Birthday: Aug. 15, 1968.
Birthplace: Brooklyn, N.Y.
Occupation: Actress.
Current home: Manhattan.
Marital Status: Single.
Working On: I play Stacey on “Ned and Stacey” on Fox-TV starting in the fall and I play Dana Abandando (Donna’s sister) on “NYPD Blue” on ABC-TV.
The last good movie I saw: “Pulp Fiction.”
I stay home to watch: “Mad About You,” “Ellen,” “Seinfeld,” “Friends,” “Picket Fences.”
The book I’ve been reading: “The Bell Jar,” by Sylvia Plath.
Favorite pig-out food: I like to go to a 24-hour diner and get potato pirogis and spinach salad.
Nickname: In college I was Messburger.
Favorite performers: I saw “The Three Tenors” during the World Cup and it was one of the most extraordinary experiences of my life.
Personal hero: A Holocaust survivor I met when I was a teenager. She was a teenager when she was in a concentration camp. I’ve never been touched like that.
People always think I look like: A young Myrna Loy.
Nobody knows I’m: Completely disorganized.
I’ve never been able to: Stop worrying about what’s coming next.
I’m better than anyone else when it comes to: Blowing my nose really loud.
I’d give anything to meet: Anthony Hopkins.His performances in “Silence of the Lambs” and “Remains of the Day” just destroyed me. I’ve never been affected like that.
People who knew me in high school thought I was: Melodramatic.
Major accomplishment: When I graduated from acting school, I said, “If can support myself through my acting, I’ll be a success,” and I’ve been able to do that.
Most humbling experience: Working on a movie, my first time in front of the camera. I had just graduated, and I felt strong about my technique. But my training was geared to theater. Having a camera in front of my face felt like I was on another planet.
Three words that best describe me: Optimistic, effusive and sensitive.
