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+ + + Wilmington Star :: April 6, 2004 3:13 PM

After One Tree Hill filming wraps this week, star Hilarie Burton hopes to take a couple of weeks off by relaxing in Wilmington.

The break will be well deserved. The actress, who turns 22 in July, has been juggling two jobs since filming for the hit WB drama began here last year – one as an actress, playing Peyton Sawyer, a popular cheerleader in a small North Carolina town, and another as an MTV VJ in New York.

It's meant frequent trips between the two cities, and sometimes coordinating her filming schedule with extra duties for the music network, such as spending time in Cancun for MTV's spring break coverage.

For the most part, she can keep the two separate, but every now and then, it all collides.

"It's colliding right now, with MTV Diary here, " she said in an interview a couple of weeks ago.

A camera operator for the network was in Wilmington filming the One Tree Hill cast both on and off the set for an upcoming episode of the behind-the-scenes show. Ms. Burton's two lives merged again when members of the One Tree Hill cast visited MTV's TRL in November. Fans of the show swamped them.

Ms. Burton's commitment to her work doesn't mean she doesn't know how to have a good time when the occasion calls for it, though.

At a recent charity flag football game, played by the OTH cast and crew, she went all out in her role as a team mother, bringing noisemakers and megaphones to the game and decorating the bleachers in blue ribbons and balloons.

"It's so much more fun when you can be obnoxious," she said.

Every few minutes she would interrupt our conversation to cheer her team.

"Get 'em, get 'em, get 'em," she'd say, before getting back to the interview. "I'm sorry. Where were we?"

She even wore her cheerleading outfit from the show to the game, brought along a squad of other girls, kept the crowd motivated by encouraging them to root for her side (even though they didn't win the game) and happily signed autographs for fans.

"I've cheered for football for nine years," said Ms. Burton, who was a cheerleader at her high school in Virginia. "I know what I'm doing."

Her cast members say the energy and fun she shows in practical jokes and on the football field at the game is a good example of her personality.

Not long after Britney Spears' quickie marriage and annulment, a rumor circulated that Ms. Burton and her boyfriend went through a similar ordeal. She laughed it off.

"That was just a joke that got out of hand," she said. But one that people believed was true.

For a budding star, she comes across as very down-to-earth.

"Hilarie is an old soul," said Mark Schwahn, creator of the series. "She's great. She's always just thrilled to do the job, even though she's kind of new to acting. She's just a joy to be around."

Although Ms. Burton was interested in acting early in life, it wasn't until she moved to New York that she got her big break with MTV.

On the surface One Tree Hill seems to be a guy show. It's about two half brothers who compete on the basketball court. But Ms. Burton's character Peyton is the girl who comes between them.

"At first, the audience rejected her character because, well, she was mean to our hero," Mr. Schwann said. "And she's pretty and popular."

"That's our challenge," he said, "because she has been and will continue to be the moral center of the show."

When the show premiered, Peyton was a cheerleader at the center of attention with a star athlete, Nathan Scott (played by James Lafferty), as a boyfriend. But she also has a troubled family background and an interest in art that's she's apprehensive about pursuing. She becomes interested in the deeper, broody Lucas Scott (Chad Michael Murray) as the series progressed.

If the show is picked up for a second season, be prepared for more stories about Peyton, as she begins to resolve her conflicting feelings about her life, and as she continues to find herself through art. Network executives are expected to announce in May whether the series will be renewed.

In her off time in Wilmington, Ms. Burton hunts for antiques, trying to find more unusual pieces for her collection.

"I like animal parts, skulls, things that are just a little bit weird," she said. "I've found hunting bundles, bows and arrows. I like having things no one else has."

One of her favorite places is Michael Moore Antiques in downtown Wilmington. She's also become a regular at Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse.

"I've been building a lot of stuff around the house," she said. "I've always been into it. But this is my house. I'm a big girl."

The projects she's undertaking at her own home in the area include finishing the molding and digging around in the back yard – and a few things she'd like to "write, sell, produce."

"There are three scripts I'm working on right now," she said. "Stuff my New York lifestyle hasn't allowed me to do. Hopefully, I'll finish that this summer."

She won't have too long, though. After a few weeks of vacation, she'll be back at work on the MTV summer circuit, where the network extends the music and fun-in-the-sun happenings of spring break for the whole season by setting up their cameras at hot spots on the coast.

"We're doing the Beach House," she said. " I'll be hopping around all over the country."