Tess Harding was an enigma when she appeared on the scene for the final six episodes of Roswell's rookie season. At first, Tess pretended to be just another new kid at Roswell High, but Max was strangely drawn to her, raising suspicions about her true identity. For a while, it seemed that Tess might be the dangerous, shape-shifting Nasedo. Finally, it became clear she was the long-lost fourth alien, left behind when Max, Michael and Isabel came out of the pods. Even more intriguing was the discovery that in another place and time, Tess - not Max's human love Liz- was his wife.

All of these dizzying plot revelations threw the group of human and alien friends into tur- moil, but Emilie de Ravin, who plays Tess on the WB's SF-teen romance show, took it all in stride. "Tess is a girl who is very sure of herself in some ways, but also very unsure in other ways," she says of her screen persona. "Tess came to the group much more self-conscious of her alien side, because she didn't have the same upbring- ing as Max, Michael and Isabel. They had humans around them. Tess wasn't brought up by human families like they were, so she was isolated from the human world. She only had Nasedo, which made for a totally different experience. But now that she has spent a year with these aliens and their human friends, she has taken alot from her experiences and learned from them. Tess is coming to understand her own human side. It's quite hard for her, but she's dealing with it pretty well. She's a sweet girl who just wants to let the others know what she knows from their planet, while not stirring up any unnecessary danger for them all."

Alien Stranger

Being the newcomer in a close-knit group made Tess feel like an outsider at the beginning, says de Ravin, but those feelings have faded- just as they have for the actress herself "The other three alien characters have really accepted Tess and they've come to realize it's inevitable that they stay together," she comments. "They have to be together for their powers to work, and that kind of thing. Besides, they're great friends now.

"As for myself, I thought joining the cast midway through as I did would be much harder than it turned out to be," she continues. "The other actors had all been together for months. But everyone was really great and accepted me in a friendly way. The only hard thing was that I didn't have as much of a grasp of the ongoing storyline as everyone else. When I got the role of Tess, I went back and watched all of the episodes-it was my own Roswell marathon. But it's not the same. Being a part of the filming gives you more of an insight towards what's going on."

"It was only 18 months ago that de Ravin traveled to Los Angeles from her native Australia. A few days after her arrival, she auditioned for the role of Tess, and after the requi-site callbacks, she got the part. "It has definitely been a big change, moving from Australia," she muses. "It has been great because I'm working. I am doing what I wanted to do."

Even so, playing an alien teenager every week is not without its unique challenges. "How do you play an alien?" de Ravin asks rhetorically. "You can't draw ftom anything, can you? I try to look for any strange experiences I've had in my life, and draw from those. I also try to alienate myself from the rest of the world in my thoughts. I mean, at some point, I just have to use my imagination to picture what it would be like (to really be an alien). I try to make it realistic, as hard as that can be, but I think the four of us are doing OK. We pull it off."

She speaks highly of her working relationship with Jason Behr (Max), Brendan Fehr (Michael) and Katherine Heigl (Isabel), who share the challenge of breathing life into alien characters. "We get along and we strategize well. When we have scenes together, we rehearse for a while and get it down, really working at the intricacies we find. We talk about the movements of the scene and the things we may want to change. We work well together, and we're usually pretty happy with the scenes involving the four of us."

But de Ravin is quick to point out that, in terms of on-set relationships, she hasn't seen any gravitation of the actors into alien and human camps. "We all realize none of us are aliens," she laughs. "We all get on. It's a fun set."

Some of Tess' most engaging moments have come in her scenes with Sheriff Valenti (William Sadler) and his son Kyle (Nick Wechsler), such as those in "A Roswell Christmas Carol" and "To Serve and Protect." "Those two guys are crazy," de Ravin says with an affectionate laugh. "It's so much fun working with them. I can't stop laughing, especially with Nick. They're both great actors and very funny people. The scenes we had at their house were fun because I got to sort of let loose, get pissed off, tease Kyle and so on, Those are a more human kind of interaction than the scenes I often have with Max or Michael, for example."

The budding relationship between Tess and Kyle will not blossom into a romance, however. In the season's final episodes, says de Ravin, "Kyle tells Tess he feels she is she a sister to him. He really cares about her, but not in a romantic way. Tess is totally fine with that. She never really had a thing for him, although she has played with his emotions- but not in a bad way. She likes him a lot, but just as a friend. They're both relieved about getting all that out into the open."

Does the actress agree with the writers' resolution to that relationship? "Yes, I do, because of the way that my relationship grows with Max. It's going to be, um, kind of full bore."

Max and Liz have a big blow-up, de Ravin relates, and Liz tells Max she's not interested in him anymore. Besides, Liz has a new love interest at the moment: Sean De Luca, Maria's cousin. "Yes, another little hot boy," de Ravin chuckles. "That's a funny, cute relationship Liz and Sean have going. And it leaves it open for Max and Tess to get together. I think the writers have been trying to make this happen for a while, but it was a hard transition for the viewers. It had to be taken very gently because the fans were so used to seeing Max with Liz."

Genre Phantom

Roswell plunged deeper into science fiction this season, departing somewhat from the romance and teen angst of the first year. It's de Ravin's opinion that the series works best when it has equal portions of both elements. "The combination broadens the audience," she observes. "It's nice when we concentrate on both things. Of course, we do some episodes that are more about relationships and some that are more SF, so it tends to equal out."

"Meet the Dupes" and "Max in the City" gave fans a wild look at punk versions of Tess and her fellow aliens. "That was kind of schizophrenic!" de Ravin exclaims. "But it was fun, too, dressing totally differently, having that different mindset, the accent, the whole thing. Then the next day, I would be back as Tess. It was hard for us all, but we had a great time doing it and hopefully it looked good."

Before Roswell, de Ravin had a recurring role as the Demon Curupira on BeastMaster. In fact, as the innocent yet petulant forest spirit, she blessed the hero with his animal powers to begin with. "I've only been acting professionally for two-and-a-half years, and that was my first job. Let's start with that," she says. "Daniel Goddard [who plays the BeastMaster Dar] was great, a real professional. We had fun doing scenes together. I actually hung out with him the other night; we're still friends."

On the whole, de Ravin remembers her BeastMaster experience fondly. "For one thing, it was shot back home [in Australia]. For another, it got me noticed and led to my role on Roswell. Also, we shot on location in the Queensland Rainforest, which was just beautiful. BeastMaster was a fun show, a great first thing to do."

Of the very strange costume de Ravin wore, she says, "I was a ballet dancer until I got that part. During ballet performances, we would wear lycra body suits [reminiscent of the BeastMaster outfit]. So to me, it really wasn't a strange costume at all."

Turning to the future, de Ravin ponders the fate of Roswell, which the WB will announce this month. "I think we have a good chance [of being renewed], especially because the last six episodes to air at the end are so good," she says. "The previous set ["The Hybrid Chronicles"] were really interesting, intense episodes, too. I hope we get renewed. But, at this point, we have no idea."

Beyond Roswell, de Ravin admits to having many of the same dreams that most television actors seem to share. "I want to move into films. I want to pursue as much of a serious acting career as I can, not just a flimsy overnight career. I take it very seriously," she says, "and I really want to pursue it for the rest of my life."

Emilie de Ravin closes with a direct expression of thanks to Roswell's fans. "They've been so supportive; they pretty much brought us back last season. I doubt we would be where we are now without them. Thank you for watching! I'm glad you enjoy Roswell."