Kristin Kreuk is best known for her role of Lana Lang, the love interest of Clark Kent, on the WB's Smallville. She also had a memorable scene with Matt Damon in Eurotrip. Kristin's latest project is the SCI Fi Channel's Legend of Earthsea, in which she plays the priestess, Tenar.

UGO: How did you prepare for this role?

KRISTIN KREUK: It was actually pretty simple and fun. The books are fantastic. I never got a chance to read them all, but my sister adores them. So I just took the script and developed her from there. It was a lot of fun. I've heard that Tenar is very, very different in the books. I might be wrong in all this, but I've heard that she was darker and more self-centered in a lot of ways, but she didn't seem that way in this story at all. I think developing an inner life for a character is obviously the most important thing because, without that, your character is shallow and empty. Tenar, being an orphan, has clung to this faith, and that's what she believes in. I'm pretty sure that she's never left this island. She's been stuck in this little temple. All she's thought about was keeping Earthsea safe and making sure that these Nameless Ones are never released. That is her goal. Then, she has these visions about this boy who is doing evil, or what she sees as evil, but she also feels that he is good. I think that she has that struggle inside her throughout a lot of the story, and finally it comes to a point where she can accept that there is something else besides faith, and that both faith and magic can exist in the same world. I think, in the end, it's about yin and yang, man and woman, magic and faith, good and evil, all of that coming together to form a whole that in the end saves the world.

UGO: Are you into science fiction and fantasy?

KRISTIN: My sister was actually more of the sci-fi/fantasy person. I wasn't into it as much, although I think it allows you to tell really great family stories and go into your childhood and access your imagination. That's what's really great about sci-fi/fantasy.

UGO: Some people might be surprised you're doing Earthsea because they'd expect you to do anything but a genre project during your hiatus from Smallville. What made you say yes?

KRISTIN: Well, it is a question of what was available. It being shot at home in Vancouver was a part of it. But the cast that they had assembled was unreal. You had Danny Glover, Isabella Rossellini and Shawn Ashmore all signed up, and they offered me this role. It was really easy to say yes to it.

UGO: Did the production overlap with Smallville?

KRISTIN: It overlapped a little bit. I had a couple of months off, actually, to do whatever I wanted. I shot [Earthsea] in June, and I started Smallville in July, so it overlapped for a couple of weeks. I don't work every day on Smallville, so it's easy to schedule another thing.

"We've got the horrible guest star list and the wonderful guest star list, so Shawn is definitely one of Smallville's favorite guest stars."

UGO: What intrigued you about Tenar?

KRISTIN: Her character arc is actually kind of interesting in that she starts out a young girl who's learning the ways of a priestess. She's been an orphan, and she's learning from Isabella's character of Thar. Tenar is going to be the next high priestess and has to rise to the occasion, especially once Thar dies. With Ged, Shawn's character, she has to take control and save Earthsea.

UGO: Are you able at all to relate that to your own real life?

KRISTIN: I think that with everything that's sci-fi and fantasy, the characters are still very much based in reality. I think the situations that the characters go through are heightened reality. The things that we go through as we grow up in our lives, trying to find a way to separate good from evil, aren't as black and white, but I think sci-fi and fantasy add other elements to symbolize or heighten those realities.

"It was funny because I live in Vancouver, and we shot in Vancouver. It was just on Marine Drive and at this old warehouse that they keep cars in."

UGO: What was it like being on those huge Earthsea sets?

KRISTIN: Being on the set was pretty incredible because they were amazing sets, really well done, down to the littlest details, the paint, the wood and the way it's been carved. It was just beautiful. It was funny because I live in Vancouver, and we shot in Vancouver. It was just on Marine Drive and at this old warehouse that they keep cars in. They created this great world, and I think being a part of something so epic [was exciting].

UGO: You've got comic book writers working on Smallville like Mark Verheiden and Jeph Loeb. Do you have much contact with them?

KRISTIN: The thing with Smallville that kind of sucks is that we shoot in Vancouver and everyone else is in LA. So we see the producers, Al [Gough] and Miles [Millar], maybe like twice a year. We never see the writers unless we're in LA, stopping by and going, "Hey, everyone!" So there's a lack of that kind of direct communication on a regular basis. So it's kind of like this weird, other world that we live in, where we create the series and then the people that are doing the writing and making a lot of the decisions are in a completely different location. So it's kind of a strange feeling.

UGO: Do you keep up with the Superman comics at all?

KRISTIN: No, not really. I think the comic world seems to be pretty separate from the TV world.

UGO: Smallville seems to be an entirely different show this year, and Lana seems to be an entirely different character. Would you agree?

KRISTIN: It's entirely different. That's actually quite fun for me. I enjoy changing it up. The show has evolved a lot. They were going darker last year, which I actually thought was quite interesting, going more adult and a little darker. But it wasn't appealing to the same audience anymore. So they brought it back to being more youth-oriented and there's more sex, but I think the storylines are starting to shift again. There were a lot of shuffles in the WB itself this year, so powers were kind of shifting and I think the direction of the show got kind of confused. But now it's coming together, and all these really great storylines that we have are being fleshed out a little more.

UGO: Such as?

