She hath no fury 27/12/1999

Every time Emma Caulfield is sent a new script for her new series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, she holds her breathe and flips through the pages like a madwoman. “I pray that I don`t come across those dreaded words `Anya gets her powers back,` “ says Caulfield. “That would probably be great for the show, but for me it would suck.” The actress joined the WB horror hit (Tuesday 9 P.M./ET) last December as the demon Anyanka, patron saint of scorned women.

The role required a four-and-a-half-hour, torso-to-head makeup job-which Caulfield calls “claustrophobic and horrific”- and a medieval wardrobe of scratchy burlap. But then Anyanka`s power amulet was destroyed and she became Anya, an 1,100-year-old, math-flunking human teenager. “And since then, this has been the most fun I`ve had in my life!” she says. Its common knowledge on the set that I want to stay mortal.”

After juggling college in the mid `90`s with stints on Beverly Hills 90210 and General Hospital, the San Diego-born Caulfield stopped acting to focus on a degree and a career as a shrink-but the Buffy offer put that on hold. “I have a great desire to actually do something with my brain,” she says. I don`t know that I want to act 15 years from now. I mean, i love the process of acting, but not the masochism. No matter how successful you get in Hollywood, you can`t rest. Your next movie doesn`t open well; their looking for the next person to replace you; it`s always something. You`ll never have true peace.”

That said, the twenty-something Caulfield - who, unlike most young Tinseltown turks, is an ultraconservative- also has her eye on the chaotic world of politics: “There`s a part of me that would totally drop out of the acting business and work for Liddy Dole. Seriously. If she ever runs for office [again], I`m there!”