"Hairspray" ingenue Blonsky filming teen comedy

Nikki Blonsky of the movie ''Hairspray'' performs a song from the movie on NBC's ''Today'' show in New York, July 20, 2007. In her first role since her breakthrough performance in the hit movie musical ''Hairspray,'' Blonsky has joined the cast of the teen comedy ''Harold.''

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - In her first role since her breakthrough performance in the hit movie musical "Hairspray," newcomer Nikki Blonsky has joined the cast of the teen comedy "Harold."

Blonsky plays Rhonda, the nerdy best friend of balding teen Harold (Spencer Breslin). Ally Sheedy ("The Breakfast Club") returns to the high school comedy genre as Maureen, a mother who helps her prematurely aging son cope with incessant teasing.

"Saturday Night Live" veteran Colin Quinn plays Reedy, a drunken barfly who's a regular at a strip club Harold frequents. Cuba Gooding Jr., one of the film's producers, plays a school janitor who befriends the troubled title character.

Filming on "Harold" has just begun in Blonsky's hometown of Great Neck, N.Y. The 18-year-old actress had no idea the movie would be shot there when she auditioned. "The set is my middle school," she said. "It's kinda creepy. I didn't have the best time there, so going back is definitely cooler."

Her brother attends the school and, in another coincidence, is in some of the same classes as the daughter of producer Morris S. Levy, who happened to attend high school alongside Blonsky's mother. "My brother went to his daughter's bat mitzvah," she said.

"I read a bunch of scripts after 'Hairspray,' but this was really funny and had so much life in it. I'm playing an outcast again, but not necessarily because of the whole 'plus-size' thing," Blonsky added, referring to the weight that helped her land the role of Tracy Turnblad. "It's because my character marches to the beat of her own drummer."

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter