Justina Vail had no plans to become an actress. But a spur-of-the-moment decision to audition for an acting role while vacationing in Hong Kong led to a career that has resulted in her first starring role in a series as Russian scientist Olga Vukavitch. Cool, professional and beautiful, she has a sexually tense cat-and-mouse relationship with Parker, the daring and unpredictable time-traveler played by Jonathan LaPaglia. "Olga is very smart but she has a lot of heart," says Vail. "She's trying to find a balance in a man's world where she can be very much a woman but still be strong. There's a lot of denial going on between Olga and Parker about hot they are for each other."

Born in Malaysia, the daughter of a British civil engineer father and an artist mother, Vail was educated in England. After attending Canterbury Art College, she was visiting her sister in Hong Kong when, on a whim, she auditioned for an English TV show that was shooting there. "I had no clue that I was going to be an actress because I was so intent on being a painter," she says. "But I went in and pretended I was an actress and, much to my horror, they believed me."

She did stage work in England and, realizing that she had a new career, Vail moved to Los Angeles. She appeared in Paramount's motion picture "Kiss the Girls" and was one of Tom Cruise's ex-girlfriends in "Jerry Maguire." Her television credits include "Seinfeld," in which she played a woman dumped by George Costanza.

Vail is single and lives in Los Angeles.