"I've been in Hollywood for just a couple of years," Tydings beams. "I came here right after I graduated college. I had just begun the whole acting thing, getting an agent, a couple of jobs, my SAG card and stuff. Then I landed a couple of TV shows and I got this movie called THE SUNCHASER [1996] with Woody Harrelson, which was a big, exciting deal."

THE SUNCHASER earned director Michael Cimino a Golden Palm award (Cannes Film Festival). Nevertheless, reviews for the film were dismal ("The women are either shallow trophy wives, slutty waitresses or trashy shop clerks," wrote critic John Polly). Warner Pros. quietly released the film, sans press junkets, and it promptly slipped through the cracks.

Though her movie debut's visibility was minimal, Tydings' global exposure proved imminent. "Later that year, sometime around December when we were getting ready to go home for Christmas, casting called and said they wanted me to audition for this TV show, HERCULES: THE LEGENDARY JOURNEYS, which I had never seen before. I got the script and I was completely confused [laughs]. It was funny, and I didn't think it was supposed to be a funny show. My agent just said, 'Go for it and follow your instincts.' And that's what I did." She's describes the series' on-set environment as "great, especially that very first episode [The Apple, 2/26/96] because it was January second when I flew down there. It was cold and rainy and dark in L.A. during those short days of winter. Then I arrived at HERCULES' New Zealand location, and it was beautiful and it was summer. It's light outside until 9:30. And the crew was just so nice and Kevin [Sorbo] was directing me. He was so friendly. We were shooting out at Bethel's Beach during the first week, and it was stunning. I got to go swimming at the end of the day. It was great!"

I ask Tydings if she adhered to Aphrodite's mythological background while performing as the goddess. "Just before I got the script, I imagined Hercules as what we saw on Saturday morning TV when we were kids[laughs]," she replies. "Straight-up stuff. Actually, The apple was taken directly from mythology, although they certainly took liberties with it.

"I have my own idea of what Aphrodite was like--and she wasn't like a surfer babe! She wasn't nearly so petty although, after I did some research, I found out that she could be very cruel. The script was funny, as was my character's anachronistic pattern of speech, and it was fun to toy with all that. I got together with my acting teacher, who coaches me on everything I do, and we played with the humor and threw some Mae West in there[laughing], and came up with Aphrodite."

Tydings admits that she's not a genre aficionado. Far from it. "Actually, this is all pretty new to me, I'm not a sci-fi girl. I don't think I've ever seen a full episode of STAR TREK. But I like mythology, I find that stuff really interesting. I studied a lot of feminist theory in college and, through that, have picked up some of the stuff. You know how we all have holes in our education? Mythology is that way with me. Most of what I've [studied] has been sort of third hand cultural stuff. I've never played Dungeons and Dragons, though I think I would have liked it if I had."

Syndicated TV series that stress medievalism and mythology routinely compromise women's roles: the ladies are afforded character development and a venus for self-defense, but their obligatory wardrobe is very ventilated. I ask the comely student of feminist theory to opine on this dichotomy.

"I don't think there's anything wrong with female attributes," Tydings laughs with a pronounced Mae West affectation. "But feminism has, historically, sometimes been construed as anti-sexual and certainly would frown on me in a Wonder Bra and a bikini. [Laughing]. Sometimes it's not what I want to do when I get up at five in the morning, and show up on the set. The last thing I want to do is put on a wig and a Wonder Bra, but that's my job.

"And personally, I think gender and sexuality is more complicated than that. I'm not trying to make apologies for Aphrodite, but I also think there's nothing wrong with having sexy women portrayed in our culture. It's just what we do with them that gets dangerous. In retrospect, Aphrodite is actually the one who tends to be more in control, which makes it a little more easier for me to play. I make no bones about the fed that that kind of thing can really sell these shows. It's true people like to look at women's bodies, but I also think that [HERCULES and XENA] do not endorse [misogyny] nor violence directed to women-it's certainly not exploitative in that way."

