BEVERLY HILLS -- Stephen Dorff is getting down to business.

That doesn't mean the party is over. It just means he's putting it on hold.

He admits it's time he became known as much for his movies as for his busy private life. For the past three years, Dorff, 23, has been Hollywood's poster party boy.

He's been photographed with numerous models and actresses at all the trendy Hollywood bars and parties.

When he wasn't on the arm of some beautiful starlet or model, Dorff was partying it up with R.E.M.'s flamboyant bisexual frontman Michael Stipe.

"I don't feel I need to put my private life in perspective, but I don't mind," says Dorff.

"I'm straight, but I feel very comfortable around gay men and women. I grew up around them. My agent is gay and so is my entertainment lawyer.

"Michael is one of my best friends. The first time we met, I sensed we had a natural rapport.

"I honestly think I could be happy being gay, but I like women too much to make the switch.

"I explain my relationship with Michael as I do with most of the women I've been photographed with. There is a big difference between going out with a person and hanging out with someone."

Dorff insists he's not as much of a womanizer as he's been made out to be. "I'm single again now, but I had just one steady girlfriend for about a year.

"I didn't go out with anyone else.

"She was the kind of woman who could completely change her looks with makeup, hairstyles and clothes, so it only seemed as if I had a different girl on my arm every week."

Dorff actually lost his most recent steady because of his new work ethic. He's been immersing himself in his work, so he doesn't have time to party.

Dorff has been acting since he was 10, first as a regular on such TV shows as Roseanne, Family Ties and Diff'rent Strokes.

He made his big-screen debut as the young boxer in The Power Of One.

"I've always been great at pretending. It's what I do best."

In Backbeat, he pretended to be lost Beatle Stuart Sutcliffe. In I Shot Andy Warhol, he pretended to be drag queen Candy Darling, and in S.F.W., he did his tribute to grunge martyr Kurt Cobain.

Those were all small films that earned Dorff a cult following.

"All those films mean a great deal to me, but I what I really want now is for large numbers of people to see my work.

"That means I have to do more commercial films."

What it really means is that Dorff has to stop turning down commercial offers as he did with Mad Love and, more recently, Titanic.

Dorff has two films coming out this month.

The first is the heist film City Of Industry, in which he and Harvey Keitel play thieves pitted against one another when Dorff steals the loot and murders all the gang members except Keitel. It opens tomorrow.

In Blood And Wine, another dark heist movie, Dorff plays Jack Nicholson's stepson.

Dorff is currently filming the Wesley Snipes action thriller Blade. Dorff plays the vampire villain in this superhero comic-book fantasy.