Mature enough for an offbeat role

A former child actor with roles in such films as “Corrina, Corrina” and “Waterworld,” Tina Majorino took time off before returning to work once she turned 18. When she read the script for “Napoleon Dynamite,” she was taken by the cast of lovable oddballs and misfits and wanted to audition because, she says, “Honestly, I just wanted to meet the people who wrote it, to see what they looked like.”

Majorino gives her character a tenderness and wide-eyed enthusiasm that helps keep the film from tipping into snickering mean-spiritedness. As she explains, “It’s a slice of life. It’s about regular, awkward kids. The thing I appreciate is that even though everyone thinks Deb is kind of nerdy, she’s very high fashion and glamorous in her own mind.”