Amanda's Just One Of The Guys

Actress Amanda Bynes, 19, already a big star with the tweens and the teenage set for TV series like "The Amanda Show" and "What I Like About You," is taking her talent to the big screen. In her new movie "She's the Man," loosely based on Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night," she plays a teenage girl trying to impersonate her twin brother so she can win a spot on a prep school soccer team.

Appearing on The Early Show Monday, the actress told co-anchor Hannah Storm about the film and what it was like being one of the guys.

According to Bynes, it wasn't easy morphing into her male alter-ego, Sebastian. "The hardest part was definitely the long hours and keeping the makeup and hair on for so long with the sideburns and eyebrows and the wig was just tight and uncomfortable; and I had to play soccer in it," she said. "Besides that, I enjoyed being a guy throughout the day. It was a fun change of pace."

Bynes admits that, even with all that makeup, she didn't think she was a very cute guy. "Even though I was dressed as a man, I still looked like a girl dressed up as a man," said Bynes of her role in the movie. "That's sort of the joke. I'm never supposed to be a man. I'm the girl who is acting like a guy and trying to be a man."

Bynes' character in the film, Viola, pretends to be her twin brother because she wants to make a soccer team and beat her old school at the game. A comedic love triangle ensues when Bynes falls for her roommate, a guy named Duke (played by Channing Tatum), while the girl Duke has a crush on falls for Bynes' soccer playing boy. "It sounds complicated, but once you see it, you get it," said Bynes.

The actress disguised her feminine voice for the part. "I sort of just tried to keep my voice as low as possible," she said. "And I have been doing accents my whole life -- mimicking people -- [so] I think everything just kind of came out."

Movies like "Mrs. Doubtfire" and "Tootsie" informed her character, Bynes said. "I love movies that make you laugh and aren't serious," she said, adding that her dog is named Tootsie (a name inspired by that movie and the candy). "We tried to make a movie like that."

Bynes has been compared to comedians like Gilda Radner and Lucille Ball, the latter being of one of Bynes' idols. "It's so nice to hear that," said Bynes. "But I am doing the best I can and I don't want to ever be compared to somebody that great because then when someone sees me they'll say, 'No, she's not that good.' But I'm working hard and I hope that I can eventually live up to that title."

Bynes, who lives at home with her non-showbiz parents (her father is a dentist), enrolled in a comedy camp when she was just 10 years old and has been getting laughs ever since. She currently stars opposite Jennie Garth in The WB comedy series "What I Like About You," now in it's fourth season.

"My whole family loves comedies. We're always laughing," she said. "I think I grew up sort of admiring comedians and I grew up watching the greats. And so my dad was really supportive of me doing this. And my mom was supportive, too. It just helped having a funny family."

Unlike other teen actresses her age, Bynes avoids the tabloid spotlight. She said she prefers to be a role model.

"I do feel that that is part of the job," she said. "I feel like you get so many perks that the least you can do is be a good role model and try not to do ridiculous things. I do like to go have fun and dance, but I don't like to be photographed doing it. I don't want to publicize that. I want to try to do good work and have that speak for itself."