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At 30, the once-unknown lead of "Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels'' speaks happily of leaving anonymity behind, courtesy of a cheeky gangland comedy that has had Britain laughing - and cowering.

These days, he says with a smile over coffee at a London cafe, "I go to auditions, and they make tea and they polish your shoes. Before, people would say, 'Who is that upstart? Get out!'"

"I thought I could carry a film, but I didn't know I could actually, legitimately," he says. "But with 'Lock, Stock,' it's written in black and white: CAN CARRY A FILM."

Moran has every right to be likably immodest, given the phenomenon that "Lock, Stock" has become in Britain since its late-summer opening.

A loopy East End thriller that is funny and knuckle-busting in turn, the film struck a particular chord with Britain's youth culture, making stars of its little-known quartet of leads, as well as a local hero out of Londoner Guy Ritchie, its first-time director.

The film's broader appeal will be tested March 5, when "Lock, Stock" opens in the United States, following an acclaimed premiere in January at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah.

After that, Moran's killer cheekbones may be more than simply British tabloid fodder. With three further movies awaiting release in 1999, Moran is ready for the big time.

"I've had a No. 1 movie in my own country," says Moran, not so much warming to a theme as devouring it, well, lock, stock and barrel. "There are very, very few people who can say that."

Moran's performance as Eddie, the hapless if charming card shark whose misadventures set in motion a Byzantine underworld face-off, is the linchpin of a densely plotted scenario.

"Eddie's sort of like my flash alter ego," says Moran, ignoring an excitable group of girls a few tables away who are thrilled to have spotted him. "I always looked at it as if Eddie was a better-looking version of me."

The actor acknowledges that the movie itself was greater than any individual player, which may explain why he was chosen for the role. (The film's biggest names are Sting, who took a tiny role because wife Trudie Styler is a co-producer, and, in his acting debut, Vinnie Jones, one of the "bad boys" of English soccer.)

"He's a smashing lad, a great boy," director Ritchie says of Moran, "and he's been offered the world."

Chimes in Styler, "Nick is fantastic, and lovely to look at. All the girls go gaga about him, though the film is an ensemble piece."

Moran agrees with the part about the ensemble.

"I don't go into clubs saying, 'Do you know who I am?' because the nature of the film is that the film is the star," he says.