WHO IS SHE?: The sexy, sharp-jawed actress can currently be seen as Joaquin Phoenix's romantic pursuer in The Village, Jennifer Garner's best friend in 13 Going on 30 and Jason Bateman's boob-flashing secretary on Fox's Arrested Development.

WHAT HAS SHE DONE?:
Greer, 29, made an early lasting impression as George Clooney's desk chair quickie mate at the opening of Three Kings. Since then, she's been Mel Gibson's suicidal co-worker in What Women Want, J. Lo's ditzy assistant in The Wedding Planner and the object of Nic Cage's affections in Adaptation. This fall, she appears with Christina Ricci and Shannon Elizabeth in Wes Craven's Cursed.

WHY DO WE CARE?: With her biting wit and those classic features, this doe-eyed beauty has too much personality to be contained in best friend roles forever. She's destined to break out soon into leading lady status.

Playboy.com: On Arrested Development, you easily manipulate your business rivals by flashing your breasts. Have you ever used your womanly wiles to get what you want?

Judy Greer: My answer to that is no, but other people might have a different opinion.

PB: Speaking of breasts, you told WWD that you recently learned the value of double-faced tape.

JG: I wore this amazing beige cashmere Marc Jacobs dress for the 13 Going on 30 premiere. It had a plunging J. Lo-style neckline. If I wasn't standing with my chest thrust forward, the dress would gape open. During my six years on movie sets I learned about Top Stick, double-sided tape for your flesh and clothing. You Top-Stick the hell out of whatever you don't want to come open.

PB: With co-starring roles in 30 movies over the last five years, you may be Hollywood's most successful actress who isn't a household name. Do you at least have an entourage?

JG: I beg people to come with me to places so I look more important, but no one will ever come. I'm trying to assemble an entourage, but so far the only taker is my dog Buckley, and that's just because I have a collar and leash on him.

PB: You're a bitch to Jennifer Garner in 13 Going on 30. In high school, were you a mean girl? Or were you the target of the mean girls?

JG: Initially, I was more invisible, which I think is worse in a way. I never felt like anyone really noticed me, although now people are saying they did. Liars. [Laughs] Toward the end, when I gave up trying so hard, I wound up with a pair of Birkenstocks and a big, woolly sweater and I had the hair to go along with it. I think I was more of a hippy, and maybe I'm rediscovering that again.

PB: For your role in The Village, you had to attend a 19th century boot camp. What's the hardest part of living in the 1890s?

JG: Having your period. They used cloths that they would just rinse out. All the women living in the village would be on the same cycle because there was no birth control. The animals must have been going crazy. Nobody thinks about this stuff.

PB: What are your real-life fears?

JG: My recurring nightmare is that I'm sleeping naked backstage under a comforter. It's my cue and I can't wake myself up, so I have to decide, do I go on stage naked or should I go on stage wrapped up in the comforter? I don't know. I have a therapist, but I keep forgetting to ask him about it.

PB: In next year's movie The Moguls, starring Jeff Bridges and Joe Pantoliano, is it true that you make an amateur porn video?

JG: Yes, I play a young mattress saleswoman/wannabe lesbian porn star.

PB: Did you have to watch adult films for research?

JG: Have to? I didn't have to do a lot of research. That's all I'm gonna say about that, other than it was one of the most fun three days of work I've had in my life.

PB: You've made love on-screen with some of Hollywood's biggest stars. Who was the most memorable?

JG: George Clooney was really shocking to me because when I got that part in Three Kings, I was living in an unfurnished studio apartment in a nasty neighborhood in L.A., and then I blink and I'm in Arizona rehearsing a love scene with George Clooney. But I never got to kiss him in the scene. I did get to smooch Nicolas Cage in Adaptation.

PB: Do you have a real-life boyfriend?

JG: Yes, he does reality television. He's done a bunch of reality TV pilots, and he wrote the Totally Busted show for Playboy TV.

PB: What do you look for in a guy?

JG: Number one is sense of humor. I couldn't be with anyone who didn't make me laugh so hard I cried. And I need it on a daily basis.

PB: What do you do when you're not acting?

JG: I knit obsessively. I was hoping it would help me quit smoking cigarettes. I quit for two years once.... That was encouraging. I read a lot and I've become obsessed with Law & Order, which I can watch while I'm knitting.

PB: Critics have compared you to Gwyneth Paltrow and Meryl Streep. Can you live with those comparisons?

JG: I'm very surprised because I don't feel like I do the things they do. But, if people think of me as a chameleon, then I really am truly doing my job and that's the best compliment I could get.