Skipping school to go to the mall is the worst thing Jenna Dewan has ever done?or at least admitted to.

So playing the title role in the upcoming thriller Tamara (opening February 3) meant she would be portraying a seductive killer, a role utterly unfamiliar with Dewan.

“Everyone is a dichotomy of light and dark. As a person, I would say I’m more on the light side,” Dewan tells andPOP.

Dewan plays Tamara, an outcast at school who tries desperately to fit in. Some fellow students accidentally kill her in a failed prank. But Tamara returns from the dead seeking revenge.

“It’s ironic that I play a witch because I’m a very spiritual person. I don?t believe in manipulating people and using dark arts in that way,” she says. “At times it was fun to play the resurrected Tamara because I got to play a sexy, manipulative seductress that really isn?t me.”

And though the seductress may not be an accurate description of the real Jenna Dewan, she says she was comfortable acting in the sexually provocative scenes.

“It really came naturally once I figured out her motivation and my intention with that side of Tamara. I got to play her in a manipulative way, so it wasn?t like I just wanted to throw this sexy stuff on all these guys,” she explains.

Tamara is not only Dewan’s first lead role in a movie; it’s her first movie. The 25-year-old has spent most of her life dancing. She toured with Janet Jackson and P. Diddy and appeared in music videos for Ricky Martin and Justin Timberlake. (The tabloids linked her to Timberlake, right after his split with Britney Spears, a situation she laughs at now because she says they were never dating.)

Though she’s somewhat of an acting rookie, Dewan carefully examines each role she is offered to see if it is “creatively exciting.”

“As you get some experience, you look at choices differently,” says Dewan. “I never look at things like what’s going to make me a better star. I would rather do things that are true to me that sound exciting and fun and if it happens to lead to fame, it happens to lead to fame.”

After Tamara, Dewan will be seen in theatres again in a few months. She has a role in the Antonio Banderas film, Take the Lead, scheduled for an April release. Dewan will also be seen alongside Mario and Channing Tatum in Disney’s Music High, expected for a release this year.

And should Tamara lead her to bigger films, she insists she will always stay grounded. Unlike P. Diddy, who employs a man to comb down his hair every few minutes, Dewan will never have a comb girl.

“I’m not a diva at all!”

Quick thoughts
Worst pickup line you ever heard- “Does grabbing my ass count?”
First time you saw yourself on TV- “When I danced with Pink on the AMAs. It didn’t feel real.”
Biggest regret- “Not staying with yoga.”
An item you can’t leave home without- “My crystals because I’m a spiritual freak.”
Something we should all know about you- “That I’m not like the manipulative, crazy Tamara that everyone will see. I’m very sweet and down to earth.”