This article was written by Sean Daly for the Toronto Star

LOS ANGELES; Alanis Morissette is not very good at keeping secrets. During an interview last week to promote her multi-platinum CD Under Rug Swept, the Ottawa-born songstress fessed up to having a new man in her life but refused to give a name.

Instead, Morissette, 27, decided to let her fans figure it out on their own, providing just a few crucial hints:

1. He's an actor: "He's not crazy famous," she reveals. "I don't think I could deal with that. I don't want to be paparazzi girl."

2. He's a younger man: "In the past, I have always dated older men...sometimes ridiculously, like, 30 years older. I always just had more in common with them."

3. He's Canadian: "I've dated all these L.A. rockers and scary-types and it's been great to date someone who I have the culture in common with," she says. "I kept going `Oh Canadian, American...same thing.' But I'm realizing now more than ever that it is not the same thing. It feels like coming home, dating a Canadian boy."

4. He has a famous co-star: "He is shooting a movie now with Albert Brooks."

Such clues all point to Vancouver native Ryan Reynolds, 25, who spent most of this summer with Brooks in Toronto filming 'Til Death Do Us Part.

"I have known him for about three years and we have been dating for about three months," Morissette says. "I'm not diving into commitment and professing undying love within the first three hours anymore. I'm just kind of taking it a little slower."

Reynolds, the youngest son of a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer and a graduate of Kwantlen University, first gained fame in 1997 on the TV sitcom, Two Guys, A Girl, And A Pizza Place. He starred earlier this year in the movie National Lampoon's Van Wilder and recently ended a year-long relationship with actress Rachael Leigh Cook (She's All That).

Earlier this year, Morissette broke off a "very long" relationship with security expert Gavin de Becker, 48. Some believe he is the inspiration for her recent hit "Hands Clean" (about a romance between a teenage girl and a man twice her age). It has also been speculated that her 1995 breakout anthem You Oughta Know was written about another teen romance — Full House actor Dave Coulier.

Still the threat of getting bashed in song hasn't seemed to put a damper on the singer's love life.

"I've never had any trouble in the dating department for some reason," she says. "Either (the guys I date) are complete masochists or they are so cocky that they don't think I could write about them in a negative way."

Morissette hopes this time around she can learn from her past mistakes. "I've always been caught up with the fairy tale aspect of (a relationship), and there has always been that crash and burn," she admits. "This time I haven't given in to the whole putting the relationship on a pedestal, which is totally unrealistic. That's a big marker for me."

The singer admits she has had many opportunities to date other mega-celebrities, but turned most of them down. "I think part of my subconscious made sure I didn't start dating somebody über-famous," she says.

"Probably because I knew I couldn't handle that kind of lifestyle. I would just turn into red carpet girl and that's my worst f---ing nightmare."

Of course, she does regret turning at least one star down for a date.

"He got married and he's got kids now...so I do regret it," she sighs. "But I can't tell you who it is."

That's a mystery for another day.

End of article.