"Black widows of the world unite!." Virginia howled, as she stroked the tarantula on her arm. Ah, yes, another successful attempt at destroying a loving embarce between Michael and Vanessa.

When Sunset Beach's Virginia was introduced last March, she seemed like a caring, down-to-earth, widowed mom, who happened to have the teeniest crush on Michael. "Oh, how things changed," laughs her portrayer, Dominique Jennings. "I started off so nice. I had no idea I'd be evil. But characters become interesting when they're kind of tart."

To put it midly. Ove the past year, Virginia has tried every trick in the book to break up Michael and Vanessa, and she keeps sinking lower and lower. TVGuide lauded Jennings for her successful portrayal of daytime's only black villianess ("an awesome honor," says Jennings). All this for a part that was only suppose to be short-term. "Initially, I was only signed for 10 episodes," says Jennings, "but they made my character bad to build a rivalry with Vanessa. That was the best thing that could have happened. Sometimes, I read the lines and go, 'My God, I have to say this today?"

Of course, Virginia rationalizes her actions by telling herself that she's just a single parent doing what she has to for her son. And that's something Jennings can relate to. "My mother was killed when I was very young (3 1/2)," the actress says softly. "My dad took it upon himself and said, 'I'm going to raise her. 'You don't hear a lot of stories about a single father raising a daughter, and I think he did a great job. I didn't realize until later in life how hard it must have been for him."

Jenning's dad, who goes by the professional name Prophet, is a painter, writer, musician and filmmaker. "He's the most important person in my life, " the actress says. "We are extremely close. I walk over to his place all the time and we just make each other laugh so much."

Jenning's lone recollection of her mom is a "good memory," she shares. "I was in the living room with my father and my mother was in the bathroom, and I was running back and forth telling them to tickle me."

These days, it tickles Jennings that Prophet is her No. 1 fan. "He tapes the show everyday, mo matter what he's doing," the actress says. "He's really into it. He'll stop working to watch!"

And no wonder, considering that Dad was instrumental in getting her acting career started when they moved to LA from Sweden. "When I was 11, I did an episode of Sesame Street," she recalls. "It was with Richard Pryor and his daughter, and we made sounds playing with cars."

Jennings soon landed an agent, but hated going out on calls for roles that never materialized. "I was up for what was going to be the black Waltons, but it never happened," the actress sighs. As she got older, though, things began to happen, including a guest spot on The Wayans Bros. ("I fell out of a balloon," she laughs) and an episode of Baywatch Nights, which involved a tricky - and scary - underwater scene with David Hasselhoff. "I thought they were going to use a stuntwoman, and I only found out two minutes before I had to do it that they weren't, and I didn't want to do it," Jennings says with a shiver.

Eventually, she moved to a less treacherous wave-wise, at least - Beach. " I had gone in for Vanessa originally, and it went fine but I never heard anything," Jennings explains. "Then I got a callled out of the blue last February, adn they said they were interested in me - and I had to get down there that day.

While Virginia plots to win her man, the single Jennings has other things on her mind. "I'm not looking for anyone at the moment," she reports. "I'm so busy. I have a ton of interests." Including cartoons - Jennings is the voice of Wanda on HBO's adult animated show, SPAWN. "It's kind of seedy and dark," she says. It's drawn really interestingly, and the characters are cool." Jennings spends her spare time helping to sell a pal's handmade jewelry, and she recently became interested in designing furniture.

"One of my good friends, my cousin, is a furniture designer," she explains. "I have so many ideas about design. I need to find that pet rock and make people think they need it. Hopefully they do need it!"

Rounding out her agenda is singing. "I kind of got involved in the music industry, but it's very different from acting," she states. "It's harder, much harder. It's really about connections."

So will Virginia be crooning any tunes anytime soon? "I'd love that," exclaims the Jennings. "She could sing at the Waffle Shop and lure Michael in that way."

And her signature song would have to be "The Itsy, Bitsy Spider."