Colombian actress swaps heroin for nudity

By Michelle Nichols

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Colombian actress Catalina Sandino Moreno made her name swallowing heroin pellets in the hit "Maria Full of Grace" but chose to take a more relaxed approach to her latest movie role -- by getting naked.

Although the 26-year-old earned a 2005 Oscar nomination for her film debut as a teen-age drug mule, her career has skirted mainstream Hollywood since then. That trend continues with her role as a young. carefree singer in "The Hottest State."

In an effort to expand beyond serious characters, Sandino Moreno said she chose to play the heartbreaker in the film so she could just "have fun."

The film, which follows the joy and pain of a first love, opens in major U.S. cities on Friday.

"I just wanted to go to the set feeling that I didn't have to go to a slaughterhouse or swallow some pellets," she said, referring to slaughterhouse visits for "Fast Food Nation," an adaptation of a book on the U.S. fast food industry.

"I just wanted to go to have fun ... to be relaxed," Sandino Moreno told Reuters in an interview. "I just wanted to do something different, completely different to what I have been doing."

She admits she struggled with her decision to strip down for the first time for sex scenes in "The Hottest State" before hitting upon a novel idea for image-conscious Hollywood -- be yourself.

"I'm not perfect, I have this," she said, grabbing her thighs. "Then I realized every time you watch a movie where a girl gets naked, it's perfect, she's a model and it's not true. It's not real.