She's blonde, she's blue-eyed, and she's beautiful. But one thing actress Amanda Seyfried is not is a young woman who has merely blended into the homogeny of the many television and film screens which she has graced throughout her still young career. From her early roles on the Soap Operas As the World Turns and All My Children to her memorable stint in season one of Veronica Mars, her to-be-missed portrayal of the oldest daughter in the polygamist Henrickson family of HBO's Big Love, her spot on portrayal of one third of the '90's most iconic teen clique in Tina Fey's Mean Girls, her 2008 song-and-dance romp alongside Meryl Streep in Mamma Mia!, and a type-cast-bending performance in the horror-comedy Jennifer's Body, she has repeatedly stood out next to award-winning costars and brought to life characters that will be remembered for years to come. And in her newest role, Amanda steps into the shoes of an idealistic young woman (Savannah Curtis) who falls in love with a Special Forces soldier she meets during her spring break (Channing Tatum) in Dear John, the latest romantic drama based on one of the tear-jerking romances by author Nicholas Sparks.

While she was in San Francisco, I (along with several other Bay Area journalists) got a chance to talk to talk to her about the film, the struggle of living amid expectations of perfection and into imperfect realities, and why she likes to play characters who aren't exactly like her. And as her characters have so often done, she too captured our attention with unguarded answers coupled with expressive eyes that told us she was offering up nothing other than what was in her soul.

On what Dear John is all about and who will enjoy it:

You've got 12- to 17-year-olds. I think soldiers. ... [I]t's not a chick flick necessarily. I mean, it is about two people falling in love; that is the center of the movie. But older men... people who have good relationships with their parents, soldiers, wives and husbands that have been left behind, families left behind. We can all relate to it, certainly. Everybody can relate to it. Especially, when you watch it, you know where you were during 9/11. You know what you were thinking; you know everything. Because it was such a huge moment in the world.

Also, you can take a lot from the movie. It's a time to learn about autism, raising the awareness; we're trying. I mean, one in a hundred kids, I think, develops autism. It's crazy. It's something that we should know about. And we are slowly finding more and more out about it and what kind of therapies work. There are a lot of elements that make it really easy to watch if you're not 12- 17-year-old girls. It's not just Channing Tatum without his shirt on. It's a real movie; it has a real message. It has a really good theme, and I think everybody's going to leave feeling a little bit inspired by the love that's there. The love between John and his dad, the love between John and Savannah, and the love Savannah has for Tim and Alan. Thank God I like it! Or I wouldn't be able to be talking about it so much.

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