NEWS LITE : CELEBRITY GUV VISITS FILM TOWN.

Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura rubbed elbows with Hollywood hot shots over the weekend while he tried to burnish his state's reputation as a good place to shoot movies.

The sometime-actor and wrestling star strode past paparazzi alongside such stars as Lynn Redgrave and James Coburn on Saturday at the Independent Spirit Awards, a pre-Academy Awards show that honored lower-budgeted films.

``I think it's more fun for them to be around me,'' Ventura said.

Ventura presented one award and used the backstage press events to tout Minnesota as Hollywood-on-the-Mississippi.

``It's my job to let the film world out there know that Minnesota's a great place to do films,'' he said. ``We're the land of 10,000 lakes. We're very diverse: the north woods to farming country in the south, to a Twin City metro area that's often referred to as the Minneapple.''

Meetings with studio leaders were scheduled for today.

``He's brought a face to the state that this town can understand,'' said Craig Rice, president of the Minnesota Film Board who came to Hollywood as part of a contingent of state film promoters traveling with the governor.

Film board members say 60 feature films have been shot in Minnesota since 1990, including ``Grumpy Old Men'' in 1993, ``Fargo'' in 1995 and ``A Simple Plan,'' filmed last year in Delano.

Ventura arrived in his denim shirt and pants, cream-colored fringed jacket, Navy SEALs ball cap and cowboy boots.

After the pre-Academy Awards show, Ventura went a few blocks away to the headquarters of the Rand Corp., which is looking for a site to open a new research facility. The Minneapolis-St. Paul area is one of three finalists for the facility, said Ventura spokesman John Wodele.

Mayberry was good place to grow up

Making ``Ed TV,'' a cautionary tale about the price of fame, caused filmmaker Ron Howard to reflect on his own lifelong celebrity.

Nationally known since age 5 thanks to his part as Opie on ``The Andy Griffith Show,'' Howard struggled to fit in with the other kids at school and worked to make sure he didn't become another misfit child star.

``Part of my code of life became defined by not fulfilling those cliches for people, which later included not being thrown in jail or being written up as a child actor on the rocks,'' Howard said. ``I consciously wanted to avoid those cliches.''

Howard, 45, lives in Connecticut with his wife and four children, who range in age from 11 to 17.

The perky girl image brings few perks

With a hit sitcom and a new movie coming out, ``Dharma & Greg'' star Jenna Elfman has a few tips for staying sane in Hollywood.

``Do other things,'' Elfman says in the March 18-25 issue of Time Out New York magazine. ``I don't just act. It starts to feel like you're digging into an open wound when you do the same thing all the time. It becomes achy, sore and tiresome.''

Although she co-stars in the coming film ``Ed TV,'' Elfman feels typecast by her perky character on ``Dharma & Greg.''

``I want people to start offering me some big dramatic parts,'' she said. ``Sometimes people get locked in this spunky girl thing, like I do every week. I want the opportunity to do other things, too.''

Elfman, 27, got her start in show business as a dancer, appearing on the 1991 Academy Awards show and with the rock group ZZ Top on a 1994 concert tour as a ``Legs Girl'' dancing to the song ``She's Got Legs.''

One-time starlet on rebound

Two decades ago, Diane Lane was hyped as the hottest teen actress of her generation. The ups and downs that followed made her an expert in growing up too fast.

After her debut at age 14 in ``A Little Romance,'' Lane hit it big as a rising star in ``The Outsiders'' and ``Rumble Fish.'' Movie offers poured in, along with growing pains.

``I did everything wrong there was to do,'' Lane, 34, said. ``When I was 18, I was very uncomfortable with the heat of the spotlight coming at me. I'd just done `Streets of Fire' and `Cotton Club,' and I ran for the hills. I had to have a perspective adjustment.''

Some bad role choices followed, as did a doomed marriage to actor Christopher Lambert that produced 5-year-old daughter Eleanor. Now she's hoping for a major comeback with her upcoming film, ``Walking on the Moon.''

Life remains difficult for the single mother, but now the difficulties seem like character-building challenges rather than ego-crushing obstacles.

``I got through my precocious teen-age mess. Aren't I now allowed to enjoy things?'' she asked jokingly. ``But, no, I'm a role model and a mother.''

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3 photos

PHOTO (1) THE NEXT PELE?

Edgar Allen Dungo, 4, practices moves while spectating at the American Youth Soccer Organization's top final championship Sunday. On the field at Balboa Park were the Balboa Rebels, a team made up of 14 players from throughout the Valley.

Tom Mendoza/Daily News

(2) Hillary, Chelsea on tour

First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton puts on a scarf to cover her head according to Muslim tradition before touring the Citadel of Salah al-Din in Cairo on Sunday. Clinton and her daughter, Chelsea, set off this weekend for various North African sites.

Khue Bui/Associated Press

(3) Lane