‘Evil’ Lady

“It’s fun to play a villain because there are no boundaries put on your conduct,” says Joan Severance, the leggy, ruthless nemesis dogging Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor’s trail in “See No Evil, Hear No Evil.”

Scarcely taking a breath, she adds, that it’s “fun to do other things too.”

Along the 29-year-old actress’s route to the screen she has managed to partake in many of those other interests. Severance left college to pursue a successful modeling career in Europe, operated a self-described “ nouvelle Mex” restaurant and learned to play tenor saxophone.

“Ironically, one of the best things that ever happened to me was coming in fourth in a beauty pageant. It shook me up not to win but it also pushed me on to challenge myself in a way I’d never done up to that point.”

She says that a healthy imagination has allowed her to blur the line between her fantasies and what she has been able to accomplish. The Texas native had initially aspired to a career as a veterinarian but discovered her ideas in genetics ran counter to the rules of nature.

“I wanted to breed animals smaller and people looked at me like I was Dr. Frankenstein,” she says. “But now I live out my fantasy by playing a veterinarian in ‘Bird on a Wire.’ I’m Mel Gibson’s ex-lover and a sweet person.”

Severance first gained attention as a performer in television’s “Wise Guy,” playing the evil, manipulative Susan Profitt. She finds it curious that most of her roles have leaned toward the villainous but relishes the challenge. On “See No Evil” she jokes that just keeping a straight face around Wilder’s and Pryor’s antics was a major feat.

The actress next does battle as Hulk Hogan’s publicist in the forthcoming “No Holds Barred.”

“I’ve also finished a film for ABC about a woman who works for the government as a thief, and I’m writing something for myself that casts me as a female James Bond. It’s getting a lot harder to keep my fantasies in check.”