Actress Elisha Cuthbert: The Bombshell Subsequent Door

The 2 vacationers ready for an elevator on the One&Solely Palmilla Resort in Los Cabos, Mexico, have been in for a shock. When the doorways slid open, there inside, dangling from the ceiling air vent, was a petite blonde girl. And never simply any girl, however the Canadian-born actress Elisha Cuthbert, who performs Kim Bauer (daughter of Jack) on the Fox megahit 24.

“The elevator was caught, I might been alone in there for 10 minutes, and it was heating up like a furnace. I assumed I used to be going to suffocate,” says Elisha, recalling the unusual trip second over breakfast in Hollywood. “I do not know the place I assumed I used to be going. However I am a doer, so I figured, ‘I’ll get myself out of right here.’ Simply as I used to be about to drag myself by way of the air duct, the doorways opened.” What did she do then? “I mentioned, ‘Hello!'” she replies, grinning.

The reality is, Elisha’s petite five-foot-three-inch body belies her power. The 26-year-old emanates a “been there” vibe—not precisely hardened, however she’s definitely no pushover. Her darkish eyebrows and platinum hair (she dyes it herself) pack a visible wallop, however she softens the look with denims, an oversize grey sweater, and a black scarf. For her WH interview she’s chosen a low-key neighborhood café on Sundown Boulevard, the place she munches on fruit and granola—however she confirmed up right here in a Porsche.

Which is type of acceptable, really. In her movies—Previous College, Home of Wax, and The Woman Subsequent Door amongst them—Elisha has carved out a distinct segment as the most well liked woman you may know in actual life. She’s even turn out to be one thing of a fixture on “attractive” lists, although she’s not the kind to obsess over her press.

“I do not verify,” she says, laughing. “In actual fact, I do not learn any Web stuff. It looks like a darkish and evil place. I’ve a couple of buddies who’re within the highlight, who’ve referred to as me in the course of the night time crying. I’m going, ‘What are you doing? Get off your rattling pc!’ I imply, I need not know that Joe in his basement in Nebraska prefers Jessica Alba.”

Elisha did, nonetheless, spend a couple of years sampling what she calls “the hype and glory” of being a younger Hollywood starlet. “For a very long time I used to be naïve about who I used to be surrounded by,” she remembers. “I received caught up within the L.A. scene.” She wasn’t a celebration animal; it was extra like going out to dinner each night time with a circle she loved however did not fairly match into. “Not that they have been unhealthy individuals,” she says. “I simply could not ask any of them to drive me to the airport.”

She’s spent the final 12 months edging away from all that, in favor of more true companions, like her boyfriend, Calgary Flames hockey defenseman Dion Phaneuf. “It is the primary actual, wholesome relationship of my life,” she says. “I feel you be taught one thing from each relationship. However I’ve spent an excessive amount of time with individuals who weren’t value spending that a lot time with.”

That will or might not be a reference to her ex-boyfriend, former Dallas Stars heart Sean Avery, who in December publicly referred to her as “sloppy seconds”—a remark that received him dropped from the Stars and suspended by the Nationwide Hockey League for “inappropriate public feedback.”

“I feel the way in which the NHL dealt with it was spectacular, and I used to be grateful,” Elisha says. “He was simply one other one who was in my life underneath false pretenses. He needed the eye of courting an actress. However I do not remorse my previous relationships. It is extra, ‘Why was I not pondering proper?’ I at all times need to please everyone; loads of entertainers are like that. The trick is understanding while you’re compromising [too much].”

Elisha has been looking for that good steadiness her complete life. At age 9, rising up in Montreal, she introduced to her mother and father (father Kevin, who runs an auto enterprise, and mom Patricia, a homemaker who used to play on a ladies’s hockey workforce) that she was going to be an actress. That is a reasonably typical dream for a self-professed “outgoing goofball” who at all times needed to be the focal point. What’s atypical is that by 11, she’d made it occur. Elisha appeared in Canadian TV reveals and movies and cohosted the Discovery Children’ collection Common Mechanics for Children. Proper after highschool, she Beetled to L.A., promising her people that if she hadn’t discovered work in six months she’d come house and go to school. “I did not need to be delusional. I needed a end line,” she says. “Within the final week, 24 occurred. It was my twenty fourth audition.”

