Rare Mare: An Adult Role : AT 30, WINNINGHAM IS NO LONGER A TEEN ACTRESS

Mare Winningham has finally grown up.

Since winning an Emmy Award a decade ago as the sensitive daughter of a farmer in the ABC drama, “Amber Waves,” Winningham has played her fair share of perplexed teens and struggliig young mothers in subsequent TV movies. She even joined the Brat Pack briefly when she played (what else?) a sensitive, troubled teen in love with Rob Lowe in 1985’s “St. Elmo’s Fire.”

Now 30 and the mother of five small children, Winningham wants to act like an adult.

She gets the chance in the ABC docudrama, “Love and Lies,” which airs at 9 p.m. Sunday on KABC. Winningham plays Kim Paris, a Houston private investigator, who is hired to coerce a confession out of a prime murder suspect (Peter Gallagher of “sex, lies and videotape”) and ends up falling in love with him.

“The themes are certainly more adult and dark than anything I have done on television,” said Winningham. “That’s one of the reasons why it was so alluring. It’s a very dark story.”

Winningham battled her conscience before taking the role, because she has a real problem doing docudramas. “You’re trampling on people’s lives,” she said. “I have a lot of trouble with that.”

She finally took the part because she felt the script was about “something bigger.” She thought it illustrated how easily one can become a victim of violent crime. “We can’t really understand violent crime until we stop saying ‘them’ and ‘us,’ ” said Winningham. “Kim finds out that people are capable of being evil.”

Winningham spent three hours with the real Kim Paris before production began on the film. “She’s an unbelievably gregarious, fascinating woman,” said Winningham. “She charms the socks off of everyone who meets her. She’s really pretty and very funny-a smart cookie. She came out of nowhere and got this full confession under wire (using a concealed microphone). It impressed the hell out of everyone.”

The actress will also be on view next month in the CBS movie, “Crossing to Freedom” (9 p.m. April 8), based on the classic 1942 movie, “Pied Piper,” which starred Monty Woolley and Anne Baxter.

Set in the early days of World War II, “Crossing to Freedom” finds Winningham playing a French woman, who, with the help of an Englishman (Peter OUToole), escorts seven children across the war-torn borders of France when the Germans invade the country. “My hardship in this movie was that I had to have a French accent,” she said laughing. “Working with Peter was amazing.”

“Crossing to Freedom” also gave Winningham her first opportunity to visit Europe. She and her family spent the summer on location in France and Germany.

“I saw a rough cut of the film and told my husband, ‘I don’t know what it’s like because I have so many very sentimental, gushy feelings about the whole summer,’ ” said Winningham. “When I watched the film, it was like an explosion of memories of my teas with Peter, rainy days in France and just all the people I met. At the wrap party, I accompanied my kids on the guitar on ‘So Long, Farewell’ from ‘The Sound of Music.’ It was an unbelievable summer.”

Though Winningham has worked steadily in TV movies, feature film roles haven’t been as bountiful. She played the vet in love with Tom Hanks in the box office smash, “Turner and Hooch,” but Winningham admitted that it wasn’t much of a part. “It was difficult,” she said. “We had nine writers. The funniest thing was the dog drooling.”

She thought her luck would change when she received rave reviews in late 1988 for her performance as a cynical hooker in the Westwood Playhouse production of David Rabe’s play, “Hurlyburly.”

“I felt a lot of changes creatively doing the play,” said Winningham. “Working on that was mind-boggling. But I’m still waiting to land a film experience of equal caliber to my TV work.”

When she’s not before the cameras, Winningham and her brood live on the outskirts of picturesque Monterey. “This is a really good place for the phone to ring because I don’t wait for the phone to ring,” she said. “It’s a gorgeous part of the world. I’m far enough away from Los Angeles where I can read and watch the kids, go biking, play my guitar and really feel like I’m doing something. Life is pretty full.”