By CAROL ROBIDOUX (Courier Times)

Marie Elena O'Brien graduated from Truman High School six years ago with stars in her eyes the size of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.

She left Bristol Township and followed her dreams, landing at Point Park College in Pittsburgh to study acting. After that, she moved to New York City, got an agent, had a screen test, met director Kevin Smith and, in the spring of 1998, was cast as "clinic girl" in Smith's latest film, "Dogma."

It was the chance of a lifetime for an inexperienced actress with no screen credits and more enthusiasm than an Academy Award acceptance speech by Sally Field.

Even though things didn't turn out the way she had hoped, she said director Kevin Smith liked her work.

"It's not exactly a success story in the conventional sense, but I know anything can happen in the editing process, and I'm certainly not the first person to get the snip-snip," the 24-year-old O'Brien said from her New York City apartment.

"I had a chance to see the movie [last weekend], and I'm glad to have been a part of it," O'Brien said.

She said she remains optimistic. That might be hard for some people - particularly considering that her scene as "vomit girl" in last summer's live-action version of "Inspector Gadget" also was cut.

"In that movie, I think the shot just didn't work. It was a scene where all the characters, in the spirit of the Coen brothers and David Lynch, were caught in off-color moments. One guy's toupee flies off, Matthew Broderick's head gets torn off and I threw up. In hindsight, I think it was just a little too extraneously disgusting," O'Brien said.

In any case, her real education as an actress has officially begun, O'Brien said.

She said she discovered there are no small roles - even when your part lands silently on the cutting-room floor. She said working on the two movies has given her confidence, contacts and experience.

"The whole experience was great. I can't say enough about what a genuine and decent person Kevin Smith was to work with," O'Brien said about the Red Bank, N.J., director, whose credits include "Mallrats," "Clerks" and "Chasing Amy."

"In a business where it's easy to find pretentious people and so many phonies, this was an amazing, refreshing moment in my career," O'Brien said.

Nerves weren't a big problem. O'Brien said she had already worked through most of her stage fright at Harry S Truman High School under the direction of drama teacher Lou Volpe.

"I'm not surprised that Marie is not feeling down about this. As a high school actress, she always felt pretty confident," Volpe said. "The best thing about Marie was that she was a very generous actress. She didn't act in a vacuum. She was always talented, but there was so much more to Marie. I really do hope she makes it as a professional actress. The entertainment business will be a better place, once she finds what she's looking for."

The admiration is mutual. O'Brien recalled her experiences with Truman's drama program as life-changing.

"I owe more to Lou Volpe than there are words to say," O'Brien said. "Just to have someone believe in you the way Lou believes in his students can give you a lifetime you never would have had otherwise. For certain, he's done that for me."

And that, O'Brien said, gave her the confidence to land the "Dogma" role.

She heard about the movie from an actor who told her there was a rumor around Pittsburgh that Kevin Smith was coming to town with a new project.

She dropped off her head shot to her agent and inquired about the project. Her new agents said it was unlikely there'd be a part for a female in her age bracket. But as luck would have it, she got called for an audition.

"I read through the script and was really impressed. It seemed like a nice scene with maybe five minutes worth of film time, lots of lines. I told myself it was a great opportunity just to have the audition," O'Brien said.

Days passed without a word from her agent. O'Brien was ready to chalk the audition up to experience and move on.

"Then I got a call at work, and my agent says, 'Kevin Smith wants to see you right now. Can you get here?' I looked at my boss and he said 'Go,' so I went," O'Brien said.

And she got the job. Her role as "clinic girl" was designed to spark a moment of realization for actress Linda Fiorentino's character in the much-anticipated movie.

In the end, O'Brien is pretty sure her scene was cut for two reasons.

"One, it was the most serious moment in the movie - it was a very sad scene. But Linda was just so wonderful, so dramatic and amazing. The other reason is that, at one point, the movie was three hours and fifteen minutes long," she said.

On the upside, O'Brien's name was mentioned on Smith's official Web site. The director had this to say about O'Brien's almost acting debut: "There's a new member to the troupe who shared screen time with our Linda - Marie Elena. For a first-timer to hold the frame with a seasoned pro like Linda, it takes a certain something. Marie-Elena had that in spades."

For now, O'Brien is continuing to work as an office temp while auditioning regularly for plays and movies.