British actress Claire Forlani can affect an American accent as sure as London bridges tumble down. "Except for the word been, I'm a great mimic," says the 23-year-old California transplant. In a series of auditions, Forlani easily convinced Clerks director Kevin Smith of her way with American youthspeak. "I had no idea she was British," he admits. Smith cast her in this month's Mallrats, his second look at slacker culture, which also stars 90210 wild girl Shannen Doherty in her first post-Brenda role. "She was quite nice, actually," says Forlani diplomatically. "I'm not sure what all the fuss is all about."

The blue-eyed, half-Italian newcomer recently wrapped her part as the love interest of the late artist Jean Michel Basquiat in Julian Schnabel's Build a Fort, Set It on Fire. On the set, the self-proclaimed "art idiot" was surrounded by costars who wield a mean paintbrush: "Dennis Hopper paints; Gary Oldman paints; Benicio Del Toro and David Bowie -- they all are brilliant painters." Claire Forlani needn't worry -- she's her own work of art.

British-born Mall Rat co-star Claire Forlani will step in as the female lead in artist Julian Schnabel's Basquiat, the biopic about the highly successful young "Downtown" artist who died of a drug overdose. Forlani, who is represented by the William Morris Agency's John Fogelman, will play opposite Tony Award winner Jeffrey Wright, who is making his feature film starring debut as the title character. Forlani, in the role of Basquiat's girlfriend Gina Cardinale, joins a cast that also includes Gary Oldman, Dennis Hopper and David Bowie as Andy Warhol. Sources are saying that the approximate $3 million in financing for Basquiat, which is scheduled to begin shooting on Monday, is coming from none other than Schnabel, who, like his subject, has made millions as one of New York's most successful young artists. Longtime Spike Lee colleague Jon Kilik, Randy Ostrow (Fresh) and ex-Propaganda principal Sigurjon Sighvatsson are producing.