The Associated Press

FILE - This Feb. 26, 2012 file photo shows actors Tom Cruise, left, and his wife Katie Holmes at the Vanity Fair Oscar party in West Hollywood, Calif. At just 33, Holmes is emerging from the public hysteria of her relationship with Cruise with open roads ahead, and, possibly, renewed ambition. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini, file)

By JAKE COYLE AP Entertainment Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — If you want to get a good idea of Katie Holmes, actress — as opposed to tabloid star — you can’t do any better than ‘‘Pieces of April,’’ a gem from 2003 in which she plays a ponytailed and tattooed New Yorker desperately trying to prove herself to her visiting suburban family with an improvised, downtown Thanksgiving dinner.

This was back when Holmes was transitioning out of ‘‘Dawson’s Creek,’’ that teenage soap of a fictional New England coastal town childhood. But Holmes had already amassed an early filmography that any young actress would envy, including ‘‘The Ice Storm,’’ ‘'Go’’ and ‘‘Wonder Boys.’’

The budget for ‘‘Pieces of April’’ started at $6 million, but dwindled to $300,000 and was shot over just 16 days. Writer-director Peter Hedges recalls shooting in ‘‘condemnable’’ buildings with paint dropping off the walls of Holmes’ makeshift dressing room.

‘‘You learn a lot about a person’s character when you work in those conditions,’’ says Hedges. ‘‘What I always say about Katie is she’s a good girl, she was raised right and she knows what it’s like to have flown coach.’’