LOS ANGELES -- Despite his brooding good looks, Benicio Del Toro makes for an unlikely Hollywood pinup.

Best known for his role as Fenster, the criminal no one can understand in "The Usual Suspects," Del Toro has made quite a reputation for himself in the independent film world. His trademark dark intensity and comedic timing earned him an Independent Spirit Award for best supporting actor for "Suspects," but these are not necessarily the same qualities big studios look for in casting leading men.

But at his co-star Alicia Silverstone's" insistence, Del Toro is making his debut in a leading role in Columbia's "Excess Baggage," in theaters August 29. Co-starring with Silverstone (who also produced), are Christopher Walken and Harry Connick Jr. Del Toro plays Vincent Roche, a car thief who gets more than he bargains for when he steals Silverstone's BMW.

"I think I'm ready for big roles now," Del Toro muses. "I got to deal with a different side of myself. A cute side."

Despite his occupation, Del Toro's character in "Excess Baggage" turns out to be the most moral in the film. Adding depth and compassion for a character is something the actor likes to bring to all his roles, although he does fear making them too likable. "I don't want to glamorize thieves, but there's good in everybody. When I was at school I was always branded as a troublemaker, and teachers wouldn't like me too much. That forced me to be more of a troublemaker. Some of the teachers saw beyond that and saw that there was a nice person there," Del Toro says.

Born in Puerto Rico, Del Toro, 29, was raised on a farm in rural Pennsylvania. Acting was not his first career choice -- Del Toro attended the University of California at San Diego intending to major in business. But after taking an acting class, Del Toro realized his passion for performance and soon dropped out of school to seek a career in the spotlight.

Del Toro trained as an actor in New York at the Stella Adler Conservatory and in Los Angeles at the Actors Circle Theater before getting his first big break playing a drug dealer in the television miniseries "Drug Wars: The Camarena Story." Since then, Del Toro has been in nearly a dozen films, bringing his character-driven acting to progressively larger roles.

Making her first film as a producer and star, Silverstone has nothing but praise for him. "He's so smart, so charming and so perfectly creative. He was my partner in crime."

Reflecting on the casting process, Silverstone adds, "Vincent was a really crucial role and had to be somebody who would shake the role up and make is as unconventional as possible, as interesting as possible. Benicio wanted to work really hard and I wanted somebody to work really hard with."

Del Toro has a simpler explanation as to why he took the role. "I was quite broke."

Half joking, Del Toro knows the hardships independent film actors go through. "I had done a couple of independent films. I did 'The Usual Suspects,' and 'Basquiat' -- the director (Julian Schnabel) is a friend of mine -- for nothing. I went to New York with $3,000 in the bank and when I came back I didn't have anything. I wasn't getting paid at all. I did 'The Funeral,' but that wasn't that much. 'Excess Baggage' came around and I said I'll take it and try to have fun with it."

The film's director, Marco Brambilla ("Demolition Man"), admits Del Toro was a hard sell for the studio because he'd never been a leading man before, but says he was always their first choice. "Benicio has a presence and charisma that functions on a completely different level to Alicia's, and that contrast is what the film is essentially about. His performance is so authentic."

Producer Bill Borden adds, "Benicio is an actor out of a school, the same as DeNiro or Pacino. He takes his roles and characters extremely seriously. He evaluates them, he analyzes them, he finds out what the skeleton behind that character is that everything hangs on."

Del Toro is currently filming "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," based on the counterculture classic by Hunter S. Thompson, with and co-star Johnny Depp. Del Toro plays Oscar Acosta, Thompson's drug-crazed attorney. One would think this is not a stretch, considering the actor comes from a family of lawyers. "I don't get to really play a lawyer in this movie, I play a hoodlum. They just go to Vegas and run amok. Hunter likes to think about it as being about hope, and how the 60s didn't take us to the promise land."

Although the film takes place during a turbulent era, Del Toro does not regret missing out on the actual experience. "I don't know if I would've liked to have been part of the 60s, and then shipped to Vietnam. I think that there was a lot going on, maybe too much. Everybody woke up at the same time trying to redefine this country. It was a very important decade in the history of America."

Del Toro has also taken a turn behind the camera. His 1995 directorial debut, "Submission," an 18-minute short starring Matthew McConaughey, was well received at the Venice International Film Festival. Since then, his acting has kept him plenty busy, but Del Toro says he may direct again.

As for what kind of story he would tell, Del Toro gives few details, but says that he would like to incorporate elements of his own life.

"One day I'd like to do something personal," he says. "I get quite embarrassed with my acting when I see it on the screen. I would imagine with a film that's my own, I'd be really embarrassed and have to leave the country."

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