On a February morning in a sunlit pie shop in the middle of Valley Village, Calif., actress Deanna Russo devours a bowl of tortilla soup. “I dream about this soup!” she exclaims, then elaborates. “I used to live across the street in a very unfashionable neighborhood when I first came to L.A.”

Everything about Russo screams “girl next door.” She is wearing a pair of Levi’s and a simple navy top, worn-out boots and a black plastic head band that holds her just-dyed dark tresses. “One of my best friends was blond for a while and she just changed to brunette, and I was so inspired by how well it fit her,” she says, explaining why she became a brunette. “I’m just having fun!” She settles into conversation, but jumps from subject to subject–from hair styles to travel–and expounds upon how life for a young actress is full of twists and turns.

Russo is refreshingly at ease talking about the potholes that dot the road to stardom. A successful model who attended college on a full academic scholarship and graduated with honors, Russo doesn’t enjoy being treated like a lightweight. “I actually thought being a model could make me dumber, because all the [work] conversations would revolve around American Idol and America’s Next Top Model,” she remembers sardonically. “It was really just a means to avoid waiting tables.”

She’s just as sarcastic when she points out that she “just happens to be the eye candy” on her latest vehicle, Knight Rider, the remake of the 1980s original series that starred an ultrasleek, computerized talking car and Baywatch hottie David Hasselhoff. Since the new Knight Rider is sponsored by the financially beleaguered Ford Motor Company, Russo is aware that the show’s days could be numbered. “The car is really the star of the show,” she admits. “You should be interviewing the car, because that’s why people watch.” She laughs and her translucent blue eyes sparkle. “We should be filming again any day now. We’re up against American Idol, so we’re holding our own, but nobody can beat American Idol,” she says with resignation. “We’ll see what happens.”

Russo slathers cinnamon butter on a piece of corn bread and sighs. “I hope they take a different direction with the show in that they honor the original series more by bringing back David Hasselhoff and, you know, bringing back the original more,” she says. Russo believes Hasselhoff, who appeared only briefly in the remake’s pilot episode to pass his legacy on to his son, could hold the keys to keeping Knight Rider rolling. “He hasn’t appeared again, and a lot of fans want him back,” she says. “So I think that would be fantastic if he could come back.”

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