USA WEEKEND Extra!

Ready for her solo

Puerto Rican bombshell Roselyn Sanchez can dance, act and sing. Now this bilingual babe is ready to conquer the mainland.

By Veronica Chambers

Roselyn Sanchez's charms are hard to miss. She's more than just another pretty Latin starlet; the one-time ballet dancer also is turning into one of Hollywood's most promising comedic actresses. In box-office hits like "Rush Hour 2", the former Miss Puerto Rico Petite (she's 5-foot-5) proved she can hold a gun and deliver a punch line. And this season she's in ABC's retooled "L.A. Dragnet". But on Tuesday, Sanchez is looking for a hit on the music charts when she releases her first album, Borinquena, an affectionate Spanish term for a woman from Puerto Rico. The record is everything fans of Latin pop could hope for and more: It's romantic and sexy, yes. But it's got rocket-fast salsa beats and hip-hop-inspired guest turns that will keep you dancing all disc long.

On a hike through the Hollywood Hills, the star of "Chasing Papi" and "Boat Trip" is clearly on a high. She waves to fans who recognize her on the trail. She laughs easily and, at a particularly steep turn, puts her hair up in a ponytail, lickety-split. "Excuse me, Mami," she tells me, her voice warm with affection, "but it's hot out here!"

Sanchez has just returned from the Dominican Republic, where she shot her first music video, "Amor Amor", with her good pal Tyrese Gibson ("2 Fast 2 Furious"). She says her decision to record her album entirely in Spanish was a natural: "Spanish is my first language. Immediately, I felt more comfortable. I always said I wanted to be a Latin Sade."

Although Sanchez hopes one day to record in English and pursue the kind of crossover success artists like Enrique Iglesias and Shakira have enjoyed, right now she's loving la vida latina. "For a fact, I know that people who listen to the same music in English and Spanish say there's something about Spanish that makes it more sexual and romantic," she says. "It's like listening to songs in Italian; it's beautiful."

It may seem Sanchez is another out-of-nowhere sensation, but it's been a long climb for the 30-year-old, who grew up in a middle-class family in San Juan. "When I first came to the U.S., 10 years ago, I was clueless," she says with a laugh. "I was doing so well on the island [she was part of Puerto Rico's top-rated variety show, Qué Vacilón], I thought it would be easy. I thought it'd take me one year to be Salma Hayek."

Those first few months in New York were a wake-up call for Sanchez, but she says she got the message loud and clear: "Go learn the language. Go take some acting lessons. Start from zero like everybody else."

Despite her recent success, she still faces challenges in an industry that persists in favoring a Julia over a J.Lo. Sanchez was passed over recently for a coveted role opposite Keanu Reeves because the director didn't see the character "with an accent." Her managers and agents quickly called her into a meeting to address "the accent situation," as they called it. "I explained very carefully how it is almost impossible to lose," she says. "I grew up in Puerto Rico. There's no actor from Latin America, or even Asia, who grew up there, who came to the U.S. as an adult and has no accent. Look at Penélope Cruz."

It's unusual to meet someone who is as whip-smart and savvy about the politics of race, language and culture in the entertainment world as Sanchez is. "If Pedro Almodóvar [the Oscar-winning Spanish director of "Talk to Her"] called Meryl Streep and said, 'I give you five years to learn Spanish, because I want you in this movie,' she may learn the language, but she will sound like an Anglo speaking Spanish," Sanchez says. "I came here when I was almost 22. I'm perfectly bilingual, but I'm never going to sound like Sandra Bullock."

And who'd want her to? We love this borinquena just the way she is.