No Time for Teen Angst : Acting: Wil Horneff draws on his ‘good side’ to prepare for the tortured youth roles he keeps playing.

Wil Horneff saves the teen traumas for his film and TV work.

Like many of his peers, the New Jersey high-school freshman skateboards, swims, Rollerblades and does his homework. He also just happens to have teen-dream good looks. While his friends let off steam in competitive sports, Horneff has parlayed any teen Angst he might have into acting.

“My problems are nothing compared to the kids I’ve played,” Horneff says from his Saddle Ridge, N.J., home. “The problems I have are things to do with acting, like when I’m working. Otherwise, I’m just easygoing.”

In the past two years, he’s played a romantic post-pubescent who commits suicide, a computer whiz chased by a homicidal computer, a nasty Little League team leader, and a tortured juvenile turned killer.

That’s a lot of emoting from a 14-year-old, especially from one whose mother, describes him as “a very focused, respectful child.”

Robin Horneff, who heads a performing arts center, recounts the traumatic time a tree-house fell on Wil’s sister, breaking her pelvis in five places. “The first thing he said when he heard, very calmly, was ‘Let’s pray, Mom.’ So we did, and he went on to calm his siblings (another sister and a brother). If he has any troubles, he works it out on a boxing bag in his bedroom.”

Horneff’s emotional roller-coaster of acting roles has paid off. In the next two weeks, he appears in two upcoming CBS made-for-television movies.

In the “The Yearling,” which airs Sunday, Horneff plays the isolated country boy Jody, who lovingly rears his pet deer, Flag, and comes of age as a result of unfortunate and tragic events. Peter Strauss and Jean Smart play Jody’s parents in the adaptation of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings’ 1938 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.

On May 1 and 3, Horneff dons soldier’s garb as young Willie Marsden--played as an adult by Donald Sutherland--in the CBS miniseries “Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All.” Willie, an innocent, not only witnesses the death of his best friend, but has to kill.

To prepare for the roles of Jody and Willie, Horneff says he used his “good side.” He adds, “There’s a little of me in there and then I use my good side to become the characters.”

“Yearling” director Rod Hardy believes Horneff consistently made the right choices in playing Jody, even if the young actor didn’t trust himself. “He was always saying to me, ‘Can’t I do just one more take?’ It’s very exciting working with Wil. He’s an amazing talent.”

Frank Konigsberg, executive producer of “Oldest,” couldn’t agree more: “He gave a depth of emotion to his character and a kind of sensitivity rarely seen in a kid his age. He was able to convey a real sense of loss for someone who hasn’t experienced that kind of pain.”

His co-stars are equally impressed. For Strauss, it’s Horneff’s combination of innocence and talent. “He has this extraordinary sensitivity and absence of cynicism that’s present in so many teens today,” Strauss says. “That may be remarkable parenting, but there was such a fragility, sensitivity and awe to him, he was a complete joy to work with.”

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Horneff diligently follows the guidelines his parents set for him in selecting roles. “There are basically three rules,” Horneff says. “One, we’re Christians and I can’t do any role that offends God or our beliefs. Two, we don’t do anything that will disorient the family or break us apart or keep us apart for too long. Three, it can’t affect my education.”

That education includes being tutored daily when he’s on a set and attending an all-boys Catholic school when at home.

Horneff always finds his way to Saddle Ridge, despite the travel demands of his work. The CBS films were shot back-to-back last winter--”Yearling” in Charleston, S.C., and “Oldest” in Atlanta. Since 1992, the teen-ager has spent time doing movie roles in Los Angeles (“Ghost in the Machine”) and Salt Lake City (“Sandlot”) and worked in New York on the TV show “Law & Order.” Traveling was fine, he says, “But I always miss home and New Jersey.”

After a rocky start in commercials (“At 7 I did like 50 auditions and only got one”), he made his professional stage debut at 13 in John Guare’s black comedy, “Four Baboons Adoring the Sun,” at the Lincoln Center Theater in New York.

“I didn’t enjoy it,” he says. “It was so boring doing the same thing, day after day.”

Asked if he hoped to become a young idol, Horneff explained why he didn’t:

“I really want to avoid that teen-idol syndrome. If you’re popular for awhile, and then someone else comes along and you get replaced, you wonder if your acting will fall through, too.”

* “The Yearling” airs Sunday , 9-11 p.m. “Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All” airs May 1 and 3 at 9-11 p.m. Both are on KCBS-TV Channel 2 and KFMB-TV Channel 8.