"I know that basically he was born in Tasmania, in Australia, and as a child he was taken to Sydney, where he attended two schools and was quickly expelled from both," the teenage actor notes with a laugh. "Later, he moved to New Guinea and bought a tobacco farm that failed. And after that he moved out to Hollywood and - by his third film - he was an overnight sensation."

With such a pedigree, Flynn has had to field the same question repeatedly since landing a leading role two years ago on "Zoey 101," television's top-rated show with the 11-to-14-year-old crowd: Does he plan to follow in the footsteps of his grandfather, who went on to become not only the most popular leading man of his time but also a successful Hollywood ladies man?

For the moment, Flynn is content to portray Chase Matthews, the likable if socially awkward love interest in the life of private school student Zoey Brooks, played by 14-year-old Jamie Lynn Spears.

As the show's second season winds down with a special episode that premiered at 8 p.m. EST Friday on Nickelodeon and was repeating on Saturday and Sunday nights, Chase finally professes his love.

Unfortunately, he does it in an e-mail Zoey wasn't supposed to see. His bumbling efforts to take it back provide the twists and turns in a comic mystery designed to appeal not only to the tweeners but to anyone who has pushed the button on an electronic communication without thinking.

Acting, he indicates, is far easier, particularly for someone who grew up in the business. His father is a documentary filmmaker and his mother a photographer.

A series of TV guest appearances and roles in largely forgotten films followed before Dan Schneider, creator of such hit children's series as "The Amanda Show," "Drake and Josh" and "All That," cast him in "Zoey 101."

"He was cute and handsome, but not in an off-putting or threatening way," Schneider says of the baby-faced, curly haired teen. "He seemed like a guy little teenage girls would love, but also their mothers would love too."

"But I can tell you," he adds, "if I ever go to a tennis club or an old-age home or someplace where older people are, I'll definitely get recognized. ... If it's a woman, they'll say, `I was so in love with him.' If it's a guy, they'll say, `My wife was so in love with him.'"

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