What was it like playing the secretary people loved to hate? We meet Ally McBeal favourite Jane Krakowski.

Having an alter ego who invented the 'face bra' and the CD of husband noises may sound like a dubious career highlight, but actress Jane Krakowski has certainly made the most of it.

She delighted millions of fans with her role as Ally McBeal's invention-mad secretary Elaine Vassal - the secretary people loved to hate. 'I've heard it all,' says Krakowski. 'That she was annoying. A nympho. A gnat they wanted to swish away.'

But Krakowski - a veteran of soaps, Broadway musicals and feature films - was unfazed. 'I'd rather elicit a reaction than just have people be OK with me, or not even notice me,' she says. 'That was the key to Elaine - she wanted to be invited to the party. She wanted to be noticed.'

In the real world, getting noticed has become an unavoidable fact of life for the New Jersey native, thanks to the 'very unexpected' success of Ally McBeal. If the show hasn't made her a household name, she's certainly become a household face. And now that the show has finished, she's looking forward to casting her net wider.

Krakowski is already a seasoned pro and has been working since she was 15. That's when she was cast as TR Kendall, a troubled teen on the American soap Search for Tomorrow. She chalked up two Emmy nominations in as many years before making her Broadway debut (on roller skates, no less) in Starlight Express. That led to her Tony-nominated role in Grand Hotel. More stage work and small parts on television and in movies followed.

The Calista connection

The role in Ally, however, cast her into the public eye and she hasn't looked back since. She already knew star Calista Flockhart and considered her a close friend. The two have known each other for years, and Krakowski's best friend was Flockhart's college roommate.

'I have a great connection to Calista,' Krakowski says. It turns out they also share the same agent and, during a day off from respective Broadway shows (Krakowski in Once upon a Mattress; Flockhart in The Three Sisters), they flew to Los Angeles together to audition for Ally. That they both got the gig, says Krakowski, 'was a very rare, very happy outcome.'

Krakowski enjoyed working with Flockhart. 'My favourite scenes - or I should say the most complex scenes - in Ally were with her, because (a) she inspires that and (b) [the show's creator] David Kelley has an amazing way of understanding woman-to-woman relationships.'

Flockhart's flighty, flaky, mini-skirted alter ego bore little resemblance to the real thing, she reveals. 'Calista was the anchor,' says Krakowski, adding that Flockhart's success - and her Best Actress Golden Globe - didn't go to her head. 'She never wavered on the top priority, which was the work - day in and day out.'

Life after Ally

Krakowski is no slouch either. During a hiatus from the show she filmed the independent feature Go, which was directed by Swingers helmsman Doug Liman and featured stars such as Scott Wolf, Katie Holmes and Breckin Meyer. She also recorded a Paul Simon tribute album. In addition, she voiced a female sloth in the hugely popular Ice Age and is starring in forthcoming comedy musical Marci X, due out in 2003.

But if Elaine Vassal is the girl who can't say no, Krakowski has no problem nixing offers she isn't truly, madly, deeply in love with. She turned down a job with a big-name star in a big-budget film that she prefers to keep nameless. (Imagine Elaine being discreet about anything!)

'I was sent a lot of scripts for a bunch of roles over the summer, but they seemed to consistently be very similar to Elaine. I didn't really want to do anything like that.'

One thing is for sure however - Ally fans will remember Elaine for a long time to come.