By ANIKA VAN WYK --

NEW YORK -- Jami Gertz's return to acting has been a real whirlwind.

Several weeks after giving birth to her second son, Gertz headed to Oklahoma in high storm season to star as Melissa the other woman in the block-buster action flick Twister.

Speed director Jan De Bont's tornado film has already made $190 million US. The success has started Gertz's career to spiral upward, something she thought she'd lost out on.

"I had read for Jan for Speed. I didn't get that one and it would have been a good one to get -- it made a few bucks," laughs Gertz, who hasn't worked for four years to raise her family.

De Bont asked Gertz to audition for his new action film when she was nine-months pregnant. She declined the offer saying, "it wasn't my best time."

Two weeks after she gave birth he requested her to come again. All she could fit into were her pregnancy jeans and her husband's Hawaiian shirt.

The audition was filled with beautifully-attired women and when she found out the film would be shot in Oklahoma for four months she put it out of her mind.

"When my agent called and said I got Twister, I said 'What's that?' I had absolutely no idea."

Gertz brought both her sons to the set and the cast and crew kind of adopted them.

"My oldest son was going to have his third birthday and I felt pretty badly because none of his friends were going to be there. I told the crew, 'I will feed you if you come to my house and bring a gift under $5 just so I can have Happy Birthday sung to him.'

"They all showed up and they all brought a gift that reminded them of their childhood -- there were a lot of Twister games. They were so kind."

Helen Hunt, Gertz's co-star, think's Gertz has the perfect setup -- career and a wonderful family. Gertz and her home were even recently featured in In Style magazine.

But Gertz says it's not easy.

"If they had opened a closet it would have been all over," Gertz admits with a laugh about the photo shoot of her home.

"When they say you can have it all they are being overzealous. I think that something ultimately suffers. I'm trying to find the balance but it's difficult."

Gertz has her publicist to thank for her family. She and her husband, financier Tony Ressler, have been married for seven and a half years and have two sons, Oliver and Nicky.

"I was dating someone my publicist didn't like. She met Tony and thought we'd be great and fixed us up. She brought me to a park and we met ... I fell in love instantly. At my wedding I sat her next to the man she later married and they have two babies now. So I paid her back."


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