Superman has swept Alberta's Erica Durance off her feet.

The 26-year-old actress, who hails from Three Hills, 128 km northeast of Calgary, can be seen as the Man of Steel's girlfriend, Lois Lane, on the hit WB series Smallville. It airs tonight at 5 p.m. on Space (o) and Wednesdays on The WB (f).

For Durance, who now lives in Vancouver and has previously appeared in such series as The Chris Isaak Show and Tru Calling, acting opposite Tom Welling's teenage Clark Kent has sent her career soaring. And in true comic-book manner, it all transpired at what felt like superhuman speed.

"It was a whirlwind," Durance tells the Sun, recalling how she learned she got the part after auditioning. "I got the call I had it on a Friday night and began filming Monday morning. I was scheduled to go in Saturday and do some photo shoots. And then on Sunday, Tom was nice enough to read some scenes with me so I wasn't so stressed out. And then on Monday, I was thrown in there."

Originally, producers had only planned to have the Lois Lane character in four episodes. That grew to eight, and now Durance is filming the 12th of what is now a 13-show run. And there may be more in the future -- a chance she says she'd welcome, despite the initial pressure of portraying such a famous character.

"If you think too much about playing an icon, it will immobilize you. You have to treat it like a fresh character. Sure, there are guidelines so that you don't upset people, but you have to find your own way ... I've had more of a run than I expected. I'm really grateful."

It helps that Durance's Lane is considerably younger than the Daily Planet reporter audiences are accustomed to. In keeping with the prequel's themes, her Lois is still finding her way. "There's a little more leeway -- why she is who she is. (The writers) made this particular Lois Lane quick-witted -- there's a lot of humour and barbs. She has a very light energy. Compared to everyone else on the show, she's a bit of a foil. She's also a little more physical (than adult Lois) because she's a military brat."

Durance isn't the first Canadian to spar romantically with the Man of Tomorrow -- Christopher Reeve's 1970s incarnation fell for Yellowknife's Margot Kidder -- and those big-screen outings were shot partially in Alberta.

While Durance lives on the coast, and her parents no longer live in Alberta, she still has family and friends who live in the province. And she admits she's as surprised as anyone at her leap from small-town Alberta to hit series. "I ask myself that -- it was just kind of a slow process. I was interested in theatrical things growing up, and music. I had a coach I studied with for a long time. She kind of inspired me."

After she graduated, she moved to Vancouver.

"I thought I'd give it a start and see if I liked it or not. Then I started auditioning and went through the whole process -- I've done commercials and background work, which is great, I think. It helps you respect where everything comes from and you have an idea of what it's like to be in everybody else's shoes."

One role that is out of Durance's reach is, ironically, Lois Lane. Although Warners Bros. is about to shoot a new Superman film, directed by Bryan Singer (X-Men), it will have a different actress as Lois.

"They've kept (Smallville and the film) separate.

"What they've said to Tom is that they wanted to keep the two franchises as they are, apart from each other."

Nevertheless, she has had the chance to see the famous red-and-blue supersuit up close and in person. It happened while she was facing a contingent far more difficult and demanding than the likes of the Phantom Zone villains or Lex Luthor.

That's right -- nerds.

"I've been around promoting the shows at different (comic-book) conventions and everyone is just amazing. They're so much fun. There was one guy, who was just lovely; he was in a Superman suit. He was great."