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''I'm drawn to intensity in my work as well as in life,'' actress Karen Sillas says intensely. ''Otherwise, what's the f -- -ing point?'' It is just this sensibility that has made her, until now, the darling of the independent film world. Before last fall, her showcases were small-scale: college friend Hal Hartley's Trust and Simple Men, and Tom Noonan's Sundance succes d'estime What Happened Was , a dead-on portrayal of an awkward first date. Why? ''I wanted to be a movie star, not a TV star,'' she says. But then came CBS' moody cop drama Under Suspicion; Sillas' tightly controlled work as Portland, Ore., detective Rose ''Phil'' Phillips has made the show a cult fave. ''When I first went to meet the detectives, they all thought I was a new recruit,'' she recalls. Now that she's just one of the guys on the force, the thirtysomething actress is more accessible. ''I always had this mask of don't-approach-me,'' she says, ''which I've gotten rid of.''


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Posted Dec 30, 1994 | Published in issue #255-256 Dec 30, 1994 | Order Article Reprints

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