Carmen Electra Goes For Laughs

She Plays A Babe With A Brood In 'Cheaper by the Dozen 2'

(CBS)  Carmen Electra has been a "Baywatch" babe and a "Playboy" cover girl, and now she's playing her babelicious image for laughs as a trophy wife in "Cheaper by the Dozen 2," the comedy sequel that opens Dec. 21.

Electra stopped by The Early Show on Monday to talk to co-anchor Russ Mitchell about her role in the movie, in which she joins a heavy-hitting comedy cast led by Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt.

Electra admits it's not much of an effort for her to get into a glamour girl role.

"I love fashion and I love to have my hair and my makeup done. So I just kind of took that," she says. But also, she says, she gave her character, Sarina Murtaugh, a heart. "She really does love her family and, in the end of the movie, she stands up for her kids."

In the movie, Tom Baker (Steve Martin) and his wife Kate (Bonnie Hunt), take their 12 offspring to the rustic Lake Winnetka for what they hope will be a memorable summer vacation. But the family finds itself pitched into cut-throat competition with the over-achieving members of another large family, headed by Tom's long-time rival, Jimmy Murtaugh (Eugene Levy).

Electra says she loves doing comedy because "it's fun. You get to laugh." The set of this movie was particularly raucous, with its cast of 20 children. "I love kids and it was fun to work on a movie where you have 20 kids constantly running around and playing and getting into trouble. It was always fun," she says.

Electra says her dream role would be to play Ann-Margret, the dancer-singer-actress some call "the female Elvis."

"I've always been obsessed with Ann-Margret," says Electra. "She was fiery and her dancing was amazing. As a dancer, even as a little girl, I watched her movies.

For now, though, she's home to Los Angeles for the holidays, which she'll spend with her husband, musician Dave Navarro.