Harring's hotter than a hood ornament.

By Lisa Katzman

WHO IS SHE?:

Laura Elena Harring is riveting as dual sultry-sirens -- the enigmatic amnesiac Rita and her doppelgänger, the vixenish Camelia -- in David Lynch's modern noir Mulholland Drive.

WHAT HAS SHE DONE?:

The former Miss USA and international cover model has appeared in Black Scorpion, The Elian Gonzales Story, Hoover Park, Sunset Beach and episodes of Frasier and General Hospital. Look for her this summer opposite Jean-Claude Van Damme in the biological thriller Derailed.

WHY DO WE CARE?:

As David Lynch says, the thirtysomething actress has mystery. Add to this the smoldering sensuality of Rita Hayworth (her character's namesake in Mulholland Drive), who was also a half-Mexican screen goddess of Hollywood's Golden Age. Laura possesses a voluptuousness that seems to almost go beyond the physical: It's classic, womanly and hot.

Playboy.com: Where did you spend your formative years?

Laura Elena Harring: I went to boarding school in Switzerland, and afterwards I did volunteer work in India for a year. It was like the Peace Corps, manual labor work in the foothills of the Himalayas. I never had a better time. I felt humbled by the magnificence of nature. Ever since then I do meditation and yoga. Not that I'm all one-sided, because I can party and drink tequila and have a really good time.

PB: So were you born in Europe?

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