Peta Wilson Sinks Teeth Into Role

Actress Plays Vampire That Helps Save The World In New Film

(CBS)  The action-packed movie, "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" (LXG), hits theaters this weekend, but audiences will find the title may be a little deceiving.

"The League" has one very powerful woman among its ranks.

Actress Peta Wilson visited The Early Show Thursday to discuss her role as the good vampire Mina Harker in the new film.

Wilson says her character joins the misfit legion of superheroes to — what else — help save the world in 96 hours. A masked madman known as the Fantom plans to sabotage a conference of world leaders by setting off a domino chain of explosions that would sink Venice, Italy.

The movie's character M. (Richard Roxburgh) recruits the members of the League, which consists of Allan Quatermain (Sean Connery), the leader of the legion; Captain Nemo (Naseeruddin Shah), the scientist; Rodney Skinner (Tony Curran), the invisible man; Sawyer (Shane West), an American secret service agent; Dorian Gray (Stuart Townsend), an immortal; Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde (Jason Flemyng), a beast; and Mina Harker.

The vampire was once the wife of a bank clerk, who, had an unfortunate business engagement with Count Dracula. Mina helped Dr. Van Helsing defeat Dracula, but not before the prince of darkness managed to sink his teeth into her.

Because of her powerful will, Mina is able to suppress her bloodlust. And as a vampire, she can move at blinding speeds, tear through flesh, wood and metal, scale walls and communicate with bats.

Wilson says Mina is an outcast who leads a lonely life. Her goal is to cure the blood disease she's afflicted with.

Some audience members of LXG may recognize Wilson from her starring role in the popular 1997 to 2001 syndicated series "La Femme Nikita."

As a child, Wilson was an army brat, who lived in more than 10 places before she became a teenager.

She stayed longest in Papau, New Guinea, and Sydney, Australia. Wilson was a champion basketball player in Australia before she began her career in modeling.

She says the pressure of modeling and her parent's divorce contributed to eating disorders, which she eventually overcame.

Wilson relocated to America to study acting, taking occasional modeling assignments to pay the bills. Her recent credits include the 2002 miniseries "A Girl Thing," the 2002 television movie "Joe and Max," the 2001 television series "Other People," and 2001 feature film "Mercy" and 1997's "One of Our Own."