In the movies, she’s a spy. On TV, a cop. Sure, criminals can run — but why would they want to?

When CARLA GUGINO stepped into the role of Karen Sisco in the ABC series of the same name, she had some big britches to fill: J. Lo’s. It was Lopez’s generously seated pants that first stunned criminals into submission as U. S. marshal Sisco in 1998’s Out of Sight. But it didn’t take long for critics and viewers to realize that Gugino has a few choice weapons of her own — which is why we at Esquire are baffled (outraged?) that the folks at ABC have temporarily pulled the show for sweeps. Obviously, they don’t know what they’ve got. So we thought we’d enlighten them with a few fun facts about Carla.

#1 Unlike most women, she’s got a thing for the shoes.
I’m obsessed with high, high heels; it could be verging on a fetish. I’m like a mini Imelda Marcos. When people ask how Karen Sisco can run so well in heels, I say that from the moment I could walk, I was walking in heels. At one point, I was deciding whether to make one room of my house an office or a closet. I chose closet, and I must say, I made the right choice.

#2 She’s also got a thing for pumps.
I’ve done some target practice recently. I shot a Remington pump-action shotgun. It really has some kick to it, but I wasn’t thrown to the ground. I didn’t even get bruised, which made me feel good about myself. I also learned to use a protractible baton.

#3 She was raised in a tepee.
My father and my mother separated when I was two. With my father, I lived in Florida, where we had a swimming pool, a tennis court, the whole deal. My mom wanted to take me out of the hubbub. She put up a real Indian tepee in Paradise, California, and we lived there for six months. We also lived in a van in Big Sur for a while. When you’re a kid, it’s a dream. I bathed in the river, ran around in the forest, searched for rock quartz. It was a very bohemian upbringing, although I’m glad I don’t live in a tepee now.

#4 Your fantasies about seeing her naked are not totally unrealistic.
I’m more European by nature in terms of nudity. If it seems right for the moment, I feel fine about it. In our society, we’ve gotten to a place where you can see, in a PG-13 movie, a head being blown off someone’s body, but you can’t see someone’s breast. It’s bizarre. I would much rather be naked in a film than be doing a sex scene where I’m holding a sheet above my chest.

#5 She can talk about Pauly Shore with a straight face.
I worked with Pauly on Son in Law. When I auditioned for it, I remember thinking, This is not for me. I just thought I wasn’t silly enough. Then Pauly and I did this reading, and we just clicked. He’s a really funny and talented guy. Right after Son in Law, Marty Callner, who directed those Aerosmith videos with Alicia Silverstone and Liv Tyler, called me up and said, I want you to do this Bon Jovi music video. I found myself straddling a chair. It ended up doing very well.”