Cryer's new tale of drugs and sex has a real Sheen to it

CHARLIE SHEEN spent his time as a TV sitcom star organizing Bible readings and volunteering for Habitat for Humanity.

Not!!!

According to the forthcoming autobiography by Sheen's "Two and a Half Men" co-star Jon Cryer, Sheen's offscreen life was the nonstop swirl of sexcapades, substance abuse and onset tension we all figured it was.

The March 27 Hollywood Reporter contains an excerpt from So That Happened, which American Library will publish April 7. The chapter recounts a litany of Sheen's misdeeds and legal run-ins during the time he and Cryer top-lined the popular CBS sitcom.

Among the tales Cryer tells is how Sheen facilitated Cryer's sex life in the wake of the latter's divorce (he hyped Cryer to online hookers), and the time Sheen started an evening by attending a Broadway performance of "Mary Poppins" with his family and ended it with a drug-fueled frenzy that included trashing his hotel room and locking a prostitute in a closet.

The cast of "GoodFellas" (the third-best gangster film ever made, for TempTatt's money) will reunite at next month's Tribeca Film Festival in Noo Yawk. Both the movie and the fest are celebrating 25th anniversaries.

Jon Stewart will lead a panel discussion with director Martin Scorsese and stars including Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta and Joe Pesci. (What? You think that's funny? Funny how?)

Mekhi Phifer stopped in Philadelphia recently to, among other things, chat up People Paper movie critic Gary Thompson about his new film, "Insurgent," the second in the franchise based on the Veronica Roth YA book series Divergent, about teens rebelling against a postapocalyptic dictatorship.

Here's an excerpt from their conversation:

Phifer plays a security-forces badass and describes it - if we may paraphrase - as the easiest gig he's ever had.

"I've played Othello, I've done Broadway, and while this is by far the biggest venture I've been a part of, budget-wise, I have to say the work required has not been that hard," he said.

Probably true.

His job is to point a space-age gun at star Shailene Woodley from time to time and look tough - a skill he learned on his first job, when Spike Lee, looking for a complete unknown, plucked him from an open casting call in 1994 for the lead in "Clockers."

Phifer had zero acting experience and, in fact, was still planning to go to college for electrical engineering - right up until he started reading scenes with Harvey Keitel.

"I sent college a letter saying I'd have to skip a semester," Phifer said. He's been working steadily ever since and credits Lee with opening doors for him, something the director's done for so many African-Americans in Hollywood.

As Phifer's career has taken off (stints on "E.R." and "Torchwood"), Lee has turned to self-produced independent films and documentaries.

"Spike's a true artist, and a lot of the time, artists move by the beat of their own drum," Phifer said. "Spike does whatever he's passionate about. He does his own thing, his own way. He's a very courageous director."

Phifer has a month or so of down time before "Allegiant," the third in the Roth series, starts shooting in Atlanta.

- Daily News wire services

contributed to this report.