---

There's no formula for success in Hollywood; most aspiring actors do it the hard way. For a young actress, the route often entails waiting tables at night for three or four years after high school or college while attending acting classes and experiencing scores of ego- crunching auditions - and rejections - by day.

Yancy Butler had none of those problems, though she did have to fight major battles with her parents - hardened showbiz veterans themselves - before giving acting a whack. They grudgingly relented, with the stipulation that she finish her education first. A dutiful daughter, she worked her "butt off" and earned a bachelor's degree in Liberal Arts from the prestigious Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, N.Y. in June, 1991. She then headed straight for New York to seek professional acting help in workshops at Playwright's Horizons.

Four months later she made her screen debut with a one-scene guest shot on Law & Order, followed by another supporting part in the pilot for a short-lived midseason replacement series called Grapevine. Law & Order's executive producers, Dick Wolf and Robert DeLaurentis, liked her brief appearance so much that they gave her the co-starring role as Eve, the crime-fighting android, in their 1992 replacement series Mann & Machine, barely six months after her exit from Sarah Lawrence.

Mann & Machine came to a grinding halt after only nine episodes, but Butler kept on rolling with her first motion picture, Hard Target, a chop-socky flick opposite Jean-Claude Van Damme heading for a fall release. In the meantime, Wolf and DeLaurentis have reeled her back into their fold by building around her an action-adventure series set in damp and humid Florida. Called South Beach, the series is named after the sleek and trendy Miami area that now attracts beautiful people of all nationalities clad in very expensive grungegear.

In a seven-episode trial run, Butler plays Kate Patrick, a sensual con artist running petty scams on wealthy tourists until her hardcore criminal brother gets into a heavy jam with the feds. The only way she can save him from a long stretch in the slammer is by offering her shadowy skills to a ruthless and mysterious government agent known only as "Roberts" (John Glover), who involves her in dangerous undercover assignments.

"Kate is a terrific character from a dysfunctional family who lies, steals and cheats while stealing from the rich and giving to the poor," says Butler, who turns 23 on July 2. "Of course, she works for a federal law enforcement agent of some sort who also lies, steals and cheats, so it's a constant battle of wits. But she has developed her own sense of morality, which forbids any assignment dealing with drugs or guns. In fact, she refuses to carry a gun under any circumstances. Once Kate sets up the bad guys, she calls in the cavalry and disappears."

With Dick Wolf at the helm - a man who was co-executiver producer of Miami Vice from 1986 to 1988 - South Beach's slick and wet environment serves as a very important backdrop. "We have created a sizzling atmosphere with a hot and steamy look," Butler explains. "There's something very hot and sexy about Florida, particularly with the Latin culture and music pulsing and beating in the background. It isn't all that much fun to work when the temperatures approach 100F. and humidity approaching 100 per cent, but we have huge fans strategically located on each set that make it no worse than the New York subways during rush hour."

The fast-moving, New York born-and-bred actress now has the wholehearted support of her mother, a stage manager, and father, Joe Butler, who provided vocals and played drums for the 1960s supergroup, Lovin' Spoonful. (The group, minus lead singer John Sebastian, re-formed about a year ago and is currently touring Europe.)

"I've been extremely lucky, and I know it, so I'm just taking it for a ride as long as it will last. "

Although engaged to film actor Jeff ( Lawnmower Man) Fahey, Butler says marriage plans are on hold. "It's a tough situation because Jeff lives in L.A. and goes on locations all over the world while I'm based in New York and currently work out of Miami."

Meanwhile she anxiously awaits word of her series being picked up as a replacement for the 1993-94 season. "I think the show is wonderful, of course, but I'm not holding my breath."