AS THE STREET urchin forced into a mercenary's life by a shadowy government agency, the star of La Femme Nikita (USA, Suns., 10 p.m. ET) has to be strong, sexy and vulnerable. No problem. At 26, Australian actress, athlete and model Wilson has stayed tight with her family and developed a work ethic she credits to her Down Under upbringing. "People there work hard, live hard and play hard," she says matter-of-factly. "You just get out and do your thing."

But she makes it look so easy. After just months on the Toronto set of La Femme Nikita (which is loosely based on Luc Besson's 1990 French action thriller of the same name, a film later remade in America as Point of No Return), she can effortlessly kick a terrorist's butt onstage, finish a feature-film audition tape during a ten-minute break offstage and entertain visiting relatives while being interviewed during her remaining free moments. Asked about her weaknesses, the tall and boisterous beauty laughs. "I'm scared of heights, and running in heels is hard," she admits, though she performs some of her own stunts. But for her art, she'll gladly suffer all this and more. During a bleak modeling gig a few years back, her cousin graciously offered her a new career opportunity at a construction site. "I lasted about three days," she confesses. "Then I realized my job ain't that bad."

Kirk Miller