HELLO, MY NAME IS JOHN ... AND I'M A SEXAHOLIC.

Byline: Evan Henerson Theater Critic

ON SCREEN, he has been buried under piles of latex (see: ``Spawn''), dwarfed into comic grotesquery (``Moulin Rouge'') or embodied via a motor-mouthed animated sloth (``Ice Age''). On stage, actor/comedian John Leguizamo is a good-looking guy with nimble feet whose center of gravity - heck, his center of existence - appears to be his pelvis.

Given that his latest one-man show carries the title ``Sexaholix ... A Love Story,'' Leguizamo's never-ending bumping and grinding makes a certain sense. And the man is consistent: His earlier solo show ``Freak'' reveled in the comic side of carnality as well. He likes to talk about sex. And he's funny. Hardly a boring combination.

With ``Sexaholix,'' Leguizamo and director Peter Askin are trying to open a thornier biographical Pandora's box. Sex, Leguizamo explains between his quite salty anecdotes, may be a kind of self-definition. It also appears to be his only successful means of interacting with the women in his life. When he's not getting down to business, he's running away or fighting. Until, that is, he meets Teeny (Justine Maurer, the mother of his two children). That's where the ``love story'' comes in.

An earlier version of ``Sexaholix'' toured early in 2001. Then Leguizamo took the show to New York and later filmed it for HBO. To the actor's credit, the revelatory aspects of his show - the moments of tenderness and self-awareness - still feel fresh and largely spontaneous. The wildness will never be a problem. Leguizamo could throw a good theatrical party while in a coma.

He bursts onto the stage in a blast of music, illuminating Kevin Adams' wall of go-go lights while spinning and dancing his way front and center. His outfit is jeans, a red T-shirt and a leather jacket, and it's surprising that they're not all sweat-drenched by intermission. Leguizamo never stops moving.

He tries to give his dysfunction - and his horniness - a biographical context. The Mayan and Incan Leguizamo ancestors were just as randy. When we get to the actor's divorce-bound parents (who also played large roles in ``Freak''), we see why Leguizamo might be relationship gun-shy. The reason he and Teeny have it so good, Leguizamo explains, is ``because we are not getting married.''

From a cutesy anecdote featuring his 3-year-old daughter, Leguizamo dissolves chronologically backward into matters sexual. His group of friends, which he names the ``Sexaholix,'' turns out to be Leguizamo's refuge as well as his wolf pack. When something goes wrong with one of the women in his life, he flees to his friends (one of whom, by the way, sounds like a dead ringer for Sid, the sloth from ``Ice Age'').

Admittedly, as Leguizamo describes them, these are women who need escaping. There's the 40-year-old waitress/performance artist who is Leguizamo's initiation into adulthood, followed by the stripper whom he marries and later divorces.

Leguizamo, on a quest for love, is diplomatic enough to paint himself and his women with the same emotionally dysfunctional brush. It's telling that the comedian gets mush-mouthed and stuttery when trying to spit out the words ``I love you.''

By the time he circles back to the birth of his son, Leguizamo has covered some arresting territory featuring - among others - his stroke-afflicted grandfather, his brother and his therapist. John Leguizamo the besotted new father may not be a far cry from John Leguizamo the emotionally blocked horn dog, but he's headed in the right direction. And he figures to keep us laughing and dancing every step of the journey.

SEXAHOLIX ... A LOVE STORY - Three stars

Where: Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles.

When: 8 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 9 p.m. Friday, 4 and 9 p.m. Saturday, 5 p.m. this Sunday, 2 p.m. March 23; through March 23.

Tickets: $25 to $60. Call [phone].

In a nutshell: The always engaging Leguizamo isn't exactly breaking new biographical ground here, but he's anything but boring.

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John Leguizamo shares his experiences regarding love and commitment in ``Sexaholix ... A Love Story.''