SHERYL LEE / ACTRESS

First seen by most people as the tarp-wrapped corpse of Laura Palmer in “Twin Peaks,” Sheryl Lee, 30, is very much alive as an independent cinema presence, now starring as a young bride in “Bliss.” Recently, she’s also skirted the mainstream playing Bathsheba in TNT’s “David” and an undead hooker in John Carpenter’s “The Vampires” (which just began shooting in New Mexico).

HOME: “I live in Laurel Canyon. Hiding. Reminds me of Colorado, where I grew up. Nice to be somewhere in the city where you have a sense of neighborhood. I know the guys at the dry cleaners and the grocery store.”

FEATURE FILMS: “I did see ‘Mission: Impossible.’ It’s interesting for me to go to a theater like that, kind of a study of society. It’s so foreign to me. The theater was packed and people were screaming, like going to a sports event. It’s great, I just don’t experience that much.”

THE NEXT BILLY BOB: “Keith Gordon is a phenomenal director and has a huge career ahead of him. He directed the film I was in last year, ‘Mother Night,’ and did ‘A Midnight Clear.’ And he’s been an actor, so he understands the craft.”

OVERLOOKED: “Lili Taylor is one of the best actresses we have. She just deserves so much more recognition than she gets. I’ll go see anything she’s in.”

ROLE MODEL: “I would like to meet someone now who thinks they’re a vampire. In researching for this film there was a lot of comical stuff about them. I need the real serious stuff, but it’s kind of freaky to go, ‘Yeah, I’d like to meet a vampire.’ ”

RECOMMENDED RENTALS: “The films that have had a profound effect on my life recently are ‘The Last Temptation of Christ,’ ‘Wings of Desire,’ ‘Betty Blue,’ ‘Camille Claudelle’ and two films from Sundance two years ago, ‘Priest’ and ‘Before the Rain’--they’re all European films!”

ESCAPE FROM HOLLYWOOD: “I don’t want to bitch about L.A., but you can’t ever get away from the film industry. But two weeks ago I went to dinner in Pasadena and it was wonderful, because it seemed farther away than it was. It seemed like there wasn’t even anyone from the film industry in the restaurant.”

NOT SO INDIE: “The independent film world is becoming exactly like the studio world. Now in casting sessions for independent films they have a list of actors based on what amount of money their name can bring in. I thought the whole point was to get away from that.”