Paul Garces - Spotlight

Girls' Life, April, 2002

AGE: 20 something (she won't tell).

HOMETOWN: New York City, but she's Columbian and live in South America for five years.

HER FIRST BIG ROLE: Playing 17-year-old foreign exchange chica Francesca in Clockstoppers, now in theaters. Francesca and friend Zak (Jesse Bradford from Bring it On) discover an old wristwatch that can stop time -- hypertime. "I'm the new girl in school, Zak's love interest. I help him deal with this new invention, and we go on all these adventures. She just kicks butt."

ON KINCKING BUTT: "I thought I was a good athlete. I really did, until the scenes in which I had to run. Wow, I was slow. There was a guy with a 300-pound camera on his back, and he ran faster."

ON GIRL POWER: "Francesca has the ability to take charge so she's not the damsel in distress."

ON TIME TRAVEL: Because of all the special effects, Paula worked in front of a green screen, a screen that computer-generates effects behind the actors. "We had to react to whatever was in our imaginations."

HER SUPERNATURAL ABILITY: In Clock-stoppers, the characters' bodies are moving so fast everyone seems frozen in time.

BRACEFACE: She started doing commercials at 13 after she met an agent at a party she and her family attended. "I first had braces, and she didn't take me too seriously until they came off. I didn't think much of it, but I went to the same party the next year and she started getting jobs for me."

HER BFF: A Yorkie named Luna, which means moon in Spanish.

UPCOMING FILM: Marci X, a comedy with Lisa Kudrow and Damon Wayans, "It's the battle between a rap artist and his record manager. Lisa is this priss who tries to get Damon to tone down his music because he's really wild." Paula plays Damon's girlfriend, a twist between J-Lo and Lil' Kim. "I'm ghetto fabulous. People won't recognize me. I have the Gucci, the nails and the sunglasses."

Alicia Clott