She’s Only 14, and Much More Than All That

The crowd beyond the TV studio green room is wild with anticipation, chanting for the evening’s star. A few fans with connections are ushered in to shake hands with the performer, who graciously signs autographs. The audience cannot be put off, however, and after the giddy fans depart, it’s time for the object of worship to take the stage.

As the emcee calls her name, Amanda Bynes, 14, runs to the footlights to deafening cheers.

OK, so unless you have kids under 10 at home, you’ve probably never heard of Amanda Bynes. But among a certain segment of youngsters, especially girls, Amanda Bynes is it. As the star of the popular “The Amanda Show,” which airs Saturday nights on Nickelodeon, the pretty, chestnut-haired actress finds herself in the unique position of being the only teenager in memory to helm her own variety show, and an ambitious one at that.

Borrowing “Saturday Night Live’s” format, Bynes kicks off each episode with an out-of-costume monologue. From there, she morphs into everything from a wicked witch to a ditsy Eastern European immigrant to an obsessed fan in comedy sketches performed for a live audience--kind of like a funnier Meryl Streep for the carpool crowd. (Bynes gets backing from three other actors.)

The bits are surprisingly sophisticated, even to an adult. Going into its second season Oct. 7, the show is already the most popular broadcast or cable program in its time slot for its target demographic, 6- to 11-year-olds. The list of upcoming guest stars is awfully hip too, including “Felicity’s” Tangi Miller and “Roswell’s” Shiri Appleby.

As for the actress’ official Web site, it averages 2 million hits a week. Movie roles may lie in Bynes’ future as well. Tollin/Robbins Entertainment, the company that produces her show, is the same one that launched the feature career of “Dawson’s Creek’s” James Van Der Beek with “Varsity Blues,” and executives there want to create such a vehicle for her.

Nickelodeon’s president of film and television, Albie Hecht, says that he likes Bynes as much for herself as for the revenue he thinks she’ll bring him. “She’s one of the blessings I count each day,” he exclaims. “She’s funny--and funny is money. She has a major career ahead of her.”

“Amanda’s” set workers also talk the actress up: How she slips from one accent to another effortlessly, in one instance summoning a dead-on imitation of television’s tough-talking Judge Judy for a particular gag after having merely glanced at a promo for the magistrate’s show. How she turned down an offer to get her dressing room at Nick’s Hollywood facility repainted, since no other castmate would receive such treatment.

So the Hollywood Hyperbole Radar was turned to high for an encounter with Bynes during a taping of her show. But the teenage thespian seems as apple-pie as described. She jokingly points out her pimples when asked about the stress of juggling academics (she’s starting a Ventura County high school) with acting, and she’s free of such Tinseltown trappings as a cell phone.

Bynes got her start in theater and commercials but found her calling at age 7, when she tried stand-up comedy at L.A.’s the Laugh Factory. “All the adults were laughing, instead of booing me off the stage,” she recalls. “It was such a rush. This is embarrassing, but I loved it so much that they literally had to drag me away.”

When she was 9, Bynes caught the eye of producers Dan Schneider and Brian Robbins while performing in a talent showcase. They cast her in Nick’s ensemble show “All That.” After Bynes became the show’s breakout star, Schneider persuaded Nick to build a program around her. Now, she’s literally got her name in lights--the letters A-M-A-N-D-A flash above the show’s turquoise, purple and red set. But, notes the actress, “I don’t think I [act] because I need attention. I do it ‘cause it’s fun to make people laugh. Even though I have this gift, I’m not special for it; everybody has something. This is a job I do.”

Bynes’ approach to celebrity is courtesy of her un-Hollywood mom and dad, says Schneider, “The Amanda Show’s” creator-executive producer. Rick and Lynn Bynes maintain strict rules about their daughter’s social life, on-set manners and how much of her salary can be spent. (She makes a face when this is explained to a visitor.)

While solid parenting can only help Bynes, the fact remains that most child performers grow up to star in nothing more than “The E! True Hollywood Story.” Even “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch’s” Melissa Joan Hart--the former child star Bynes looks up to, since she also started on Nickelodeon--hasn’t had much luck breaking out of television (her 1999 movie “Drive Me Crazy” attracted little attention at the box office).

Schneider, for one, says that the Bynes equation--the looks of a lead, the chops of a character actor--will translate into the career of a Jodie Foster instead of, say, Jody from “Family Affair” (remember him? Didn’t think so). “I honestly think there’s never been a kid like her,” Schneider notes, “because I’ve never written her [a part] she couldn’t pull off. While Amanda is pretty enough to be the ingenue, she’s not afraid to look silly to get a laugh. I see Lucille Ball or Gilda Radner in her, yet she could [equally] be on ‘Dawson’s Creek.’ So yes, I believe she’ll succeed as an adult.”

The guest star at this day’s taping, “Partridge Family” veteran Danny Bonaduce, is also a fan, having discovered the show through his young daughter. “Amanda’s amazing to watch,” notes the radio personality [his talk show airs mornings on KYSR-FM (98.7)] and former child star. “[At her age], I was never this good.”

But with Bynes herself in transition--the actress has shot up six inches in the past year--her career is bound to change. Though she’s in her terrible teens, don’t expect to see her becoming part of today’s fast pack of scantily clad starlets, Schneider predicts. “I don’t think Amanda’s going [to succumb to] the pressures of Hollywood,” he says. “Her parents are too responsible for that.”

Ask Bynes about her future and her age definitely shows. On one hand, she wants a career as big as Jim Carrey’s, getting to do both drama and comedy. On the other hand, maybe she’ll try fashion design--she, like, loves clothes. Normal teen that she is, Bynes is as concerned with the Big Questions as with the fact that her dad is already saying no to a car when she turns 16.

“I’m completely aware [that I’m in an unusual position] for a kid, so I’m grateful for every day,” she says. “I want to perform for as long as I can--but if this was all gone tomorrow, I’d know that I had fun while I did it.”

* The new season of “The Amanda Show” premieres on Nickelodeon Oct. 9 at 8 p.m.