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Piper Perabo is still early enough in her acting career to be caught off guard by exuberant fans stopping her in the grocery store.

“It’s strange that people recognize me,” says the recent Ohio University grad and one of Hollywood’s newest arrivals. “It always surprises me. It’s funny to run into people who know your work.”

More movie-goers are recognizing Perabo for leading roles she played in two popular movies last summer — “The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle” and “Coyote Ugly.” And they soon can watch her in “Lost and Delirious,” an independent film slated for release later this year.

When the theater major graduated from Ohio University in 1998, she never thought she’d see her name topping the movie credits just a few years later. Perabo acknowledges she’s still catching her breath — both from the whirlwind of early stardom and the road she took to get there.

After earning her degree, Perabo set out on the aspiring actor’s path to New York City, and like thousands of her struggling colleagues, she took a night job as a cocktail waitress while auditioning for roles during the day.

“I was not a good waitress,” Perabo jokes, “so I was really fortunate to get work as quickly as I did.”

It obviously wasn’t Perabo’s drink-mixing skills that caught the eye of “Coyote Ugly” producers; maybe it had something to do with how the movie’s script mirrored her real life. She plays a young woman from New Jersey (her actual hometown is Toms River, N.J.) who heads to New York City and works as a bartender in the rowdy club “Coyote Ugly” while pursuing the dream of becoming a singer and songwriter.

Although her fast-paced schedule has meant less time for friends and family, she still stays in touch with her college adviser, Professor of Theater Bill Condee. Perabo seeks his advice on script choices as well as the business side of the profession. In fact, Perabo called Condee after taping a segment of “The Tonight Show” just days before this interview last fall.

“My impression is that all this is very startling for her, but she has this determination about anything she sinks her teeth into,” he says.

Perabo expresses that determination in her acting, says Condee, who describes her as having “kind of an oversized personality.”

“I read in a review of ‘The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle’ that her acting style was exaggerated, but to me, it’s pure Piper,” he says. “I’ve seen her anguished in my office and throwing fits over whether she should take chemistry or physics.”

As a student, Perabo spent hours rehearsing for School of Theater productions and challenged herself academically as an Honors Tutorial College student, graduating summa cum laude. She’ll tell you, though, that her preferred choice of intellectual stimulation is the theater. Her dream is to own a theater company in New York City and work with interesting artists on some “really avant-garde stuff.”

“There’s so much good playwriting out there that in some ways, it’s hard to compare it to film. The number of plays I’ve read far exceed the number of film scripts I’ve read,” says Perabo, whose favorite works include “anything written by Anton Chekhov.”

Her flair for theater surfaced as a child when she directed skits that she, her younger brother, Adam, and older brother, Noah, performed for their grandmother. The grassroots productions obviously inspired Adam, who enrolled in Ohio University’s School of Theater this past fall. The 19-year-old has enjoyed watching his sister succeed.

“It’s been intense for the whole family,” he says. “It’s emotional for us to see her happy and successful and fun to watch her on TV and in movies and magazines. It’s pretty wild.”

Likewise, it’s exciting for Perabo to watch her brother experience Ohio University.

“I’m so happy for him because I got such a well-rounded theater education at Ohio,” she says. “It’s so beautiful there and somewhat removed, so I could really focus on my work.”

Melissa Rake is assistant editor of Ohio Today.