Right off, you know she looks familiar but you may not be able to place where you know her from.

You ask her name and she tells you it's Mindy Sterling. If that doesn't ring a bell, she may then tell you she was "Frau," one of Dr. Evil's sidekicks in the blockbuster comedy "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery" and the sequel, "The Spy Who Shagged Me," with Mike Myers.

She was also in "Drop Dead Gorgeous," with Kirsten Dunst and Kirstie Alley, and played one of the "biddies" in "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas," with Jim Carrey.

Instantly you recognize her and a smile comes to your face.

Sterling is married to 1974 Warsaw graduate Brian Gadson. They have a 6-year-old son, live in California and were in Warsaw this week visiting Gadson's family for the holidays.

Over a cup of coffee at the Ramada Plaza Hotel, Sterling discussed her movie career, her co-stars and her visits to Warsaw.

"My husband was born and raised here so we used to come here a couple of times. This may be my fourth of fifth time," she said. "The second time with snow. This is a big snow time. It's not a shock, I think it's exciting. I don't have to live in it so I can enjoy (the snow) for different reasons. I have a 6-year-old son who is just having a blast in it! Christmas Day we took bags out and slid down a big hill. It was great fun."

Born and raised in Florida, far from the snow and cold of Indiana, Sterling said, she can remember her first play while in sixth grade, which was "'The Mikado,' of all things. It's like an opera. In the sixth grade, I don't know how we did it! My dad was an entertainer in Miami so I was around (showbiz) and it was something I felt really comfortable doing. I loved to make people laugh so I would say it was definitely elementary age (when the acting bug bit)."

From then on, she said, she never looked back. "When you're a kid," Sterling said, "you always want to be a nurse or a teacher. Acting is the only thing I had a passion for."

The one acting job that put Sterling "out there," she said, was "Austin Powers." "That kind of gave me my break. ... I did so many things and so much work beforehand, that's why, when people say 'overnight success,' that's so not a line that should ever be used. Nobody is an overnight success."

One of the activities Sterling participated in before "Austin Powers," and which she still is active in, is The Groundlings, an improvisational group.

Fifteen years after working on her improvisational skills there, she said, "I'm still connected to it. I was part of the Groundling Troop, which is an L.A.-based improvisational group, and I taught classes there, directed shows there and was very, very involved there."

With the Groundling Troop, she worked with Kathy Griffin, Phil Hartman, Jon Lovitz, Lisa Kudrow, Cheri Oteri and Chris Kattan, to name a few. She said, "A lot of the Saturday Night Live people are from the Groundlings."

Of course, it is because of her role as Frau in "Austin Powers" that she is most recognized today. How did she create that character?

"You know, I have no idea. I didn't base it on anyone or anything. I just remember reading it and thinking how some hideous German woman would be. The yelling thing kind of came instinctively. I wish I could say I had something that I pulled it from, but no. It was like, 'I hope this thing works!'"

The first Austin Powers movie didn't do as well at the box office. It was on video where it became popular.

Sterling said, "Once it got to video, my gosh! Everybody talked about it and saw it and would watch it multiple times. So I think that we knew the second one was going to be pretty powerful."

When Sterling read the first draft of the second Austin Powers film, Frau was not much in it at all. "I was kind of disappointed, but yet I wanted to be very grateful for being in the movie. And then, the second draft, and that was like, 'Yeah, she's got more to do.'"

As for rumors of a third installment of the Austin Powers movie with Sean Connery as Powers' father, Sterling said, "Certainly, nothing's been set, I think everything's hearsay because Mike (Myers) has got other things he's working on. I know he wants to do another one, but I think (any information right now) is someone putting that out there, going, 'Wouldn't this be a great idea?' I don't think it's true. That's just my opinion."

But if it's true? Sterling is ready in a heartbeat for it and would drop everything else to begin filming.

As for her role in "Drop Dead Gorgeous," a comedy about beauty pageants, she said, "It's a great video, DVD. I think it does much better on cable and video stores than it did at the theaters. I think it's very funny and kind of silly." It has starred "an amazing cast," she said.

In her movies, she's worked with funnymen Mike Myers and Jim Carrey. Her experiences with both of them were slightly different.

Mike Myers, she said, was "very fun and loose and he's an improv genius. So he was constantly throwing things at you or going off. I can't tell you how many times I had to hold back such laughter. The whole crew would have to hold their laughter until he was over and then we could release."

Since Carrey was in full Grinch makeup, wardrobe and with contact lenses, she said, "it was so difficult to act through, so he was not as playful. He was there to do his stuff and get out."

While making "The Grinch," Sterling said, she was not concerned that it may not live up to the book and cartoon. "I thought, with Ron Howard behind it, it was going to be warm and rich and lovely and thought-out. I think he's a wonderful director so I have a lot of faith in him. I thought the script was sweet and the people connected to it were wonderful," she said. "... I knew it was going to be a hit."

Recently, Sterling finished another movie, "Barstow 2008." She said the producers were going to submit it to the Sundance Film Festival, so she isn't sure when it's going to be released.

Other than that, she will be auditioning, so maybe the next time you see her in a movie, you'll know who she is. [[In-content Ad]]