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84 MIAMI LIVING rock star," says Missi laughing. As long as Missi can remember, she has always wanted to be an actress. "All I've ever wanted as a kid was to be on a TV show. My family was creepy and weird… that's not true," she says jokingly. "But when you're a teenager, you're like, 'my parents are so weird.' I'd escape into these programs. I wanted to be on The Cosby Show as one of the children. Clearly, I could've been one they adopted. When I watched it, I'd be like (fake sobbing), 'They would never treat their children this way.'" How she actually became an actress, Missi refers to as divine intervention. When her mother remarried, they moved from Texas to Tennessee. Though the move was "devastating," Missi's new high school led her to a great drama school for college, which put her on the path to stardom. What's the best part about being an actress? "I think meeting people you've always dreamed about meeting." She's worked with some of the best names in Hollywood –Johnny Depp, Steve Martin, Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Tim Burton… "I remember being a huge fan of Tom Everett Scott. We did a TV show together where we were love interests, and I'm just like, this is so bizarre because I grew up in the middle of nowhere and I always wanted to be an actor. I just think it's really funny to be potentially making out —it's just a weird thing to do," Missi says bashfully. And working with Johnny Depp? "Uh, it was pretty dreamy." Unable to contain my enthusiasm, I exclaim, "I'm sure! He was just voted Sexiest Man of the Year, by People magazine — for the second time." "I know! People interviewed me last week to talk about him. Of all the people who have worked with Johnny Depp. Me? I'm your go- to-girl?" says Missi in disbelief. "He's so charming, so real… A lot of people you meet look through you and are so self-consumed, he just didn't seem to be that type of person. Tim Burton, he's phenomenal. He would be like, 'Missi, you need to stand as close as you can to Johnny.' I was like, 'Really? Is this too close? I spent a lot of the movie just standing next to Johnny Depp, which was really nice," Missi gushes. HOME LIFE In 2008, Missi married Casey Anderson (a grizzly bear specialist for National Geographic), whom she met in Montana while filming, Pretty Ugly People. "His bear, Brutus, was in a movie I was doing. He found me on Myspace a year later. He heard my band and was like, 'If you ever come to Montana….' That very bear, who sorta brought them together played a pivotal role in their wedding. "I said to Casey, 'Christine (BFF Christina Moore, from TNT's HawthoRNe) is going to be my Maid of Honor, who do you want to be your Best Man? He's like, 'I really want Brutus to be my Best Man.' I was like, 'I'm going to start this with I love you, because I do, but that's crazy. You can't have a bear. You have three brothers. You can't choose a human?' I have some pictures of all of us –Brutus, Casey, me, Christine. It's not bad. I want people to do what they want to do," Missi says lightheartedly. Missi travels back and forth between their home in Los Angeles, and house in Montana, where they have a grizzly bear sanctuary. "It's funny. Everyone's like, 'Where does Brutus sleep? Does he live in the house with you guys?' I'm like, 'He's always clogging the toilet with his bear poop,'" she says jokingly. "They have a sanctuary, 3 other bears live there. That's my other life— I live in Montana in the cold. I love it out there." NEXT... Shawnee and Missi are in midst of writing a TV show, a "mockumentary," about a rock band (such as theirs) making it big. "We're actually packaging it together… We've been really amused by how weird our own lives are, that we thought we should do a Flight of the Concords meets a girl show… We have a bunch of meetings, so we're trying to develop it… We've had a lot of people who want to do reality shows, and want to do a reality show about Casey, me and the bear. It's funny," Missi says laughing. "My life has become reality-show worthy." If Missi had her way, "my ideal life would be to do a good TV series, then spend 2 months on the road with my band, and four months out of the year in Montana being a mountain woman." Look for Missi in upcoming movies Barry Munday and Miss Nobody and for her guest appearance on Grey's Anatomy as bitchy Resident Nicole, airing this February. ML PEOPLE SHY GIRL This vivacious and hysterical actress considers herself a shy person. "I don't know why I started acting in the first place because I'm really genuinely afraid of coming into a room and meeting new people. I'm really determined to conquer things. I did stand-up because it scared me. I would be so nervous all day, then go up there and be like, 'That was great. Let's do that again!"'