Arielle Kebbel

Like her Little Mermaid namesake, 19-year-old Arielle Kebbel wanted to venture beyond the boundaries of her childhood home. But instead of going from "Under the Sea" onto dry land, this Arielle headed across the land, westward from Florida to Hollywood, and she had the full support of her parents. "My Mom and I packed up the car, record player first, shipped our clothes out and drove across country in two and a half days," she says. "Both of us had never been farther west than Louisiana in a car, so it was really cool." Cool -- and emotional. "Saying goodbye to my dad and my brother was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. In that moment, I realized I was growing up, and it's just a really scary thing." Lucky for Arielle, she's doing so gracefully. Often found in cute threads at every several red carpet premieres, Alloy finally decided to get the scoop on the face behind the fashion. Read on!

By Jonathan Klein

She's Welcomed

Arielle is the kind of girl who writes individual thank-you notes to fellow cast members when she wraps a job. "You work together for three months and then it's kind of over. It's important to express your appreciation for the time you share," she says. So whom might she have thanked? There's heartthrob Jared Padalecki with whom she works with on Gilmore Girls, adorable Adrien Grenier, who she shared a scene with in the first episode of The Entourage, and even rapper Snoop Dogg, who she flew high with in Soul Plane! Plus, Arielle just wrapped the hotly anticipated sequel to Get Shorty, Be Cool, which costars Vince Vaughn and the Rock.

Character Prep 101

With her career moving into overdrive, Arielle goes on audition after audition and preps like any teenager might: "I try to listen to the type of music that my character would listen to, just to get me in the mood. Last week, I had a crazy, very vulnerable on the inside, very tough on the outside part, and I listened to Fiona Apple and Evanesence because the girl seemed that she'd be into very moving, deep, sultry, emotive rock. But then I was up for a cheerleader part, so I listened to some pop." Wardrobe plays an important part, too. "I never throw away anything. My friends make fun of me because I've got ripped up, whole-y jeans from five years ago and red leather pants -- things I'd never wear. But then there's that one audition and you go, 'Oh, my god, this is perfect,' so you put it on and you become a little closer to the character."

Perks of the Trade

Working with talented actors can be rewarding for ones trade -- and ones heart. Arielle recently got to work with O.C. cutie, Adam Brody on the set of Gilmore Girls, and she was not only impressed, but giddy, too. "There was this one scene where he was outside running, and [he was all] sweaty and panting [in the scene]. And I remember thinking that he was such a cute guy. [Plus], he wasn't afraid to show that he was really committed. His work paid off, and he absolutely deserves it," she says. Aside from Adam, Arielle also hopes to learn from other talented actors like Johnny Depp, Adrien Brody, Scarlett Johansson and Keira Knightley. We're confident she'll discover tricks of the trade from some of them before too long.