HOLLYWOOD -- You might not know her name. But you might recognize Carla Gugino's sweet face from seasons on TV's Spin City and Chicago Hope, as well as parts in movies from Snake Eyes to Troop Beverly Hills.

That could change quickly with the release of Robert Rodriguez's dazzling, special effects-laden, family adventure flick Spy Kids, which is new in theatres this weekend.

This is a movie that could propel Carla Gugino to stardom. The thirtysomething American plays the hot babe and retired spy partnered in an on-screen marriage with archetypal Latino lover Antonio Banderas.

They are the hi-tech parents of the kids of the title, two youngsters forced to become spies themselves to rescue their parents after a clownish villain kidnaps Mom and Dad away to a surreal castle that looks like Disneyland on LSD. In her femme fatale role, Gugino rocks the screen.

"Absolutely, I think that this would be helpful for me if it did really well," Gugino says about the huge hopes Rodriguez, Miramax and Alliance Atlantis have for the stylish film.

Critical kudos

"As an actor," Gugino says of her 12 years in the business, "there are probably only a few times in your career where you feel that you do something that you feel passionate about and, at the same time, that is matched on the other end with critical kudos or commercial success."

Spy Kids could score on all three levels. That didn't quite happen during her TV career.

"I have always found myself as a person to be slightly unfulfilled whenever I've done television -- that having nothing to do with the people I worked with, and having nothing to do with the material," Gugino says. "It was just my nature. I do prefer film."

Gugino describes her childhood as being "a bit of a gypsy," because her parents were divorced, and she alternated living with her "hippie" mom and her more conservative dad. That upbringing is better suited for work in movies, Gugino says.

"I love the idea of going to a new place and pouring myself into a character and being in that bubble, in that world, for three months and then moving on."

She has moved on a lot, through projects such as Miami Rhapsody (also with Banderas, as well as Sarah Jessica Parker), Judas Kiss (Emma Thompson), The War At Home (Martin Sheen, Emilio Estevez), Michael (John Travolta), This Boy's Life (Robert De Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio) and Son In Law (Pauly Shore).

What her career has lacked so far is focus, or an identifiable image that would propel her to stardom. In Spy Kids, while it remains a safe movie for youngsters to enjoy, she emerges as a sexy, dynamic mom with James Bond skills.

Double life

"Neither Antonio nor I are the typical people that you would cast as parents in a kids' movie," Gugino says. "That's another thing I liked (about Spy Kids), that the characters didn't have to be in this cliche box, that they were able to be parents but also have this double life and still have this relationship where they could be sexy and cool."

For Gugino, the movie is reality hyped up into fantasy while still retaining its roots in recognizable family relationships. At the same time, the actors got to act like children.

"It brings you back to playing dress-up as a kid -- and do it more successfully because you have good hair, makeup and wardrobe people."

The irony of all this? Gugino owes her role in Spy Kids to an eight-year-old boy, Evan Sabara -- twin brother to Daryl Sabara, one of the two spy kids. Evan had worked with Gugino on an HBO movie and sent Rodriguez the tape through Daryl.

"The way he (Rodriguez) found out about me was not through the normal Hollywood channels that we're all used to in terms of agents, managers and stuff," Gugino says with a laugh.

Now her career might bust out because of it.


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