Nikki Kicks Up Her Heels

When she was a little girl, Nikki Cox's parents tried to dissuade her from a career in acting by giving her dance lessons. Now that she's grown up ? and we do mean grown up ? the buxom beauty's getting the chance to act and dance, on her new WB sitcom, Nikki.

"I started dancing as a little-bitsy girl," says Cox, who plays a Las Vegas showgirl in love with a wannabe wrestler in the oddball WB comedy, debuting Sunday (9:30 pm/ET). "A dance agent came to the studio where I danced as a child and asked if I wanted to dance professionally. And of course I did. And [that's what led me] into acting. I got lucky. [My parents] assumed I'd try it and get my heart broken. But I got lucky and it worked, so they've had to put up with it ever since."

Cox isn't fazed by off the wall sitcoms, having starred in the WB comedy Unhappily Ever After (1995?99). "It's your basic sitcom," she says of her latest gig in an interview with the TV Guide Channel. "In the first episode, I'm dressed in a bikini-clad lizard, and in the following episode I'm headless."

The actress also says she feels right at home, starring in a sitcom based where it is. "I love Las Vegas," she says. "I'm not a gambler, but I love the shows. I love the fact you can eat all night. It's kind of seedy, and everything about it is extremely appealing to me."

Cox is enjoying her Nikki gig so much, in fact, that she can't bear to be away from the set. "When we have more than a few days off, I start to go a little crazy. I want to at least read a script or drive by the set and say hi to all the people who are wor