Soul Food Star's Big Brawl

Nicole Ari Parker may play a straight-laced lawyer on the Showtime drama Soul Food, but when it comes to her career on the big screen, she's taking the mitts off. In her new film Brown Sugar (opening tomorrow), the actress gets in a heated confrontation with Sanaa Lathan over mutual crush Taye Diggs. Without giving too much away, suffice it to say that flying fists and acid tongues are the weapons of choice.

"Everyone's talking about that [fight] scene," laughs Parker. "Does it look like I hurt Sanaa? [Because] there is nothing tough about me at all.

"People don't know this," she continues, "[but] when you're in those kinds of scenes, you know what you're thinking about? 'Is my fat roll showing in this tight workout outfit?'"

Not surprisingly, the self-proclaimed girly-girl confesses that she would much rather be running around in hoop skirts than boxing gloves. "I really like that whole Kate Winslet movie [genre]," she says. "I want to do [a period piece] and not be Sally Hemmings. I want to be the heroine of it, running to meet my lover in the woods in the rain with some battle going on."