{babes} Rosario Dawson's train is moving full speed ahead

"I can't believe you're not eating more of this," says Rosario Dawson, slim and tightly bound in a red sheath while presiding over a spread of polenta fries, seared tuna and artichokes.

With an easy, big grin, she's already warned about the spicy aioli sent up from Gemma, her favorite restaurant at the Bowery Hotel. After 20 minutes of animatedly gabbing about Voto Latino, the voter registration group she has been tweeting about, conversation shifts to the reason she's here.

Dawson has landed in the high-impact world of Unstoppable, the action thriller in theaters today that follows yardmaster Connie Hooper (Dawson) trying to rein in an out-of-control train the size of a skyscraper packed with explosive materials. Based on a true story, the intense, popcorn flier of a movie leans on the talents of a hardheaded rail veteran (Denzel Washington) and a young upstart (Chris Pine) to save the day.

With nary a CGI or 3-D effect, "the crew really went through it," says Dawson, who is de-glammed and stuck in command central in the movie while Washington and Pine swing from locomotives. "They were outside hanging off a train at 50 mph and just getting these shots and helicopters are swooping everywhere." Her voice is tinged with jealousy.

Dawson shares limited screen time with Washington — now on his fifth film with director Tony Scott (The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, Man on Fire) — but "he brings something very noble to the craft of acting," she says. He's "very old-school and just very, like, makes me want to just up my game a little bit."

It has been 15 years since Dawson, 31, was plucked from a stoop in New York's Lower East Side to star in the cult hit Kids, and the star has managed to keep her cool, even in the calorically challenged Hollywood culture.

"I'll sit down with a bunch of actors, and all of the men as well as the women will all take the top half of their bread off — if not also the bottom," she says. "And I'm like, am I literally the only person who's eating both pieces of bread on my sandwich? It's called a sandwich for that reason, people. It's got to be a sandwich between something. Hello!"

The native New Yorker has built a "chill" life in Venice Beach, Calif., with her French boyfriend, Mathieu Schreyer, a DJ and clothing designer.

"I feel like L.A. has become my adult home," she says, and the two are rarely "paparazzi'd" — unless she has a movie coming out.

"So we laugh about it: 'Oh, we're relevant this month,' " she says good-naturedly.

After three years of dating, even her family has started asking when they're getting married. "That is just the issue of being a woman," she says with a shrug, and then grins. "I keep saying, 'Well, I'm trying to get him pregnant, but it's not working.' "

Although Schreyer is press-shy and she loves crowds, Dawson says, they're a good fit. "He's got an artist's lifestyle, so he can come to all my events with me, we can travel together. ... We're on the same schedule, it feels like."

Dawson exudes the confidence of a woman who has enjoyed the ride of Hollywood but hasn't indulged in its extremities. The actress is amazed with the frequency of plastic surgery questions she fields ("Is that a 31-year-old question?") and focuses instead on her activism, including with the Lower East Side Girls Club.

"If I didn't have my activism sometimes to be that other hat to wear, you could just get really sucked into just being only concerned about what parties you're going to, who you're meeting with, what connections you're making, what your weight is, what you look like."

She concedes that her résumé, which includes Rent,Sin City, Seven Pounds (opposite Will Smith), Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof and art-house fare like Shattered Glass may come off as "all over the place."

"I was trying out all the different movies — but I like them all," she says of the indies, big-budget films and Internet formats she has sampled. She eschews a fully booked schedule. "Because you know, of the way I was discovered, I know anything can happen and I never want to get too ... " She pauses. "You know that saying, 'If you ever want to make God laugh, just make a plan'? I guess it's that a little bit."

A glass bottle smashes 3 feet away, and Dawson barely flinches, flicking a shard away from her nude Brian Atwood heel.

Says Scott: "She's like a female version of me in a way. She loves to challenge herself in different ways with different roles. So she never repeats herself, and that's what's great."

Next, Dawson stars in Girl Walks into a Bar, a YouTube- and Hulu-produced movie with Zachary Quinto and Josh Hartnett to be released free online, and Zookeeper, a studio-sized laugher with Kevin James planned for next summer.

"I'm never going to be America's sweetheart," Dawson concedes. Like it or not, "I'm going to surprise you."

But some surprises are still in store for her. At the conclusion of the interview, her publicist leans over.

"You've just confirmed for The Daily Show next week."

"Yeah!" Dawson yells. Fate has handed her another win.