Brooke Berry, Miss May, 2000

our miss brooke likes the active life and the company of men

Brooke Berry is happily taking in the never-ending Los Angeles street show--the hard bodies, fast cars, celebrities. Still, she misses northern California, especially mountain life in Tahoe City, where she grew up, and the spontaneity and experimentation at Berkeley, where she attends college. It's late Friday afternoon in LA and the 20-year-old British Columbia native is wrapping up a weeklong shoot at Playboy's west side photo studio. During a break, Brooke visits the studio's library and as she peruses several back issues of Playboy, it's apparent she's proud to join a celebrated contingent of Canadian Playmates that includes Pamela Anderson Lee and Dorothy Stratten. "The ratio of good-looking women is the same in Canada, but Playboy attracts more of them somehow. Maybe we're just funnier, better-looking people," Brooke says, laughing. Still, California looms large. The well-read English major disagrees with author Thomas Wolfe--she believes you can go home again. "Southern California people care more about their bodies, and they exercise at the gym," says Brooke. "Northern California people go hiking. Down here, it's the way you look. Up there, anything goes." And so goes Brooke.

Q: Since anything goes, what's the most spontaneous thing you've ever done?

A: Having sex on a stranger's boat is pretty spontaneous. And I'm planning to make love on a ski gondola this year.

Q: Well, have you ever appeared naked in public?

A: Yeah. I'm kind of a nudist, actually. My friend and I once ran up and down her street naked. It was fun. I've gone hiking nude in the woods around Lake Tahoe.

Q: You go to school in Berkeley, a center of protest and change. What would you like to change?

A: I think we need to get away from dwelling on unimportant things like jobs and cars and the way we dress, and start realizing that there's much more out there. We need to improve ourselves and help other people and get along.

Q: What was the best thing to come out of the Sixties?

A: The music. The whole attitude. The sexual revolution made people more open to different experiences and more open-minded in general. I don't think free love and peace are ever going to happen. But other concepts still apply today.

Q: Have you ever made love in a Volkswagen van?

A: Not in a Volkswagen. I've made love in a Subaru--in a few, actually--and in pickup trucks.

Q: What are your favorite words to say when you're making love?

A: [Laughs] I use adjectives and adverbs. I tell him to go harder, faster, deeper. Those are my three favorite words. Sometimes--slow, gentle. Depends on die person.

Q: What do men first notice about you?

A: I hate to say it, but I think it's my looks first. And I think a lot of men are intimidated, which kind of sucks. I wear short shorts, so maybe they notice my legs. Probably my breasts. I guess they notice my face. I'm sure it depends on the person, too, on what he prefers.

Q: What do you notice first about men?

A: When I first meet a man I notice how tall he is, how well he's built, his smile, his hair, how he dresses, his style. How he carries himself is important, too. Whether he seems confident or shy.

Q: You're half Japanese and half Scandinavian. Which half is more fun?

A: I don't want to choose, but Japanese people are pretty conservative and tightly wound, in general. If I had to say which side is more fun, it's the European side.

Q: How will appearing in Playboy change your life?

A: Well, I had a picture in the most recent Pac Ten issue and that has already changed my life. People treat me differently now. I'm meeting a lot of people I would never have met before, like Hugh Hefner. It's definitely been life-changing.

Q: Is there a celebrity you want to meet?

A: I'd love to meet Matt Damon. I'd love to meet Ben Affleck. I really want to meet Leonardo DiCaprio. And it's not because I think he's cute or because women have a crush on him--it's just because he's really famous.

Q: Your father is a ski patrolman and your mother is a teacher. What are some important life lessons you've learned from them?

A: This is so corny. It's much more important to have a good personality and to be a kind person, an educated person, than it is to look good, because that only lasts a few years. The person on the inside is going to be with you for the rest of your life. You're the person you're going to have to live with.

Playmate Data Sheet

Name: Brooke Berry

Bust: 36C

Waist: 24 1/2

Hips: 34

Height: 5'8"

Weight: 115 lbs.

Birth Date: 3/7/80

Birthplace: British Columbia, Canada

Ambitions: To get my masters degree in English and to live a successful, happy life.

Turn-Ons: Intelligence, Confidence, humor. A person who wants to succeed and can.

Turnoffs: Arrogant, vain and selfish people. Also, bad breath or body odor.

I Could Never Be: Dishonest.

I Couldn'T Live Without: Good wmpanionship, my dog Sadie, Music and Lake Tahoe.

My Favorite Color Is: Grey.

Words To Live By: Always be a good person and a good friend and respect everybody.

The Hardest Part of being a Playmate: Is filling out this data sheet!