( CNN ) -- Justin Timberlake is not afraid of reinvention . While other boy-band heartthrobs were still recycling the same hooks , the multitalented 30-year-old had moved on to a solo R & B career , fighting his own label to do non-bubblegum songs like `` SexyBack . '' Now , Timberlake has decided to let his Grammys collect dust while he makes yet another leap : pop star to movie star . `` Friends with Benefits , '' opening today , marks the first time Timberlake 's name has seen the top of a cast list . And it wo n't be the last . What 's the secret to Timberlake 's crossover success ? No doubt he 's talented , hard-working and easy on the eyes . But there 's something else at play here , something rarely acknowledged in articles about JT 's stylish clothes and beautiful girlfriends : . Justin Timberlake is a nerd . That 's not to say he is n't cool . He 's the cool nerd , the guy who makes cool seem attainable . Remember that popular guy in high school who was n't a quarterback or homecoming king , whose sheer likability gave him a spot at the cool kids ' table ? Justin Timberlake is n't so far removed from that kid . Take a look at `` The Social Network , '' the Facebook-origin movie that put Timberlake , The Actor , on the map . JT plays Napster founder Sean Parker , the closest thing the film has to a rock star . When he saunters into a Silicon Valley restaurant , heads swivel . As Parker , Timberlake is charismatic and convincing , but what makes his performance great is a deep , intense vulnerability . Parker , we realize , is only a celebrity in the insular tech world ; in the real world , he 's just an asthmatic college dropout . He 's a person who has carefully crafted his own hyper-cool image , an impersonation of what he thinks a tech-world celebrity ( had there ever been such a thing before ? ) should be . At the end of the film , the cracks start to show , and our hearts break a little . Perhaps Timberlake played Parker so well because he , too , is a guy who has carefully curated his own image . Try to isolate him for a moment from his hit songs , his `` SNL '' skits , his movie trailers . Would you cast a guy like Justin -- the puppy-dog screen presence , the high breathy voice , the Brillo pad of hair -- as a leading man ? Timberlake knows he 's an unlikely candidate to fill Brad Pitt 's shoes , which is why he 's played his acting career like a chess game : making under-the-radar indie films and popping up casually on `` Saturday Night Live '' until he was suddenly on every movie screen . These days , Timberlake is frequently compared to Mark Wahlberg , another Top-40 teen idol who gave it up for a film career . But beyond the obvious , it 's not a good analogy . Wahlberg was born a leading man , buff and intimidating with a sly smile and a natural swagger . When he became a movie star , he cut himself off completely from his now-embarrassing foray into rap . It 's now amusing to think of Marky Mark and Mark Wahlberg as the same person , because the differences are so striking . Timberlake has a leading-man swagger , too -- but his seems carefully practiced , the way Fred Astaire would rehearse behind closed doors for hours to make his dancing seem effortless . His gestures , his jokes , appear as carefully chosen as his impeccable wardrobe . Remember , this is the guy who became a decent facsimile of a young Michael Jackson through sheer hard work and force of will . Unlike Wahlberg , Timberlake has never tried to distance himself from his teenybopper days . He knows we 've all seen him as a 14-year-old in blond dreadlocks and head-to-toe denim . And that , too , is part of his charm . He makes cool seem attainable for the rest of us geeks . When his Tennessee awkwardness shows through his Hollywood persona , he 's the first person to laugh it off . He 's not the guy you 'd expect to `` have you naked by the end of this song , '' as he sings in `` Rock Your Body '' -- and that 's why he pulls it off so well . All of this makes Timberlake the perfect star for a time when the line between geeky and cool has become more of a zigzag . Like those Clark Kent glasses he wears in interviews , JT has found a way to be the best of both cultures . And two weeks ago , the teen-star-turned-pop-star-turned-film-star announced that he would be reinventing the social networking site MySpace . It 's life imitating art -- and of all people , Justin Timberlake knows a little something about doing a great imitation .
What makes his ` ` ' Network '' performance great is a deep , intense emotion . Unlike Wahlberg , Timberlake has never tried to distance himself from his college years . He 's the cool guy , the guy who makes cool seem attainable .