enough with my acting to hire me without meeting me in person."


More Artists