EMMY AWARD WINNER : ZAL: ‘CASTING’ INTO A POOL OF MISFITS

Most actresses must weather their share of emotional storms on film, but you’d be hard pressed to collect a more devastating group of problems than Roxana Zal has faced in her short acting career.

If death from radiation, child abuse and divorced parents aren’t enough, Zal now must face a faith crisis when her younger sister dies from a muscle disorder in “God, the Universe, and Hot Fudge Sundaes,” a “CBS Schoolbreak Special” airing today at 3 p.m. on Channel 2 (3:30 p.m. on Channel 8).

The 16-year-old Zal is probably best remembered for her Emmy Award-winning performance as the molested daughter in “Something About Amelia” that aired in January, 1984.

“Amelia,” she said, was her toughest role because of the emotional level she had to maintain.

“I found myself going home depressed and drained. I never went to work happy once. I could never be happy; I always had to be upset,” she said. She tried to separate her life on and off the set, but the role stayed with her even after production had finished.

After “Amelia” aired, Zal received many letters from children and adults who confided that they had been victims of child abuse but had kept it secret until they saw the film.

“I was happy that I helped people. It made me feel sooo good. Many people wrote to me and said that they might not have gone to get help if it hadn’t been for me,” she said.

Being able to help people is one reason she doesn’t mind taking on a serious role.

“I like doing movies with meaning because the public can relate to them. You know what I mean?”

In today’s “Schoolbreak” story Zal plays Alfie, a level-headed, very intelligent girl who must cope with her sister’s terminal illness and with her mother’s (Millie Perkins) belief in evangelical faith healers.

When Alfie begins to wonder if there really is a God, she relates her feelings to her friends and they talk about God’s role in the family tragedy, and wonder about blind faith, scientific, simple acceptance and rebellious disbelief. Alfie listens to others, but they don’t influence her, Zal said.

“She believes in God at the end, talks to him and deals with her sister’s death in a good way,” the actress added.

Perkins, who also portrayed Zal’s mother in the 1983 film “Table for Five,” had high praise for her co-star.

“She is different from other actresses her age,” Perkins said. “I wouldn’t wish (early teen-age stardom) on my own kids, but she handles it better than most would. She is incredibly talented and possesses a special kind of integrity. Roxana can do anything and can play anything . . . except a blonde, blue-eyed beauty. (Zal is a pretty brunette with brown eyes.)

“I love her. She could be a jerk, but she’s not.”

Now, Zal has just completed “River’s Edge,” a theatrical film from River Productions due out in August. Zal said that the film revolves around a group of teen-agers who must deal with morality and peer pressure when they witness one of their friends killing another friend.

Although she’s known for her dramatic roles in such films as “Testament” and “Shattered Spirits,” the latter a television movie about alcoholism that starred Martin Sheen, she said she’d like to try a light comedy or a romance story. She realizes, however, that the heavy roles have helped her expand her range as a performer.

She decided early on that series television and theater work would have to wait until she at least finishes high school (she’s a junior at Santa Monica High). She gets offers to do series but turns them down as quickly as she rejected one script that cast her as a hooker without the proverbial heart of gold. “I might not have turned it down if the part had been nice, but the role wasn’t very good,” she added.

What with her work, interviews, school, friends and tennis (she’s on Santa Monica High School’s varsity tennis team), the actress has little time to spend with her family at their Malibu home. Her mom teases her about that on occasion, she said. But the family does manage to go camping, skiing and traveling.

She intends to go on to college, but unlike other young actresses (Brooke Shields, Jennifer Beals) she doesn’t plan to attend an Ivy League university.

Zal had wanted to study at Yale’s drama department, but a friend who had gone through the program advised against it. Now she hopes USC’s School of Cinema and Television will accept her. She wants to learn about directing and other behind-the-scenes crafts that will make her a better actress. The fact that the school is a stone’s throw from Hollywood was also a factor, she admitted.