Actress or FBI agent: these were the two career paths that Sherri Saum, Sunset Beach's nice-girl reporter, Vanessa Hart, set her sights on at a relatively early age. "I always liked to read crime novels. Maybe it's because I grew up in a boring place and tried to create drama in my life. I didn't want to become a cop; that was too gritty. But the FBI, there's so many interesting facets of it. For some reason, that desire to become part of it came on pretty early in my life and never went away." The feds' loss is daytime drama's gain.

Don't misunderstand. It's not that Saum doesn't retain warm feelings and thoughts about her hometown of Dayton, Ohio. After all, her mom, a journalist for The Dayton Daily News, still resides there, as does her older brother, a mechanic, and his family. She claims it was fun growing up in the working-class city because, "It was just big enough. I have fond memories of high school, of being a cheerleader and being active in the drama club. But from the age of 14 or 15 on, I was just itching to get out. I knew what I wanted to do and I couldn't do it there."

The acting bug bit the then painfully shy youngster when she saw the movie adaptation of the musical Annie. It made her think "how much fun it would be to be an orphan. I loved it. I was so shy and yet I wanted to perform. I knew I was going to be an actress someday."

After she graduated from high school, Saum spent some time in New York City, courtesy of a modeling agency that had discovered her. She returned to Dayton, attended Ohio State University for one semester, and then, she says, "I got incredibly antsy and moved back to New York, where I modeled and waitressed while I attended school at New York University." After majoring in psychology, Saum was about to transfer to John Jay College to pursue a degree in criminal justice, but she left school before earning a degree when a job offer summoned her to the West Coast.

"I was plugging away in school and modeling," remembers Saum, whose professional acting experience prior to Sunset consisted of music videos and bit parts in feature films such as Indecent Proposal and House Party III. "Then I got an agent, and the Sunset job came about pretty quickly, actually. I booked it, and a week later I moved to Los Angeles to start working. It was the best thing that ever happened to me - ever."

Almost immediately after getting her first big career break, good fortune smiled on her again - this time in the personal realm. One day she and another newly hired actor happened to be sitting together in Sunset boss Aaron Spelling's office. "We were reminiscing about New York and all the people we knew in common," she says. "We lived 10 blocks from each other in New York, had the same friends, worked as models for the same clients and had never met. It was not to be believed. When I started with the show I was still hanging on to a boyfriend, but I knew in my heart that wasn't going to be my destiny. Tim was very charismatic, and I found myself drawn to him."

Tim, of course, is Timothy Adams (Casey), whom Saum has been involved with ever since. Admittedly frightened at first to enter into a relationship with a colleague, her heart won out over her head. "I was reluctant to go there," she maintains, "but he was totally willing to try and wanted to give it 100 percent of his effort. I thought: If he's willing, why shouldn't I? I decided to risk it. No matter what happened, I was going to be able to maintain my professionalism and prioritize things. I had faith, and besides, I thought he was the most adorable thing alive. I followed my heart, that's all I can say."

But her heart hasn't led her to move in with Adams - yet. They travel together, though. In fact they often give each other vacations as gifts. "He's hard to buy for because he's not materialistic in any way," Saum notes. "He does love traveling, and it's my passion, too. So I took him to Greece, and then he turned around and took me to Mexico. It was like tit for tat for a while with the gifts."

As for any plans for an Adams family of her own, well, let's just say Saum doesn't wish to broach the topic. "That's taboo," she says, uttering a high-pitched, giggling squeal. "That's jinxing. All I will say is that I have an overwhelming maternal instinct, and always have."

Besides being a bit superstitious, Saum is a worrier. She claims she inherited the trait from both her grandmother and mother. "What do I worry about? Everything, from did I shut the car window to what is my life going to be like to my family's health. I can create things to worry about. Timothy's nothing like that. I know because he can fall asleep immediately. Not me, I'll be awake for an hour. I wish I had that luxury of falling right off."

One thing that's not causing insomnia is her job. She's gaining more of a comfort level with each passing day on the set, and simply loves playing Vanessa, with whom she shares certain similarities. For one, "Vanessa is kind of proper, and I'm kind of proper. Of course, she's a reporter and I don't have that confrontational gene. I can't see myself badgering people on the phone for that big story. I just wish that sometimes Vanessa could be bad. Everybody has that side, and I wish I could express it sometimes instead of always taking the high road."

Saum is so enthusiastic about her work that she admits to stalking her studio mailbox every day, "just to see what's in store for me. Every time I go and check the mailbox and I have a new script, it's like receiving a little gift. That script tells you what your TV life is going to be like in the near future. I think it's the most exciting thing in the world."

She does have one gripe: "I hate to wear makeup," she says. "I mean, I hate it, and I hate to sit still for that long. I make the makeup artists' lives miserable. I'm always hungry, too, so they ask me if I've eaten. I try to reason my way out of makeup any way possible."

Still an acting neophyte, one thing Saum believes she brings to the performing table is innate sincerity. "I don't lie to the audience," she says. "I want to believe in and feel what is happening to me. I always try to bring that across. I'm very sympathetic and compassionate myself, and that's Vanessa's personality as well. Sincerity and passion come naturally to me."

"The hard part for me is that I'm still self-conscious when I'm acting. It's a challenge for me to completely surrender within a scene. I'm working on that every day. I had rally bad vision, and sometimes when I knew I had a very heavy scene to perform I'd just take out my contacts so I couldn't see all the crew people standing around. Now I've got laser-corrected vision so I can't hide anymore. It's probably for the best. I don't want any crutches to lean on."

Certainly her Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Younger Actress proves she doesn't need acting crutches, but some sort of medical aid still may be in order: "I've had an ulcer for like two weeks, since I found out about [the nomination]. I'm overwhelmed with happiness, too, but I think I'm just so anxious about it. It's a blessing and a curse at the same time."

"Of course, I know I should just enjoy the moment and not worry about winning," she says, "but it just keeps seeping into my head. It's so great to have that prefix now: Emmy nominated. It's kind of cool. I can't complain."

But it's not like she's spending time thinking about winning or making acceptance speeches. "No way, I haven't got there yet," she says. "I'm trying desperately not to think about it, but of course the show is telling me I've got to find two episodes of my work to submit. I have no choice but to think about it. I'm going to have my mom come with me, and Tim, of course. We will be in New York City, which is my favorite place on earth, so it will be good."

Despite her propensity to worry, Saum realizes she's in a good place in her life right now, one she has always desired and worked hard to attain. "I've always been a big soap opera fan," she says. "So if feels so good in my heart knowing that I was right, that I could do it."

Of course, there are other objectives she wants to achieve. I'm always looking toward the future; I'm very ambitious, I guess. One thing I want to do is hop over to filmland. I came very close to landing a part a few months ago. It gets my adrenaline up just getting the auditions and getting into that environment."

As Saum what it is about acting that compels her to plunge into its complexities and she'll give you a simple answer: I've always loved make-believe and pretending I'm someone else. It's so much fun to escape into somebody else's life and act it out in any way you perceive."

She applies the same quality of simplicity as she looks to the future. "All I want to do is work as an actress. It's not about fame or money. I can't think of anything that gives me the rush and I get when I hear the stage manager call out, 5-4-3-2-1. Except for maybe doing FBI work."