As of late Elisha’s drive has downshifted—just a little. “I was hustle-hustle, work-work,” she says. “I awakened within the morning and went to mattress fascinated with appearing. I wasn’t unhealthy, however I might say I used to be borderline.” The important thing to happiness for her now: being much less consumed by her profession targets. “Kiefer used to say to me, ‘Don’t be concerned about what your subsequent job might be,’ and I might go, ‘Ha-ha, yeah, good attempt.’ However for the primary time, I am attempting to not fear. I do not really feel like I’ve to show something; I am not in a panic anymore. I am definitely not completed, however I really feel like I’ve achieved rather a lot. I am concentrating on different issues in my life.”

On her diversionary to-do checklist: studying (she simply completed Nikki Sixx’s Heroin Diaries), portray (primarily abstracts and portraits), puttering round in her kitchen (“All of the home equipment are from a restaurant referred to as Koi—they’d purchased too many—so that they’re enormous. I’ve a flat griddle and an industrial hood fan. It is like having a Benihana in my home!”), and following her favourite sport (she was thrilled when Canada received its fifth World Junior Hockey Championship in January). And for the primary time in her life, Elisha has joined a fitness center, the place she works out for 2 hours a day. She loves the vary of courses—from boot camp to booty burning to yoga. “As soon as I begin one, I am unable to stop; I am too aggressive,” she says. “I attempt to get to the fitness center early, trip the bike for an hour, push to that 400-calorie burn, after which do a category.”

Elisha additionally logs loads of air miles visiting Phaneuf in Calgary. “Till now, I might thought I used to be cursed in love,” she says. “I assumed, ‘I received what I needed in my profession, and too unhealthy, you’ll be able to’t have the whole lot.'” What’s extra, her mother and father set the bar excessive. “They have been meant to be collectively. It is awe-inspiring. I do not need marriage if it isn’t going to be what they’ve,” she says. “However now I do know extra what I would like in a accomplice—somebody with household values, who has one thing occurring in his life.”

In fact, there are occasions when being alone has its benefits too. Not lengthy after the elevator incident in Los Cabos, Elisha had one other mishap, this time in Austin, Texas. She discovered herself in an elevator that plunged 15 flooring, 4 flooring at a time.

“It was terrifying—the emergency brake screeching, me holding on to my baggage for pricey life,” she says. “However I choose to be alone [in those situations], as a result of you do not need somebody with you panicking and making it worse.” Someplace, Jack Bauer is smiling.

Elisha’s Favourite Issues:
Go-to accent: “Scarves. I’ve all types, tons and tons, prints and solids, silk and pashmina. I’m at all times chilly, so scarves are actually nice.”

Magnificence merchandise: “I’m an enormous lip balm individual. I like By Terry. It’s extraordinarily costly, however it feels so good. It has an attractive, floral odor, too.”

De-stresser: “Steam bathe. I’ve a steamer in my home, I simply sit in there for a very long time, and suffocate myself with steam. De-tox, soften away all my issues.

Room in your own home: “My kitchen. All of the home equipment are from an precise restaurant. They have been purchased for the restaurant Koi, and so they’d overbought ovens. I’ve essentially the most wonderful industrial hood fan, it could suck me up by way of it, I swear to God. I attempt to not flip it on. It’s so loud, you’ll be able to’t even speak when you’re cooking. “

Responsible pleasure: “Junk meals: I’m a giant chocolate fan. Lindor–the little balls–don’t give me a bag of these, they’ll be gone. They’re so creamy and good. I don’t know the way they keep melty like that, even if you happen to put them within the fridge. I like all chocolate, although.”

Superstar crush: “By no means had one, not at the same time as a child. I feel I’ve received to grasp and meet somebody to have a connection to them.”

Favourite exercise music: “Woman Gaga, ‘Simply Dance’. It’s an upbeat tune. And I like Sia, she’s terrific.”

Favourite designer: “I’ve so many. I like Balenciaga. And Nike. How about that for a gamut? I like Nike’s exercise stuff, it’s so nice. The DryFit! Nice stuff.

Favourite sport to play: “Volleyball. And I wish to ski, too.”

Favourite charity: “The Michael J. Fox Basis. He’s Canadian; I grew up watching him. He’s an idol of mine.”