YOUNG & RESTLESS

Mary-Louise Parker's black humor may be the best defense against an industry that sees so many of her colleagues as interchangeable; she's heard herself mentioned for a role in the same breath as Rosie Perez and Cameron Diaz. "If there are any rules, I'm flunking every single one of them," she says. "They tell me I should live in L.A., take small parts in blockbusters, or do certain kinds of press. And it's like, don't you have anything better to do with your life? I wouldn't cross the street because it's good for my f---ing career." Garofalo puts it more simply: "Who gives a s--- what I say in Seventeen magazine?"

(Additional reporting by Beth Pinsker and Anne Thompson)

WHAT THEY'RE DOING NOW

--NANCY TRAVIS will be seen in April's Destiny Turns On the Radio and, this summer, in Fluke with Matthew Modine and Eric Stoltz.

--JANEANE GAROFALO and UMA THURMAN are costarring in the comedy The Truth About Cats and Dogs, a female version of Cyrano de Bergerac.

--HALLE BERRY is currently in Australia shooting Race the Sun, a true story about a solar-powered-car race, with Jim Belushi.

--SARAH JESSICA PARKER recently completed a starring role in the romantic comedy If Lucy Fell, with Ben Stiller.

--COURTENEY COX stars in NBC's sitcom Friends; her movie schedule is pending.

--JEANNE TRIPPLEHORN recently finished shooting Kevin Costner's Waterworld, due out in July.

--JULIANNE MOORE will be seen this summer in Todd Haynes' Safe and as Hugh Grant's wife in the romantic comedy Nine Months. This fall, she will play opposite Sylvester Stallone in the action thriller Assassins.

--SAMANTHA MATHIS will appear this fall with Richard E. Grant in the dramedy Jack and Sarah and the ensemble How to Make an American Quilt with Winona Ryder. In December, she will appear with Michael Douglas and Annette Bening in The American President.

--LORI PETTY's Tank Girl, costarring Ice-T and Malcolm McDowell, is now playing in theaters.

--ANNABETH GISH will play Julie Nixon Eisenhower in Oliver Stone's Nixon, starring Anthony Hopkins.

--CAMERON DIAZ will appear with Keanu Reeves in the independent film Feeling Minnesota.

--MARY-LOUISE PARKER begins filming Portrait of a Lady with Nicole Kidman this summer.

-QUOT-

"I DID NUDITY IN 'BODY OF EVIDENCE,' AND I'M SORRY I DID IT. IT WAS IN NO WAY INTEGRAL TO THE PART." JULIANNE MOORE

"I CAN'T SIT IN HOLLYWOOD AND JUST EXPECT SOME 55-YEAR-OLD WHITE GUY TO WRITE A MOVIE FOR ME" LORI PETTY

"UNTIL WOMEN WILL SAY, 'I'M NOT GOING TO DANCE IN MY UNDERWEAR IN THIS FILM,' NOTHING'S GOING TO CHANGE" JANEANE GAROFALO

"THEY SAY I SHOULD LIVE IN L.A.--I WOULDN'T CROSS THE STREET BECAUSE IT'LL BE GOOD FOR MY CAREER" MARY-LOUISE PARKER