When the princess met the Devil

Anne Hathaway in the Devil Wears Prada.

The transition from adolescence to adulthood is never easy, let alone enduring those awkward phases in front of the camera.

Anne Hathaway, 23, a former star of family fare movies, makes it look effortless, without exploiting her sexuality like many of her peers.

You won't find this brunette beauty scantily clad on the covers of men's magazines dutifully wearing her sexuality like a badge of honour. She seems an antidote to the likes of bad girls Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears.

Known for her sugary roles in The Princess Diaries and its sequel, Ella Enchanted, Hathaway made an impressive dramatic segue playing the wife of Jake Gyllenhaal's gay cowboy in Brokeback Mountain.

She will next be seen as the hapless assistant to Meryl Streep in the upcoming The Devil Wears Prada, based on the best-selling novel.

"It wasn't this huge decision to stop participating in the teen movie genre, like, 'Oh my God, finally the crossover has happened!' But when I knew Ang Lee was casting that part in Brokeback Mountain, I was in the corner with my hand up saying, 'Pick me! Pick me!' Hathaway laughs. "For a while I was the the go-to tiara girl, but I've grown up."

This New Jersey-born actor sticks out like a sore thumb when you consider her peers. She's not emaciated or spray-tanned. She's not even blonde.

In the current climate of gossip-and-personality as entertainment, Hollywood starlets have fast become interchangeable commodities.

Many of them seem to be more interested in promoting their latest must-have accoutrements than their latest accomplishments.

Hathaway is happily far removed from the fray.

Self deprecating to a fault, it's unusual to hear an actress admit her inner movie star needs some work.

"You know those girls who are always on the red carpet and they know how to do the pose thing? They pop their shoulder, suck in their stomach and do that weird little fake laugh to make themselves look better in photos? Well, I can't do that. I have the deer-in-the-headlights look, which I've perfected."

Hathaway's modesty can appear somewhat suspect. For someone who has been compared to Julia Roberts and Audrey Hepburn, the 1.72m, brown eyed actor seems a little too breathless.

Her declarations such as "I have a ton of neuroses, I'm very insecure, and I'm constantly intimidated by everyone", are perhaps intended to deflect her translucent good looks.

As for her standing in the Hollywood food chain, she has said, "I'm the person who gets the script three people after Natalie [Portman] turns it down."

The daughter of a lawyer and a stage actor, she was the first and only teenager admitted to the acting programme at the award-winning Barrow Group in New York. She followed that with her first acting job, a role on the ill fated tv series Get Real.

Her demeanour is very down-to-earth East Coast girl. She is articulate, and she's in the middle of pursuing a college degree at New York University majoring in literature and theology.

Not a regular on the nightclub circuit, she prefers to spend her free time with Italian boyfriend Raffaello Follieri, a real estate developer.

She takes a breath. "Oh, do I have to talk about the boyfriend?"

Her face is flushed red and in spite of her initial reluctance to talk about her personal life, she breaks into a wide grin, and continues.

"We're very happy and I love getting to spend so much time in and around another culture, which has obviously broadened my outlook."

After a sip of water, she asks politely, "Can we talk about my movie?"

Which, of course, is the highly anticipated The Devil Wears Prada, adapted from the novel based on the merciless US Vogue editor Anna Wintour.

Written by Lauren Weisberger, the book speaks from the point of view of Wintour's assistant, played by Hathaway, and takes a look at the underside of the fashion industry.

There has been much controversy surrounding this film, which Wintour regards as a personal attack. She allegedly pressured numerous designers not to participate.

Says Hathaway, "Well, I don't know about that. Valentino makes a cameo, and as far as other designers are concerned, all I know is that we had stuff donated from everyone and everywhere."

Hathaway's next role - playing Jane Austen in Becoming Jane - is also controversial. The Brits have expressed their disgust at yet another American playing a beloved British character.

"Look, I can't really defend it ... but I couldn't have loved her more if I had come from the same country. All I can hope to say at this point is that Jane Austen is so beloved she belongs to the world."

As a college student studying literature, Hathaway won the lottery when she landed this role.

"I first read Jane Austen when I was 13 or 14. Like most people, I read Pride and Prejudice, but my favourite is probably Sense and Sensibility."

It seems Hathaway is carving out a enduring career which will not be constricted by stereotypes.

But as long as kids are buying DVDs, her fanbase will always include the tween audience.

"I'm aware that some girls look up to me as a role model. We need to stop focusing on girls that project unrealistic body images." she says.

"I'd like to say to those young girls, 'Stop looking in the mirror and look at the world. Be yourself. Be your own person'. That's the best life lesson to learn."