KRISTIN: I'm just going to be selfish about this because I really only know where I'm going, mostly. But we've got the storyline with Lana's tattoo. Jane Seymour has come onto the show to play Jason's [Jensen Teague] mother. Jason is Lana's boyfriend right at this moment. Jane's character is quite evil and complex, and Lana has dreamt of her in her past, from when she was a witch. It's all convoluted, but they're going to flesh out that storyline and see how it connects to the mythology and to Superman and to these crystals. That will eventually lead to... well, that's the secret.

UGO: Are you pleased to see Lana with someone other than Clark?

KRISTIN: I have had so much fun. Jensen is wonderful. It's changed now, but at the beginning of the season, it was great just to be able to have fun, to be in your character and laugh and to enjoy another person. It was so lovely because in all of our other seasons, even with Clark, I don't think Lana and Clark have ever really laughed together. They've had this intense, serious relationship, and to have another level added is just so wonderful.

UGO: How did you get involved in Eurotrip?

KRISTIN: Eurotrip was just a two-second part with Matt Damon. All I did was dance. I went out to Prague. I shot for two days, and I was there for eight or ten more, just putzing around the city and enjoying myself. Eurotrip was fun.

UGO: Any chance we'll see you in the Superman film?

KRISTIN: I'm not thinking so. I have no idea what's going on with that, except that Shawn's involved, which is wonderful for him. I think it'll be a great, great thing. Other than that, I don't think so.

UGO: We wait and wait to see you together with Shawn in Earthsea, then it happens near the end. How was that moment to film?

KRISTIN: We shot that scene first, I think. The stuff in our little cells was all shot first. So it wasn't like we had to build up to that. It was really great working with him. He is such a wonderful person and such a great guy, and he's a very good actor.

UGO: You two didn't work together at all when he guest starred on Smallville, but did you at least meet on the set?

KRISTIN: I don't even know if we actually, officially met. I know that I saw him around, but we never worked together. Our storylines were about that far apart. They were hugely separately. So many guest stars come through on Smallville. We've got the horrible guest star list and the wonderful guest star list, so Shawn is definitely one of Smallville's favorite guest stars. Everyone loves him.

"Vancouver is like a little bubble-land for me. It's really great, especially since I was born there, raised there, my friends are there and I've never really left there."

UGO: Who is on the horrible guest star list?

KRISTIN: [Laughs] Oh, we'll keep that a secret.

UGO: What was it like working with Isabella Rossellini?

KRISTIN: Oh God, she's so wonderful. The woman is a legend. You go and talk to her and she is real, grounded and funny. She's so good at what she does. You go on set, and she's constantly trying to make things better and more interesting. She's definitely someone I look up to in a lot of ways as a professional and as a person.

UGO: Do you want to do more movies?

KRISTIN: I would love to work on a feature, be it a big one or a small one, just to be able to try something different. I've really only, in the end, done Smallville for most of my career. It's been Smallville, Edgemont and a couple of series, and you kind of fall into this rhythm. I want to be able to do something that's smaller, that's a little more compressed, where you have a character from beginning to end. I want to be able to do that.

"I've just started to get DVDs. I wasn't really into it for a long time."

UGO: Do you ever check out your fan websites?

KRISTIN: From time to time, but it's kind of difficult to do that sometimes. As nice as people, are they can be just as mean. You have to be able to separate yourself from all of that and not let it affect you. It's kind of hard for somebody to hear all that because you're still a real person and it affects you.

UGO: How about the whole sex symbol aspect?

KRISTIN: I kind of ignore it. I kind of don't pay attention to it. It's not me. That's that person and I'm this person.

UGO: Being in Vancouver, do you feel separated from the whole LA scene?

KRISTIN: Vancouver is like a little bubble-land for me. It's really great, especially since I was born there, raised there, my friends are there and I've never really left there. I have my house and my family. I think I've been to two premieres in my career, and I haven't been to any Hollywood parties. I think New York is very different from LA, so they're not really comparable at all. But being in Vancouver definitely has a way of keeping you grounded.

UGO: At a certain point on a show, an actor becomes a caretaker for his or her character, where you can say, "My character wouldn't do this or that." Are you at that stage yet with Lana?

KRISTIN: I think yes, in some ways that's very much true. I think that depends upon each individual actor. I, as a person, am not as assertive, not as confident in what I do as some other people are. So sometimes it's harder for me to do that personally. But especially once you get to a point where you have created this character and things are written, you can go, "That is so opposite of what my character would do." It's kind of your responsibility in most ways to keep continuity right and to keep the integrity of your character. So I think there does come a point when your voice is heard more than that it was in the beginning, but you still have to kind of fight. The people who write our show are the creators of our show, so they also know a lot about your character, because they created them all. So it's this balance between the two.

UGO: What superpower would you like to have?

KRISTIN: I honestly would just love to fly. I really, really would. I've wanted to since I was a kid.

UGO: What are your favorite DVDs in your collection?

KRISTIN: Wow. I've just started to get DVDs. I wasn't really into it for a long time. But I have to say that my Princess Bride DVD is really wonderful, and I've got Amelie, which is another one of my favorites. Also, Being John Malkovich is another.