PETA WILSON can identify with the isolated soul of the title character she plays on USA Network's cult smash La Femme Nikita. As an army brat born in Sydney, Australia, the twenty-seven- year-old blonde moved a dozen times before she turned thirteen, including a few years when her family lived near natives outside Papua, New Guinea.

Instead of training to become an assassin, as she does every week on her series, Wilson spent her formative years in athletics, most notably sailing and netball. It paid off. Her toned five-foot-ten frame propelled her to a modeling career on two continents, and now backs up the butt- kicking bravado she displays every week as Nikita. That pretty, pug-nosed face probably has something to do with her success as well.

Inspired by the 1990 French film of the same name, La Femme Nikita gives Wilson ample opportunity to hone the acting skills she's developed during her five-year screen career. The psychologically scarred Nikita was a wrongly imprisoned convict who was freed by an American intelligence outfit called Section One in exchange for involuntary servitude as an elite assassin. Not only does she get to flex those muscles to fight terrorists, kill government leaders, and spar with her superiors, Wilson uses her earthy Australian wit and sexy feminine wiles to lure in viewers—and her supporting characters. Earlier this season, she created an Internet maelstrom when Nikita slept with her très romantique trainer Michael.

Mr. Showbiz tracked Wilson down at the La Femme Nikita set in Toronto to find out what's up with that dangerous liaison, where her name comes from, the secrets of looking sexy, and the Australian word for "babe." What we found was an unapologetically brash "piece of heaven" who tends to get endearingly confused when talking about Nikita, switching back and forth between "I" and "she." But make no mistake: this is one woman who knows exactly who she is—and who her cars are, too.

There are only four episodes of La Femme Nikita left this season. Can you tell us what's going to happen?

I can't, really, because it changes every week. But as far as the character goes, it's all starting to get to her a bit. It's like, "What the hell?" Nikita has gotten to the position where she's got a lot of disdain for the Section. They had her sort of assimilated into it, because that's where the story had to go, but I've found to play the character is quite difficult because I've got to hide all my emotions from the Section. And in doing that, too, the audience only gets little tiny bits and slivers of it. And I think the character works best when she's telling them what for. So I think that's where we're going to go. But the episodes this year on the whole—we've found it. We've found what the show is.

The rest of the season is big. We got Sean Phillips to come and do an episode. She's a big boss in the Section. Yes, there is a bigger boss. And that's all I'm saying. There's a bigger boss than Operations. And Nikita gets to know her. It's going to be a huge two parter.

Was it hard to hit a groove when you first started?

God, it was such strange territory, you know? And sort of surreal as well. And sort of realistically surreal in a way, which is weird. It's like putting some Japanese zen pop-art painter with Francis Bacon. Like, what the hell do you get?

What's up with Nikita and Michael?

God, that relationship's so weird. Those two characters are a combination of Sam Shepard and Tennessee Williams. It's sort of all over the place. It changes all the time. The relationship's now at a point where it's like, "I don't know who you are." And I'm questioning myself as to why I have this thing about him. So she's now learning a lot about herself through her attraction to him.

The show must be taxing. It's so high action.

Very high action, but hey—I'm young, I've got the energy to do it, and right now's the time. I'll never do a role like this again, probably. I mean, they won't write one. I don't know that there'll ever be one.

So, how do you feel about magazines and TV sexing you up?

Sex me up? Listen, women are really attractive and sexy. I'm a Scorpio. I'm very comfortable with my own sexuality and sex is funny, it's fun. And I don't think if I'm sexy in a photograph it means I'm a less serious actress. Every photograph of Catherine Deneuve is sexy, or Gena Rowlands. Do you know what I mean? It's the nineties. As long as you're not bullshitting—if you're going to be sexy in a photo, you'd better be thinking about sex rather than thinking about being sexy. I don't think about being sexy, I just think about however I feel at the moment. And if that comes across as sexy then that's what it is.

Have you ever done any nude modeling?

Uh, probably. I did some stuff for Harper's Bazaar actually with Natasha Henstridge. We did a beauty story together when she was a model and I was a model, and I think we're both topless. God, she's got good tits. But, no, nothing really naked. Nothing like a twat shot or anything. You know?

So you're completely comfortable with nudity?

Yeah. I'm a tomboy, man. I don't care. I was always like that. If I think someone's sexy, I go, "You're sexy." I'm not someone who's very coquettish. I can play that, but that's not how I am.

Do you think that's the Australian way?

Well, that's my way. We're pretty up front, we kind of say it like it is. And Australian men . . . foreplay for them is like, "Are you awake?"

My opinion is Australians are modern-day Vikings. I love it, because the truth is always it—if you always tell the truth and you're straight up about things, then there's nothing to be worried about. I feel that it makes sense. I like to be honest and I like it when people are honest with me. Don't you? You know what the fuck's going on. I don't like games, I'm not a game player in relationships—none of that. Just be straight up with each other.

Here are a couple of straight-up Australian questions. Can you say, "Put another shrimp on the barbie"?

We don't say that down there. "Chuck another prawn on the barbie, will ya, mate?" That's what we do.

That sounds so much cooler. What's Australian for "babe"?

