Tori Spelling has never downplayed the correlation between having a successful career as an actor and having a successful television producer for a father.

Prime-time sex-and-schmaltz pioneer Aaron Spelling first cast his then-six-year-old daughter, Victoria Davey Spelling, in an episode of Vegas. At 16, Tori easily segued from her real-life upbringing in Beverly Hills (she grew up in a 56,000-square-foot mansion) to the role of good girl Donna Martin on Fox' Beverly Hills 90210. Spelling has parlayed the exposure from a hit series and her standing as a member of television aristocracy into an ever-expanding body of work. In addition to her nine seasons on 90210, she has appeared in such television movies as Alibi, Deadly Pursuits, Awake to Danger, A Friend to Die For and Coed Call Girl. Pursuing a big-screen career, she made a tongue-in-cheek appearance in Scream 2 as Neve Campbell's alter ego, and her work in the independent film The House of Yes, in which she played opposite Parker Posey, was critically acclaimed.

Robert Crane caught up with Spelling at Château Marmont in Hollywood. He reports: "Tori is taller, prettier and sexier in person than on film. For a TV star and a Beverly Hills showbiz rich girl, she is unpretentious and down-to-earth. She's not entirely comfortable when people stare at her as she enters a room. I'm still trying to reconcile that fact with her fantasy of being a stripper."

Q 1

PLAYBOY: You're the queen of the TV movie. Which physical or mental traumas have not yet been properly explored by the networks?

Tori Spelling: I think they've all been covered. I, alone, have done every single tragedy out there. I've been stalked, raped, murdered, everything. Part of the reason I stopped doing TV movies is that we were looking for something new to do and there wasn't anything. And, unfortunately, the networks do the same things over because that's what draws in viewers.

Q 2

PLAYBOY: While you were growing up, which Aaron Spelling show did you think life actually resembled?

Tori Spelling: You're looking for me to say Dynasty, aren't you? But probably it's Family. I know it's a reserved, boring answer, but we are a close family. We have a huge house, a really close family, and my dad is always there.

Q 3

PLAYBOY: What would we be surprised to find in your purse, in your refrigerator and on your night table?

Tori Spelling: In my purse--I have so much crap in here. My thumbees for massaging, so you can get in really good to massage the shoulders. I'm a really good masseuse and I always massage my male co-stars. So I keep them on hand. Refrigerator--probably this stuff called Fluff. It's marshmallow spread. You can only get it back East. So I bought a case when I went to New York with a bunch of friends. You can put it on ice cream. It's really yummy.

Night table--that's a rough one. It's so cluttered--I'm not the neatest person. This is really weird, but I have a bad habit. I get millions of catalogs and I love to go through them and order stuff because it's so fascinating that you can order things by mail and they arrive at your doorstep. I fill out ten order forms a night and then forget to send them in, which is good because it saves my bank account. I find them later all filled out. By that time, the styles are already out.

Q 4

PLAYBOY: If it were OK with all parties concerned, whose boyfriend or husband would you borrow for a day? What would you do, where would you go, how would you get away with it?

Tori Spelling: Let's go with the obvious. I've always loved Tom Cruise, but Nicole could join in. Any way you want it to mean. As long as we're not talking about reality here, let's go for it. I'd take a big yacht out in the ocean and sail to a small island where we could walk on the beach wearing little coconuts and Tom could recite lines from Top Gun to me. I love Top Gun. That would really get me in the mood.

Q 5

PLAYBOY: Speaking of Golden Globes, name the best cleavage in Hollywood.

Tori Spelling: I think it would be Madonna. She is kind of running over. Pamela Anderson's is pretty nice. There's a lot. Did you see Julianne Moore's when she was pregnant? Her husband is lucky. She looks good. She was huge. My mom has really good cleavage. My mom has these great breasts. She hates them, but I think they're great. She's like, "Do you know what it's like walking around with double Ds?" I'm like, "Oh, please. Lucky you."