DATE: Sunday, July 27, 1997                 TAG: 9707290112

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E16  EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, ENTERTAINMENT WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   75 lines

ACTOR FINDS ROLE PICTURE PERFECT

DO NICE GUYS always get treated like doormats by pretty girls?

Jay Mohr, who's scheduled for movie stardom as a nice guy who is trashed by Jennifer Aniston in the movie ``Picture Perfect,'' pondered the question.

``Well, all I can say is that there are usually two men in every woman's life - the man she's with and the man she should be with. Women don't always make the right choice. Look around.''

In ``Picture Perfect,'' the romantic comedy that opens Friday, Mohr has the coveted role of the right guy for TV's super-pert ``Friends'' star Aniston. In fact, critics who saw an advance screening considered that he came close to stealing the movie.

For the girls, he has blond good looks with a hangdog expression that makes them want to mother him. From the guys, he gets sympathy for the role of the guy who keeps getting put down by the pretty girl he worships.

Up until now, Mohr is known primarily for playing Tom Cruise's rival sports promoter in the hit ``Jerry Maguire.'' He was the desperate agent who talked on two phones at once in an effort to steal Cruise's clients.

But Nick, the character he plays in ``Picture Perfect'' is another species. In the movie, Aniston hires him to impersonate her fiance. Her problem: She's being overlooked for raises and promotions at work because she's perceived as being too independent. In desperation, she introduces Nick as her potential husband-to-be, planning to stage a breakup with him in front of her boss. But he falls for her and doesn't want to get out.

She, foolish girl, prefers the office Romeo, a nogoodnik one-night-stander played by Kevin Bacon.

Mohr realizes it's potentially a star-making role.

``All I know is that there were lots of kissing scenes,'' he said. ``Acting school doesn't prepare you for that. I had never met Jennifer and suddenly I'm kissing her - a lot. You wonder: Was that too sloppy? Was that too dry? And the director says `Do it again.' You wonder how it's going to look on a big, huge screen. Hey, it's a tough job, but, you know, somebody has to do it.''

Born in New Jersey, Mohr began as a stand-up comic back in his teens.

``I was always the cut-up in class and I'd get thrown out,'' he remembered. ``If I got thrown out, I got a zero. I was getting good grades but when they averaged in those zeros, I was in trouble. I loved movies. At the age of 10, I was explaining to the other kids about `Raging Bull' and `Apocalypse Now,' my favorite movies. Then, I worked up this comedy routine. My mother drove me into New York to a comedy club but there were prostitutes standing outside and she took me back home. Eventually, I got there on my own - and people laughed.''

He was doing his stand-up act at Catawba College in North Carolina when he got the call that his six-minute audition tape had been accepted by ``Saturday Night Live.'' On that show, he became known for his impressions of Christopher Walken, Ricki Lake and Sean Penn.

After a run of failed TV sitcoms, he landed ``Jerry Maguire'' and ``Picture Perfect'' at the same time. ``I was doing `Picture Perfect' on Mondays and Tuesdays in New York and `Jerry Maguire' on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays in Los Angeles,'' he recalled. ``The two parts are entirely different - and I was spending a lot of time on airplanes. It was crazy.''

Next, he plays a homicidal maniac in ``Suicide Kings'' with Walken, set for release in January. ``Everyone was watching my first meeting with Walken because I'd done him on `SNL.' They thought there might be trouble. On screen, after all, the guy is usually a killer. As it turned out, he liked my impressions.''

In real life, Mohr and Aniston don't do any kissing. She's with Tate Donovan (former boyfriend of Sandra Bullock and currently the voice of Disney's Hercules). Mohr's been living for four years with the same girl, actress Nicole Chamberlain, and a dog named Shirley.

So that hangdog, put-upon, pathetic doormat look he has in ``Picture Perfect'' is not quite accurate?

``Naw. It was acting,'' he laughed, ``but it's nice that the audience pulls for me.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX

Jay Mohr stars as Jennifer Aniston's hired fiance... KEYWORDS: PROFILE BIOGRAPHY MOVIES

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