Anything but Hollywood

Last year, Chris Evans released his first "Captain America" film, and it grossed $368 million worldwide. This year, he followed it up with "The Avengers," which became the third-highest-grossing film of all time, with more than $1 billion in global sales. Sit down for a few quiet moments with the 31-year-old superstar, however, and he insists he's not the Hollywood type.

"I'm from Boston," he says of the city he still calls home. "I've got a place back there. I've got nothing against L.A. I just prefer the East Coast.

"My family is there, my friends," he continues. "We were a really close, very tight-knit family. We did everything together. We're all actors, so we're all very melodramatic. We would play a lot of games together in our backyard with our minds. We would entertain ourselves for hours."

Scandals? Evans hasn't had a one. Drunken, racist rants? Sex tapes? Don't bother looking for them. In the 13 years he's been in Los Angeles, all Evans has produced is 28 films and TV shows.

But that isn't to say he can't sometimes be a bad boy.

"Can I swear in this interview?" he asks, leaning in. Although told to go for it, he decides to stay on his best behavior. "My publicist was like, 'Can you not swear?'

"I won't swear," he laughs. "I'll do my best."

Ever since he first arrived in Los Angeles, turning heads with better-than-the-film performances in "Cellular" and "Not Another Teen Movie," he's been doing his best to become a Hollywood star with both feet planted firmly in Beantown. Exhibit A: his assistant.

"Josh [Peck] is a buddy that I grew up with," Evans explains. "My family, growing up, we had a lot of people who were just friends of the family. I'm one of four, so we had a lot of friends coming over, usually a full house. It was a lot like a hotel.

"Certain kids just stuck, they became friends with my entire family, my parents as well, and became kind of adopted, you know? Josh is one of those guys," he says of his lifelong pal. "He's lived in our house on and off for over a decade, and he's living there now. He was my assistant on 'The Avengers,' and probably will continue to be.

"It was weird to have a friend who was an assistant who did assistant s---," Evans says, breaking his own no-cussing rule. "Most of my buddies just come and hang out and don't do anything, and probably make my life harder."

If you listen to many troubled Hollywood stars, it was often the shortcomings of their friends and parents that messed them up. But you get an unabashed mama's boy when you ask Evans who his heroes were growing up.

"Is 'my parents' a cliche answer?" he says in response to the question. "But they're just great people! Great parents. I never had that 'I hate you, Mom!' moment. We always got along.

"My poor parents," he laughs, saying they were his first audience as a child, when he and his siblings would put on plays. "We would charge them money for shows, too! We were really little, performing in the basement. My poor father was a resident audience member. With the video camera, watching these horrible shows. But he stuck it out."