Jacqueline Obradors

Not every career just glides along in Hollywood. Some start and stop for years until they finally take off. Jacqueline Obradors--reclining here at The Highlands Nightclub and Loggia at the Hollywood & Highland complex--is a perfect example of this type of ascendency.

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Start: after being discovered in a Malibu supermarket, she appeared in everything from the action thriller Soldier Boyz to the Christina Applegate sitcom "Jesse" until breaking through as Harrison Ford's sensuous island girl in Six Days Seven Nights.

Stop: just when it looked like she would become the next Salma Hayek, she got stuck in so-so fare like Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo.

The take off: playing cop Rita Ortiz on "NYPD Blue" catapulted Obradors into the mainstream and now she's starring as Vin Diesel's wife in the action-thriller A Man Apart.

Q: You're the third person to be cast as Detective Ortiz on "NYPD Blue." Was that challenging?

A: It's such a well-established show, it was like, "Where do I fit in?" But everyone was so accommodating that the feeling subsided pretty quickly.

Q: What was it like working with Vin Diesel, who has been described as difficult in the press?

A: He's a man who knows what he wants and knows how to get it. I think that's a trait to admire, actually! He has intensity, but he has this really tender side.

Q: Pick a costar you've found sexy.

A: Harrison Ford's still got it goin' on. He's very sexy in that manly-man kind of way. He's a big construction worker, so he's got those hands. [Laughing] You know? He is Indiana Jones.

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Daniel Davis