Ally Walker: From Cloning Genes to Co-Starring in ‘Universal Soldier’

As a college hippie in Santa Cruz, she studied chemistry. When she turned to punk rock after college, she worked at a genetic-engineering laboratory, cloning genes. When she quit the lab to travel the world, she took on odd jobs. When she came to Los Angeles six years ago to study medicine, she modeled for Nina Blanchard.

“Trying to be something, man. That’s all you do during your 20s, is try to be someone,” says Ally Walker, whose conflicting passions eventually led her to acting. “I was so terrified of not being extraordinary that I pushed myself into all these different things.”

Although Walker is now in her late 20s and starring in her first major role as a punchy TV reporter in the new “Universal Soldier”--a big-budget action flick with Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren--she’s still no closer to solving her dual nature.

“I’m fighting to become a woman,” she says. “Just a normal woman who wants a normal life with a family. I want a mate, and I want children.

“On the other hand, I want really great acting roles, and I want to keep working,” sighs the tall, leggy actress, who is awaiting the release of two more films, “Singles” and “The Seventh Coin.” “It’s like, I either want to be living on a farm with my own family, or I want to be on stage in a play in New York.”

For now at least, Walker is biding time in Los Angeles--a city that “can wear on your soul,” she says with a deep, throaty voice--hoping to achieve a professional level that will provide her adequate personal freedom.

“In Europe, or even on the East Coast, being a woman and getting older is a wonderful thing,” she says. “Women get better in their 30s, and they’re really sexy and full of womanhood. Not here, man. If you’re not 16 with big boobs and a short little black tight mini, you’re in trouble. It’s weird here.”