Jesse McCartney has officially become a hyphenate - he's an actor-singer - but despite the promise of his new career, he knows just how fickle show business can be.

McCartney, who played ALL MY CHILDREN's Adam Chandler Jr. from 1998-2001 (and was nominated twice for a Daytime Emmy) is working on a self-titled CD, and spent parts of February and March in Los Angeles auditioning for pilot season. Nothing's definite, so in words that would warm the hearts of parents everywhere, the 10th-grader says, "I'm bringing my grades up this year. I really wanted to make that a priority because I don't know what's going to happen later on in life. I really want to [sing] when I get older, but if it doesn't work out, or something happens to me where I can't sing or dance anymore, I've got to have something to fall back on. I definitely plan on going to college."

A few months ago, it looked like McCartney might be returning to AMC, but the actor playing JR's younger brother Jamie (Micah Alberti) was actually older and, more importantly, looked older than McCartney. "It would have been cool, but maybe it wasn't the right time. Things work out well usually. I got a call two days later for the pilot for this series out in Hawaii. So it all worked out for the best. And maybe later on I will come back. You never know," the young actor says philosophically.

The pilot that McCartney tested for was called The Break, for Fox, and he was close to getting the gig until the producers decided to go younger. In March, McCartney shot an Aaron Spelling pilot for The WB, titled Immediate Family, with Lori Loughlin (Full House; ex-Jody Travis, Edge of Night). Now McCartney is waiting until May to learn if the series is picked up. He also had a producer callback for an upcoming Hilary Duff (Lizzie McGuire) project but at press time hadn't gotten word.

Hitting the high notes is not new for McCartney; he was the lead singer in the group Sugarbeats and then did the boy-band thing with Dream Street. He's going solo now. "Dream Street was awesome, but I'm not 12 anymore. I want to try new things, more mature things." McCartney is now in the process of recording a CD, and a music video is in the works. "Right now we're looking at clips that directors have sent us. We're going to be shooting a video for the single. I'm excited."