NAMES IN THE NEWS : Actress Stars in College, Too

The young actress who played Kate McArdle’s daughter on the defunct “Kate & Allie” TV sitcom is now an attractive adult actress, but she’s still playing teen-agers.

Ari Meyers is 21 now and co-starring in the new movie thriller “Shackma” with Chris Atkins and Roddy McDowall.

Because she is tiny (5-foot-2) and looks a half-dozen years younger than she is, Meyers plays a 17-year-old in “Shackma,” and a teenager in “My Name is Anna,” playing the young Patty Duke in a TV film version of Duke’s autobiography.

She also is starring at Yale University, where she is in her senior year, following in the footsteps of such other academically minded actresses as Brooke Shields, Jody Foster and Jennifer Beals.

Looking back on “Kate & Allie,” Meyers says she enjoyed the experience, but is too busy to regret not having an acting job to report to five days a week.

“I loved doing the show, but I also enjoy doing TV movies and feature films now,” she said. “I’m able to attend classes full-time, which I wouldn’t have been able to do if I had gone right into another series.

“I think of ‘Kate & Allie’ as one of the things I’ve done as an actress, not as THE highlight of my career.

“It was a wonderful experience. It enabled me to go to high school in Manhattan and have a 9-to-5 job that didn’t take me away from New York, where I was born and raised.”