Small package masks big talent

For years, Seth Green has been popping up across the media horizon like Bugs Bunny from his countless rabbit holes.

Right now Green’s work is in the sights of TV viewers on no fewer than three shows.

•On the animated “Family Guy,” he furnishes the quavery whine of slothful teen Chris.

•On the Cartoon Network’s “Robot Chicken,” his handiwork is evident as a creator, producer, director, writer and voice artist.

•And on his new NBC sitcom, “Four Kings,” Green plays one of a quartet of twenty-something chums who cohabit a Manhattan apartment that serves as their zany halfway house between college and adulthood.

Green joins Josh Cooke, Shane McRae and Todd Grinnell as the titular “Four Kings,” which premiered last week.

But for Green, who come February will turn a still-tender 32, these are just the latest credits in a quarter-century-long career.

Consider that at 10 he landed his first film assignment, in “Hotel New Hampshire” with Jodie Foster. He starred in Woody Allen‘s “Radio Days” as the boyhood version of the Woody-inspired character.

Other film roles include “Knockaround Guys,” “Can’t Hardly Wait” and all three “Austin Powers” comedies. On TV he was Oz, a sometime werewolf on “Buffy, the Vampire Slayer,” and costarred with an ill-tempered puppet on the zany “Greg the Bunny.”

Now on “Four Kings,” the 5-foot-4 Green stands tall as irrepressible Barry, a loudmouth redhead given to boasts like, “Some lucky lady is gonna get herself a slice of Barry pie.” (Which spurs the retort: “Really, more of a short bread.”)

Growing up in Philadelphia, Green got the acting bug at age 6 while at a summer camp. The campers were staging “Hello, Dolly!” and, at little Seth’s urging, a part for him was plugged into the script:

“I run on stage and say, ‘She’s here, she’s here! Dolly’s here!’ And I knew: ‘This is what I wanted for my career.’ So I talked to my parents: ‘What are we gonna do about it?’ ”

He soon landed an audition with a local talent agent. The next day he was dispatched to New York to audition for a commercial. He got it. He was 7.

With shooting wrapped on “Four Kings,” Green is halfway through filming the second year of “Robot Chicken.”

Even if “Four Kings” doesn’t get picked up, Green is pleased with his career.

“I love having gotten this far and having nobody label me too specifically,” he grins, “and without being the prey of the paparazzi. Nobody cares about my private life.

“In fact, people hanging out with me are safe, too. A friend who is a famous star went with me to a diner on Sunset at 2 in the morning, at the height of her being pursued by all the tabloids. The place was packed, and we hung out. And there wasn’t a word about it anywhere.

“I told her, ‘Stick with me. You’re bulletproof by association!’ “

The birthday bunch

Country singer Ronnie Milsap is 64. Talk show host Laura Schlessinger is 60. Director John Carpenter is 59. Actress-dancer Debbie Allen is 57. Singer Sade is 48. Bassist Paul Webb of Talk Talk is 45. Singer Maxine Jones of En Vogue is 41. Supermodel Kate Moss is 33. Guitarist Nick Valensi of The Strokes is 26.