"Heaven on a stick." The most common word is "spunk," as in "She's a real spunk!" My favorite, though, is "He's a bit of all right."

Who would win in a fight: Nikita or Xena?

Well, if Nikita got the first punch in, definitely I'd win. But if she did, I'd be dead for sure. Unless of course I pulled a .45 out.

What if it was like Thunderdome and you could use weapons and stuff?

Nikita's biggest weapon is her mouth, and I think she'd probably try and talk her way out of it, like, "Can't we just have a cup of coffee?"

Have you ever met Lucy Lawless?

No, I haven't.

Could you beat her up?

I'm not a violent person. I'd give her a big kiss.

I'm sure you've been asked this before, but how did you get the name Peta?

Miss Australia for 1970 was named Peta, and I think I was named after her. And my father thought I was a boy—he was out on "bush," an army game thing—and he thought I was a boy and named me Pedro. And when he got back and saw I was a girl, they changed it. Thank god, I was a girl.

So what's your stance on animal activism?

I eat lamb chops, so I don't know. I've had PETA contact me.

Seems logical.

I'm in two minds about it. I eat lamb chops and I wear leather shoes. I wear leather boots. What do I do?

What did you say to them?

I said, "I don't want to be a hypocrite." I'm all for supporting a cause. I don't like seeing what they do to animals. Animal testing and the seal thing has gotten horrible and furs and stuff. But at the same time, how can I be really supportive of the cause when I love a good lamb chop?

See, for me personally, I don't think it's good what they do to animals, but what other human beings do to human beings, it's pretty damn bad as well. So, I'm more inclined to support causes that are going to help the kids of tomorrow with education. Maybe we can educate them to be smart enough not to do the things to animals that people do.

You seem to have had a strange childhood experience, living near natives for a while in Papua New Guinea.

It wasn't unnormal for me. When I was that age I couldn't have imagined growing up in New York. And it kind of got hard after that. I came back to Australia after that and it was traffic and cars and clique-y little groups. Free spirits were abundant in Papua New Guinea, and free-spiritedness in Australia in school is, "She's a difficult child."

Did you live in Sydney?

No, my dad was in the army. So I went to like eleven schools or something. But I still graduated with good grades.

I read somewhere that you were the best player on the Australian national basketball team.

It wasn't basketball. It was netball.

What's the difference?

In netball, you can't dribble the ball. You can't dribble and you can't run with it. Once you catch it, you've got to pass it. We've got the same court as basketball. It's a very tactical game and it's not as loose as basketball. You're only allowed to have [the ball] for three seconds. We didn't really compete worldwide then, but I was named as one of the best players.

I've never even heard of netball.

Don't worry, it'll be an Olympic sport sooner or later.

You're pretty tall, right?

Well, I wasn't really tall when I was a netball player. And when I did start to grow, I hid my height from my opponents until I wanted an interception and then I'd spring into the height that I had. I think height for people is a really good thing and you should try and keep it up your sleeve.

Can you dunk?

Can I dunk? Yeah, I can dunk.

You can throw it down?

Yeah, I can throw it down. But I'm not that tall. I'm not Michael Jordan.

I've heard that you collect cars. What kinds do you have?

I've got three cars now. I have a '57 Thunderbird. I have a '58 Chevrolet Impala convertible with 1400 miles on the clock. And I have a '38 Dodge four-door.

Wow.

Yeah, I'm an old-car metal head. I love to fix them. I'm very good at fixing old cars.

How much can you do?

Well, I can do pretty much anything intricate in the engine. I'm not real good at axles and shit. I just like to tinker around in there.

Do you have a regular car, too?

No, that's it. My regular car is the '38, or the '57 Thunderbird. "Stella" is the Thunderbird, "Lucille" is the Chevy and "Burt" is the Dodge.

Sounds like the movie Christine. Do you talk to your cars?

No.

How did you get involved in the automotive game?

My father was an ex-motorbike cop and he used to race speed cars and we always had cars. I had my father's antique Norton motorbike. He had the engine kept in my room. We lived near the speedway. We were always around cars and noise, and I don't know, I just like it.

Where do you see yourself in five years? Married with children?

Well, I probably will have children by then. In five years from now, I'd love to be living on my ten acres on the beach in Australia in my little shack and fixing my beautiful cars that I've collected from all over the world, painting paintings and reading stuff for my production company. Just basically staying creative but spending more time closer to my family.

You've already formed a production company?

Yeah, it's called Sweetlip Productions.

How did you get that name?

My favorite fish is a fish called sweetlip. It's a really tasty fish. I used to go fishing with my grandfather. I lived with my grandparents for a while when my mom was travelling. I used to fish with my grandfather every morning or every afternoon. We used to fish all the time, and we used to talk about sweetlip. But we'd never catch it off the beach.

What do you do for fun now?

I paint. I listen to lots of music. Jazz music. Blues. I like it all. I write. I garden. I tend to flirt a lot for fun. I laugh a lot. I try and find things that make me laugh. I like all kinds of things. I just live. When I'm not working, I'm living. Whatever it is next to me, I'm going to have a go at.

John Sellers