By Emily Mitchell/Reported by Wendy Cole

Any resemblance between the prostitute protagonists in Miami Blues and Last Exit to Brooklyn is not coincidental. Jennifer Jason Leigh plays both, but with a difference. "As in any profession, people aren't all the same," says Leigh, 28. After wrapping a film, Leigh is "affected for a while. I embrace the character completely, and I never know when it will shut off." She emerged from the harrowing Last Exit "full of self-confidence because Tralala [inset] was a fighter who, on some level, felt she was better than everyone else." One role she doesn't seek is stardom. Yet it's hers for the taking.