Jason Lee glided into acting a few years after winning a national skateboard championship in his teens. Since 1995, when writer-director Kevin Smith cast him in “Mallrats,” the Orange County native has turned up in some 15 movies. He’s now balancing two worlds, the indies and the majors, as easily as he used to do the 360 flip, a move he made famous back on the skateboarding scene.

“Jason’s played a lot of `dude’ roles, and he clearly is a bit of a dude,” says Smith, who’s cast him in four films. “But I’ve always seen him as a leading man. I’m glad the rest of the business is finally catching up.” Lee arrives at Canteen in SoHo fresh from the set of “Vanilla Sky,” his second movie for Cameron Crowe. (He played second fiddle to Billy Crudup in “Almost Famous.”) Snow is falling, and he’s wearing only a light parka. Though he’s in desperate need of a smoke and is pissed off at New York cabs, he’s still maintaining that positive L.A. frame of mind: “The snow is awesome, man.”

Despite the unself-conscious elan with which he fidgets with his hair and lights up a cigarette, he insists he has no interest in cultivating a cool-guy image. “That whole James Dean revival thing — looking mysterious, smoking a cigarette with your shirt a little open — that’s so outdated already,” he says. Still, Lee is about to have his debut as a romantic leading man, opposite Jennifer Love Hewitt in the neo-screwball comedy “Heartbreakers.”

“My movies are getting bigger and bigger,” he admits. “But I almost didn’t take `Heartbreakers.’ The guy seemed a little straight — a sweet, nice guy that girls would like. But you can’t just play the weirdo in every movie to avoid being the dork.”

In fact, although his “Heartbreakers” character, a bartender, falls hard for Hewitt’s tough con artist, he’s not a total sap, which is why writer-director David Mirkin chose Lee.

“I didn’t want an actor who would play him totally straight,” Mirkin says. “I wrote the part with someone off-kilter in mind. I like a nice edge, but with heart. Jason has that. He can be emotional, but he’s not mushy.”

A few months later, Lee is in Los Angeles wrapping “Vanilla Sky,” intermittently shooting “Smith’s Jay” and “Silent Bob Strike Back” (which brings back his character from “Chasing Amy” and “Mallrats,” along with Ben Affleck, Joey Lauren Adams, Matt Damon and a cast of hundreds), prepping “Stealing Stanford” (the first movie from Bruce McCulloch of “The Kids in the Hall”) and doing promotion for a comedy called “Big Trouble” that comes out in the fall.

He’s also recording some of the experimental ambient music he’s been noodling around with for years, participating in and sponsoring vintage-car races and starting a professional-driving school, Road One Racing, with a friend.

In other words, he’s busy. Not to mention focused. One of the reasons for Lee’s eclectic success is that he doesn’t drink, doesn’t party and, at the ripe age of 30, has been married for five years, to his longtime sweetheart, L.A. photographer Carmen Llywellyn.

“The reason I gave up partying? Been there, done that,” Lee says. “I got it all out of my system. I don’t even drink coffee now.”

“You don’t see many young actors who are that settled down,” says 20-year-old Zooey Deschanel, who worked with Lee on “Mumford,” “Almost Famous” and “Big Trouble.” “It’s nice to be around Jason, because he’s so family-minded, and he’s so in love with his wife. And so funny.”

Of course, he’s not all funny in “Vanilla Sky,” the movie Crowe is directing on a secretive set with Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz and Penelope Cruz.

“It’s dark,” Lee admits. “And when I signed on to do it, that’s all I knew about it. We’re not allowed to talk about it, but everyone knows it’s a remake of a Spanish film from 1997 called “Abre los Ojos” (“Open Your Eyes”).

“And you know what’s weird?” he asks. “Tom Cruise is the most normal guy of any guy actor I’ve met. He loves sports, and he’s a guy who can go to family reunions and get along with the uncles. ”

But is he … cool?

“Who cares?” Lee laughs. “I used to be cool. Cool was all I cared about. But cool is somewhat overrated. I think Tom Cruise would tell you that. And you know what?” He stubs out half of his third smoke. “We’re all just trying to pretend we’re cooler than we really are. Which makes me think I oughta quit smoking. If Sean Penn can do it, I can.”

(Merle Ginsberg is a writer for Fairchild Publications.)