Essential Illusions

Courteney Cox looks like “the girl next door”--wholesome, bright and with just a trace of freckle in her complexion that allows her to seem even younger than her 24 years.

On “Family Ties,” as Michael J. Fox’s psychologist girlfriend, she is an ideal leveling influence. Meanwhile, as a marine biologist in “Cocoon: The Return,” Cox presents a sane, reassuring quality in her approach toward the safety of the film’s alien creature.

“I don’t see myself as like the characters I portray,” she admits. “But I’m not surprised by the way I’ve been cast, just a little disappointed that the roles don’t allow me to play tougher.”

Born and raised in Birmingham, Ala., Cox went to New York the summer following her high school graduation to visit a cousin and wound up working in the kids division of the Ford modeling agency. She found it tedious work but quickly segued into the “fun” of acting in television commercials.

“It just suddenly hit me--I wanted to be an actor. It seems incongruous now because I was never really in school plays and can’t claim to be a movie buff. But I decided to use the modeling to pay for acting classes.”

Her initial notoriety came from Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark” video. Cox, an audience member, was pulled on stage by the Boss to dance with him. She guesses looking like “an ordinary kid” got her the role and is pleased most people believed the scene was real, not staged.

Illusion, she says, is a major theme of her career.

“I’m not opposed to working with flesh and blood actors but I guess I just have a facility for playing opposite thin air,” she jokes.

In her first TV series, “Misfits of Science,” she had to pretend to move objects telekinetically and in the “Cocoon” sequel, she plays opposite an alien. In both instances the effects were superimposed on the film after the fact.

“I hope never to lose a vivid imagination because I plan to be acting for a long, long time.