Don't expect erotic-thriller queen Shannon Tweed to kiss and tell when it comes to costars. ''It would embarrass the guys,'' says the 39-year-old, who frolics in a recent Playboy Celebrity Centerfold video and whose body of work Cinemax just celebrated with a six-movie New Year's Eve marathon. ''They get really nervous doing love scenes. You can use your imagination.''
Leaving little to the imagination has been Tweed's specialty since Playboy named her 1982's Playmate of the Year shortly after she moved to L.A. Raised on a mink ranch outside Saint John's, Newfoundland, the six-footer never expected to become an actress, much less star in 32 movies, 15 since 1993. ''My biggest ambition was to be in the Sears catalog,'' says Tweed from the Beverly Hills home she shares with Kiss bassist Gene Simmons, 46, and their two children, Nicholas, 8, and Sophie, 4. But the Playboy exposure led to bit parts followed by a stint on Days of Our Lives, guest shots on sitcoms like Frasier, and a resume full of cable fodder that pairs naked antics with bare-bones plotlines.
''I have no idea how to pick scripts,'' says the star of Indecent Behavior and Hard Vice. ''I keep swearing I'll never do another straight-to-video movie, but when I sit at home for a couple of months and go bonkers, I just take the next one that comes.'' While she aspires to make big-budget theatrical releases, Tweed seems at ease being a big fish in the video pond. ''I've made a lot of money doing something I love,'' she admits. ''Gene has said many times that I don't have to work.'' And what does he think about sharing her with lusty late-night viewers? ''There's not a jealous bone in his body,'' she says. ''And I share him, after all, with his rabid fans.''
According to producer Peter Simpson, who's worked with Tweed on four films, ''She's just one of those underestimated actors who've been unfairly pigeonholed.'' In their latest, No Contest II (costarring Millennium's Lance Henriksen), a kickboxing match even left Tweed with a real broken nose. ''I think people feel she's not working at her best unless her boobs are hanging out,'' Simpson adds. She's clearly not afraid to sacrifice her body for her art.
