VICTORIA ROWELL: THE DAY JOB IS WORTH KEEPING

No matter what projects Victoria Rowell lands--a national commercial for Oil of Olay, a prime-time series (“Diagnosis Murder”) or a feature film (“Dumb and Dumber”)--she is not about to give up her day job.

After five years as Drucilla Winters on “The Young and the Restless,” Rowell is quite content with the status quo and has no desire to fly the coop like other soap stars.

“Do you see where most of them are right now?” she announces with a sly grin. “I mean, are we thinking people? I’m with Susan Lucci (who plays Erica Marick on “All My Children”) on the daytime/prime-time issue. Susan and her husband have carved out a very strong arrangement with their network that supplements her prime-time desires. She has a flourishing career in movies-of-the-week. Yet she holds on to a job and a character that she’s developed over the course of 20 years. To me, that seems like the sensible thing to do--if you can do it.”

Rowell has been able to do it thanks to the flexibility of the “Young and Restless” brass.

“They’ve been very accommodating to me, and it’s something I definitely don’t take for granted,” Rowell says, insisting she is “able to do as much as I try to do.”

The actress has just completed filming a co-starring role opposite Pamela Anderson (“Baywatch”) in the action/adventure feature “Barb Wire,” due out early next year.

“I play Corrina Devonshire--Cora D,” explains Rowell. “She’s a doctor of science who unknowingly gets involved in chemical warfare.”

Working with the “Baywatch” star was “a lot of fun,” says Rowell. “She’s a phenomenon. I found her to be a gentle soul and very easy to work with.”

Apparently, it was just as easy and fun to return to “The Young and the Restless” and Rowell’s “extremely versatile” and “most familiar” role of Drucilla.

“Drucilla’s a loving woman,” says Rowell, with a smile, “but there’s a naivete about her that makes her very attractive. Plus, she’s feisty, curious, mischievous. Bill Bell and his team of writers have made her very attractive. She’s a lot of fun, and I have a great cast to work with--like Kristoff St. John [who plays Neal Winters]. I can’t imagine who else could fill his shoes. He’s a gentleman and so consistent.”

Meanwhile, Drucilla has been anything but consistent since Rowell arrived on “The Young and the Restless,” having evolved from a rowdy, illiterate street kid to a wife, mother, classical ballerina and successful “coifed” model.

“I like her emergence, but I also liked when Drucilla was a true renegade--the dregs,” says Rowell. “I liked coming into work, having my hair parted, and wearing three little braids. It was easy. I find the less I have to do to myself is very liberating as an actress.”

“The Young and the Restless” airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on CBS.