[ Entertainement Weekly ]

Call it a large dose of beginner's luck. First, Sherry Stringfield snags the role of Laura Kelly, the sharp lawyer/estranged wife of David Caruso on NYPD Blue, last year's most talked-about drama. Next, she leaves that ultrapopular series only to find work as Dr. Susan Lewis on this year's most talked-about drama.

Things work out that way for the sultry-voiced actress, 27, who can be munching on a bag of popcorn, swigging Diet Coke, and guffawing over a good joke with one huge curler in her hair--and still look stunning. Stringfield is more fun and more laughs than her cool, candid character. "I don't get rattled about the big things. I get rattled when I have to pick up my laundry, get gas in the car, pick up a script-the little things are like...AAHHH!"

ER PREPARATION: She hung out in the medical sections of bookstores, reading what she could; spent full days in E.R.s. "I'm a terrible patient, and I find that doctors can be very condescending...I wanted [my character] to be some one who walks in, says, 'You're having trouble, these are the problems, we're going to run these tests'--someone who tells you the truth."

HOW SHE COMPARES WITH HER CHARACTER: "We honor the truth. We're both earnest and direct. But she's really pragmatic. She sees situations and how to solve them. I just see AAHHH!!"

SUBSPECIALTIES: Reading (especially physics books: "Physics has the cutest words"), yoga, skiing.

PREVIOUS TRAINING: Landed a role as nasty girl Blake on Guiding Light just after graduating from SUNY Purchase: "It was a blast. I learned about cameras and TV. After three years I wanted to leave. They had me run away after my m om found out I was seeing her boyfriend. I left for Europe the next day." Of NYPD Blue: "I had, like, a good year, but it wasn't for me."

WORST MEDICAL TRAUMA: "When I was little, doctors thought I had a mild form of epilepsy--it really traumatized me. I hated doctors. Mom said I would see anyone wearing white and just start screaming."

HER IDEA OF A GREAT TIME: "Being in the mountains, Paris, New York, or Rome, and feeling no sense of tomorrow or yesterday. Tooling around with my boyfriend [ski clothing entrepreneur Paul Goldstein], having a really long lunch with a bottle of wine."

WHAT'S IN HER TRAILER: New York magazine, an aqua bathrobe, Gray's Anatomy, curlers, a leftover Mrs. Fields cookie, a videotape of My Favorite Year, English tea, assorted tapes (Muddy Waters, the soundtrack from The Commitments).

IN OTHERS' WORDS: "She lives to be funny and fun. She's a real dame. There's nothing coquettish about her. She's Carole Lombard." --George Clooney

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