Seventeen, June 1992: pages 4, 82-83. 7 photo's including cover.

By Nina Malkin. Photographs by Mark Abrahams.

Cover: Samantha Mathis tells us about acting, love scenes, and Christian Slater

Can you imagine being paid to look your worst? That was cover model Samantha Mathis's job on the set of the movie This Is My Life. She played Erica, an insecure teenager who was going through a very awkward stage. "There were days when my vanity came in," says the twenty-one-year-old actress, but finding Erica's low-fashion look was a blast. "I'd try on something really baggy and sloppy and say, �This looks horrible. It's perfect!' I felt that Erica wasn't comfortable with her sexuality yet, so she wanted �hide me' clothes." Offscreen, though, Samantha isn't one to hide out. In between movies, you'll find her fighting to save the environment, following the Democratic presidential campaign, taking dance classes, and running in her neighborhood. "I try to exercise five times a week," she says. "I feel so much better when I do." How does she feel about being a hot Hollywood property? "There's always that feeling of �Oh, God! One day they'll find out that I really have no idea what I'm doing,'" she says. Not a chance -- she's a pretty amazing actress in our book.

This is my Life

Watch out, Winona: Here comes Samantha Mathis, Hollywood's newest sweetheart and our gorgeous cover girl. A versatile actress who's so cool she's hot

Fire and ice. Enchiladas and chocolate milk. Rock �n' roll and chamber music. Nora and Erica. Who? Oh, come on, you remember Nora, the cocky, provocative detective-poetess of Pump Up the Volume. Now there's Erica, the shlumpy, hair-gnawing, insecure girl from This Is My Life. Two characters, polar opposites, yet Samantha Mathis played them both -- perfectly. So which one is she really like? "I'm someplace in between," Samantha says with a wry smile. "I may look more like Nora, but I feel more like Erica." Either way, having the acting equivalent of a four-octave range in making Samantha a superhot Hollywood property. And her latest role is at least a million light-years away from Nora and Erica: In the just-released animated film FernGully. . . The Last Rainforest, Samantha is the voice of the beautiful, mischievous, politically correct Crysta. It may be Samantha's debut as a pixie, but all we can say is: Move over, Tinker Bell, there's a new fairy in town.

Three amazing roles in a row, but it's not like Samantha is an overnight sensation. The twenty-one-year-old has been working professionally since she was sixteen. It's a family affair -- both her grandmother and her mom, Bibi Besch, have made their mark as actresses. "This has been my life since I was born," she says. "My parents separated when I was two, so essentially it's always been just me and my mom."

In fact, Samantha's real life closely parallels the one she plays in This Is My Life, a quirky, touching comedy about a single-mom-turned-comedienne and her two daughters. In one of the movie's totally on-target moments, Erica has her first sexual experience. It's tender, clumsy, not at all exploitative, and absolutely hilarious. "It's always awkward when you're lying on a bed with thirty people watching you," admits Samantha. "But Nora Ephron [the director] has such a great sense of humor that is kept things light."

Danny Zorn is ideal as Erica's overweight, over-earnest, less-than-gorgeous boyfriend. A far cry from the first guy Samantha fell in love with onscreen. Maybe you've heard of him? Christian Slater? Samantha can laugh now about her Pump Up the Volume audition with Christian to test the chemistry between them. "I was so nervous I was just sick." But once the queasiness had passed, she says, "I really enjoyed working with Christian. We both approach our work on a very instinctual level, so we clicked. He's a funny guy."

Samantha and Christian team up again for FernGully, the tale of a rain forest in peril of extinction and the magical creatures who set out to save it. Part of the FernGully proceeds will go to a fund for the rainforest, and the people involved with the film are campaigning to raise awareness. "Hopefully this movie will make children go home and say, �Mommy, Daddy, why aren't we recycling? Why are we chopping sown that tree?' It's our world, and what we wind up with is what we make of it," says Samantha.

Intense as she is about issues (she's heavily into the Democratic presidential campaign and participates in pro-choice rallies), Samantha knows how to kick back and have fun. "I go out with friends, shoot pool, go to the movies," she says. She also cherishes her solitude -- private time for listening to music (R.E.M., Bonnie Raitt, and Cowboy Junkies are faves). Love life? What love life? I'd like to have a boyfriend, but it's kind of hard to keep a relationship going when all of a sudden you're off and leaving town for months."

Well, that's show biz, which is Samantha's top priority right now. "I'd love to play a more mature, sophisticated character," she says. "I always want to do something different with every part." For Samantha, doing something different is staying in character -- her own.

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