Our heroine: heroes' Ali Larter is one of Hollywood's most buzz-worthy stars. And this candid interview proves why: she opens up about her sexy c" areer choices, solid romance, and brazen approach to life. This chick is so Cosmo.(Interview)

Until recently, we only got teases of 31-year-old actress Ali Larter. (She played the brave girl who sported a whipped-cream bikini in 1999'S Varsity Blues and Reese Witherspoon's jailed sorority sister in 2001's Legally Blonde.) But those small roles had one big thing in common: They left audiences wanting more. That craving was finally satisfied this past TV season, when Ali rocketed to stardom thanks to the success of Heroes, the Emmy-nominated show in which she brilliantly plays good-and-evil dual personalities Niki and Jessica Sanders. "It's been a dream," Ali says during her Cosmo interview at Los Angeles's celeb-frequented Chateau Marmont hotel. "Now I'm kind of in a sweet spot in my life and career."

Arriving in that happy place certainly wasn't a cakewalk. "The rejection you deal with in Hollywood is hard," Ali admits. "But you have to try to take some of the emotion out of it. Even thoughit's a creative endeavor, it's a job." That levelheaded perspective could be attributed to a decision Ali made in 2002, when she returned to the East Coast to assess her career objectives. ( She's originally trom New Jersey.) "That was a turning point," Ali says now. "I moved to New York to define what kind of actress I wanted to be. When I tried to get back into the industry, I couldn't get a job ... but it made me dig deeper." Summoning the focus and tenacity to survive in eat-you-up-spit-you-out Hollywood has paid offqin a major way. In addition to season two of Heroes, Ali has three--count 'em three moviesoutthis year: the sci-fi flick Resident Evil: Extinction, an indic film called Marigold, and the National Lampoon caveman comedy Homo Erectus.

It's a diverse array of characters that capitalizes on the range of Ali'S own personality. "I'm a bit of a contradiction," she says. "I like tomboy stuff, but I also love girlie, girlie lingerie because I feel sexy when I'm in it." Bold, confident statements like that fall freely (and often) from Ali's lips, which is refreshing in an industry where projecting a carefully crafted image has been elevated to an art form. "I very much speak my mind," she says. "I'll always be a Jersey girl. I don't always get my way, but you'll know exactly how I feel about it."

That no-holds-barred attitude extends to her romantic life too. "You always have to give love your all, and if it doesn't work out, he just wasn't your man," she says. "I'm ...