Justina Machado is far from departed. Although the Chicago-bred Puerto-Rican actress was married to an embalmer on HBO's Six Feet Under, she's now digging her heels into livelier roles. First up is Sofia, a bride with glacially cold feet, in the romantic comedy The Accidental Husband. In the film she phones a radio talk show seeking love advice. Sofia takes the chat seriously, but the 35 year-old actress says she'd be skeptical in real life. "I called a crazy psychic hotline when I was a teen", she says, laughing. "They asked for my sign, the guy's sign and told me it wasn't gonna work."

 Having recently wrapped In The Electric Mist, starring Tommy Lee Jones, Machado is now working on an MTV biopic. Tentatively titled Pedro, the film is about the late Cuban-American AIDS activist, Pedro Zamora, who was part of the Real World: San Francisco cast. "He was such a tireless AIDS activist," she says. "His story is beautiful."