A Hit TV Show about undertakers?

They may have laughed at the very idea three years ago, but no longer. HBO's Six Feet Under has established itslef as a critical and ratings winner.

  And Justina Machado -- the sexy actress who plays Vanessa, the wife of ambitious mortician Federico Diaz -- is building herself quite a reputation as well. "I like the way my character is developing. It's so exciting -- a great new story line for both of us, with Federico now a partner in the business. The show will be on through May, and then we'll come back to work on a fourth season in October."

  Not bad for a feisty Puerto Rican kid who grew up in Chicago, the oldest of five children. "We lived in a very poor neighborhood in Lincoln Park that's very affluent now," Justina told me. "My mom was a single mother, and I lived for a time with my grandmother. I hated high school. I knew I wanted to act. I had a friend who knew an agent, and they steered me to the the Latina Chicago Theater."

  Success on the stage convinced Justina she had a future. After a brief stay in New York, she headed for L.A. and has rarely stopped working. She was in Steven Soderbergh's groundbreaking Full Frontal. What was that like?

  "A labor of love, very experimental," Justina said. "At the start, we were told, "No make-up, no hairdresser, no trailers, no costumes. We all thought they were kidding, but it was really like that." Machado also worked with Sean Penn in the film She's So Lovely and was in the box office hit, Final Destination 2.

  In her next film, Torque --- co-starring Ice Cube and due out in October --- she plays an FBI agent coping with two rival biker gangs. "It's pretty awesome," said Justina. "I got to drive a Hummer. They had to put things under my butt so I could sit up high enough to drive, but I think they were afraid I was going to kill someone, so they had me sit on the lap of a guy you can't see, and he really drove, not me."

  Justina Machado now lives in L.A. far from Chicago's projects and cold winters. "But I'm not an ocean person," she told me. "I live up by the mountains near Silver Lake, as close to the city as I can get. I like lots of people around." She does stage work at L.A.'s Mark Taper Forum, and her theatrical experience came in handy when she was cast in a guest spot on ER for it's special live episode in 1997. I asked if the different Latin cultures clash or blend together in Los Angeles. "Mexicans and Puerto Ricans are very different --- the food, the cultures, the language," she said, "even though we both speak Spanish. But we get along." I've been told Justina was serious about a singing career. "Unfortunately, it's on hold because of work," she said. "Maybe I'll get serious about it again during this hiatus. I did two movies last year, but no commitments yet --- though I do have to work today." Oh? "Yes," she replied."But not too hard. In this scene, I have to lay on my husband's lap."