The Bard's Corner, among the Xenapiles drifting in cyberspace, notes that "sexy surfer chick" Aphrodite "was introduced [on HERCULES] as a somewhat ditzy, Valley Girl-type character." Does the actress risk stereotype with her lock on the character? "Absolutely," Tydings says without pause. "I've been offered numerous opportunities to take my clothes off--be raped and butchered into little tiny pieces. I said, 'Thank you, but no thank you.' I've never met a prostitute in my life, and yet I seem to be able to audition for them all the time."

The actress reminds me that her transformation into Aphrodite is not impromptu. It's exhausting: "That's where the work comes in because, really, I think acting is just a blessing and a gift. And just so much fun. And because it's what I get to do to for a living, it just blows my mind. The hard part is, yeah, getting up every morning at sometimes five a.m., sometimes four, sometimes 3:30 and driving out to the set and sitting in the makeup chair. I actually don't have it as bad as the makeup girls, because they have to get there even before I do. They have to go right to work, while I can sit there and zone out for a minute and have a cup of tea. I sit there for a long time because those wigs can be difficult, and there's all kinds of fussing that goes on.

"Physically it's enormous. I've run into the crew, maybe even the DOP --people who were definitely looking at me all day long--and they completely didn't recognize me after the makeup and wig were applied. It's a real transformation. I'm certainly not a goddess, so it's a shift." Barren Chungg describes Aphrodite as a "dead-on character, shallow yet scheming but a great antagonist." The goddess, fueled by vanity, manifests herself as a pulchritudinous presence which offers Tydings some latitude for her comic timing and, again, some negotiable show of skin. "It's not difficult to do it," says the actress about the "physical" dimensions of the role. "It's not always fun. I wear a robe on set, except when it's really super hot. Sometimes, the makeup girls have to come over and powder my chest [laughs]--that's always fun with all the gaffers standing right there. But they are a respectful group and a respectful production. It's really not as bad as it could be."

Tydings' past experience includes a RED SHOE DIARIES movie (seventh installment, BURNING UP) and a couple of episodes of the franchise's TV series. Casting director Beth Hymson, who landed Tydings a guest role on the short-lived VANISHING SUN series (which was later replaced by XENA), pitched her the role of Aphrodite. Recurrently surfacing on episodes of HERCULES and XENA, the actress has reconciled herself to the fact that Aphrodite is more spice than sugar: "There was a time--maybe the third or fourth episode I did--when some friends of mine said, 'You're playing a bad guy.' I was like, "Yeah, I know.' I didn't realize that initially. And that was funny because I never thought of Aphrodite as a bad guy. The reason for that is I have to empathize with her. I try to justify, to myself, why she does the things she does. Yeah, she wreaks havoc but I really don't think she means anything by it. Mostly, she is just having fun. She can be petty and jealous, and she'll do whatever is necessary to achieve her goals." Is there a redemptive trait about the "bad girl" that Tydings can relate to? "Her confidence, that's for sure," notes Tydings. "And, let's face it, it'd be fun to have those kind of powers every once and awhile. I like her vanishing act. And, like me, I think she's playful and she like to have fun. She's a little lighter than I am, but I try not to take things too seriously, either. There is a part of her that is loving, and I certainly am that."

Aphrodite's track record with smitten males, on both series, is poor. I query Tydings on which character would likely be a satisfactory mate for the goddess. "In mythology, Ares and Aphrodite were together a lot, which I think is interesting," she notes. "Love and war is an ironic combination. Talk about a rough marriage! Who knows what would happen if that transpired. I've often gotten to work with Kevin Smith ["Ares"] and he's such a sweetheart, really nice." Okay, so we've resolved that Aphrodite is a heart-breakin' bad girl. Nevertheless, I ask Tydings, "What human qualities would appeal to a babe like Aphrodite?" She bites here lip and smiles: "I think what she looks for, consciously, is what somebody can do for her and what someone has to give to her--and, of course, how she can use them. She likes her barbarians, her idiot thugs and flattery. But what touches her is people who are willing to relate to her as another emotional being."

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