Despite the good intentions, surprise parties never seem to go according to plan: Either the victim bumps into guest in the the driveway or some moron lets the cat out of the bag weeks in advance. But the suprise at Bianca Kajlich's party was a different sort. "I dragged a bunch of friends to the the theater to see 10 things I hate about you," she says about celebrating her first major role, "only to realize- suprise!- I wasn't really in the movie. You can still see me in the background, but my scene had been cut."

 Sadly, the first-genteration Slavic actress didn't see it coming. Her character, "Coffee Girl No. 1," was listed between "Cohert" and "Drugged-out Loser" in the credits. It was my first major Hollywood lesson: You can and will be cut out of a film if you don't have a name."

 That's not to say all of Bianca's parts have wound up on the cutting-room floor. As cheerleader Carver Rizchek in Bring It On, the 23-year-old literally towers above her peers. "I did tons of stunts, like one where I stood up straight, with my legs together, on top of a guy's hands," she says. Not even 10 years years of ballet training were enough to prepare her for the move. "It was really tough. I had to clench my butt cheeks really tight." 

 That cheek-squeezing performance helped Bianca land a role in Steven Spielberg's next TV production, Semper Fi. Due for release early 2001. It's a series that follows the lives of seven Marine Coprs recruits going through basic training. To make it as realistic as possible, the producer summoned the cast to two weeks of boot camp at South Carolina's Paris Island to soak up military life firsthand. Bianca, who's been single for more than a year now, had other plans. "I thought I might meet a guy," she says, but they were all too serious. I'm not in to muscles."

 She almost missed getting the Semper Fi part, which would've meant giving up acting and going back to school. Her parents had OK'd Bianca's move from her native Seattle to Los Angeles, but gave her a one- year deadline to make it work. "My time was almost up," she says. "I hadn't gotten any really big parts and had only $20 to my name. So I'd pretty much called it quits and decided to spend my last day at Magic Mountain." Totally immersed in her amusement park experience, the roller-coaster enthusiast didn't hear her pager.

 "Everyone was yelling at me about how I almost missed out on Semper Fi by not calling back. But it was worth it. The Superman ride is unreal." (JB)