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"  WHO:  Xavier Samuel AGE:  26 HOMETOWN:  Adelaide, Australia BONA FIDES: A 2005 graduate of Flinders University Drama Centre program in Adelaide (taking on Hamlet at his graduate performance); a major role in Australian films every year since. WHY NOW: He&amp;#039;s been newly minted as the &amp;quot;hot&amp;quot; vampire in the wildly popular Twilight franchise, making his debut in its third installment, Eclipse, due out this summer. Rumored to have beaten out Channing Tatum and Harry Potter actor Tom Felton, Samuel landed the role of Riley, right-hand vampire to Bryce Dallas Howard &amp;#039;s villainess, Victoria. &amp;quot;He&amp;#039;s essentially a tragic character,&amp;quot; Samuel says. &amp;quot;[Director] David Slade and I talked a lot about conveying how complex he is\u2014he&amp;#039;s harboring extreme jealousy and hatred for humanity because that&amp;#039;s exactly what he&amp;#039;s been deprived of.&amp;quot; WHY HE&amp;#039;LL LAST:  Samuel&amp;#039;s compulsively watchable performances in Australian movies such as 2008&amp;#039;s Newcastle (he played a nottotally- out-of-the-closet Goth teenager struggling to find his place in a clique of hard-core surf junkies) are in part a product of working on small-budget sets filming at breakneck paces. &amp;quot;Most of the Australian films I&amp;#039;ve worked on shot for five weeks max, and a second take was a luxury. It taught me to be prepared and focused from the beginning.&amp;quot; BUT IS HE READY FOR TWILIGHT-LEVEL FAME?  &amp;quot;I haven&amp;#039;t quite got my hands on any brochure that says, `In the event that you become insanely famous, what do you do?&amp;#039; But I think I can take a leaf from Rob and Kristen&amp;#039;s book. They&amp;#039;ve done a good job keeping their wits in the whirlwind of it all but also letting it get them where they want to be future-role-wise.&amp;quot; PROOF HE REALLY DOES DO HIS HOMEWORK: Photos leaked on the Internet of Samuel and Howard filming their highly anticipated kissing scene, one they aptly prepped for. &amp;quot;Bryce and I watched YouTube clips of the best kisses in cinematic history for research,&amp;quot; he says. Yes, but how did he get on with the practicing? &amp;quot;What happens in the rehearsal room stays in the rehearsal room.&amp;quot; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/a11092/bloody-brilliant-the-next-twilight-heartthrob-442601/>