Actress Brooke Shields is walking on the wild side as she probes murder most foul in her latest gig for Acorn TV.

Shields, who’s best known for her sitcom, “Suddenly Susan,” and mystery capers for the Hallmark Channel, stars in the six-part “You’re Killing Me,” premiering May 18.

She portrays a bestselling author who colludes with a podcaster and wanna-be writer (Amalia Williamson) in their off-beat search for a killer.

Shields, 60, has been performing most of her life. She modeled as a child and was only 11 when she starred in Louis Malle’s controversial, “Pretty Baby” in 1978. But it was years later that she really contracted the acting bug.

“I decided I wanted to be actress when I did ‘Grease,’ she says. “I think the difference between wanting to perform and receive approval versus really going home at night and instead of feeling good because someone likes you and you did a good job — because I really did thrive on being a professional,” she remembers.

“You get a lot of approval and, as a child, you nurture that desire, and they like you. You get the Gold Star. And there’s that sort of element to it. It wasn’t until 1993, that’s when I really said I want to give this my best shot. It reached another level when I did a movie with Gena Rowlands ... and I really decided that I would do what it takes to grow as an actress. There was a commitment I had to make first and then a whole level of emotional commitment.”

Though she plunged into a variety of projects from Broadway to television to film, she earned real kudos for her comedic talent.

“Comedy is more specific (than drama). With comedy you know if something works and you really know if it doesn’t work,” she chuckles.

“Whereas with drama, there’s this whole area of it’s arbitrary and that’s what’s frightening about it. I know in comedy when something just tanks, you know it, and you move on. And you’ve got to find a different way of doing it.”

While she had doubts at first about her acting chops, she says that soon changed. “Once I did Broadway you couldn’t throw me for a loop. You can't tell me I can't do almost anything. You also get used to being told, ‘Oh, you can’t do this.’ And you start, ‘Oh, yeah, well just watch me.’ That sounds strong and fortified, but what it does is it sets a precedent ... in your mind. I think that being on Broadway doing eight shows a week, six months straight, no one can tell me I can't perform. From that I realized that I, in fact, wanted to be an actress and was willing to leave my mom as a manager. And I was willing to go out on my own and be deathly afraid but play with the big kids. That was really defining for me.”

Tom Cavanagh co-stars in “You’re Killing Me,” as the local copper who has transferred from the big city to small-town America and is trying to adjust.

Coincidentally Cavanagh and Shields share a part of their past. It was the musical “Grease,” that set him on the track to acting, too.

“In college I was playing basketball, and they do one show there a year and did ‘Grease.’

"So I auditioned for the role of Danny Zuko in ‘Grease.’ And the basketball guys were adamant that I was too short to be an actor. To which I responded, ‘The world does not revolve around an average size of 6-foot-4 like these gentlemen.’ I’m actually 6-foot-1. To the average world, that’s not small at all. I went and auditioned and I got the job. That was the genesis of the bigger stuff. This was at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada,” he recalls.

A director, who was with a talent agency, saw that show and put Cavanagh in touch with an agency in Toronto. They took him on as a client. And he got “lucky,” he says.

Cavanagh is known for his award-winning sitcom, “Ed,” and for four of the “Darrow & Darrow,” movies for Hallmark as well as host of the game show, “Hey, Yahoo.”

His theory about acting reflects his own Canadian upbringing. “I kind of believe in being honest with yourself and saying: ‘This is who I am, for better or for worse.’ I don’t use the acting thing to try to get away from who I am. When you’re doing it right, you have a real feeling of truth inside of you, right in the center of the chest. In terms of improving, you can always get better. There’s no real scale; the mountain doesn’t have a peak.”

‘Amadeus’ same song second verse

They’re at it again. “Amadeus,” the tale of the competition between Antonio Salieri and Wolfgang “Amadeus” Mozart, is once again striking a chord on the tube beginning Friday, May 8, via Starz.

Of course, the cinema and the stage have already scaled the course with great panache. The film snagged eight Academy Awards including best picture, and the Broadway show starred Mark Hamill as the giddy Mozart. In the new incarnation we have Will Sharpe as Mozart and Paul Bettany as the jealous Salieri.

Bettany relishes a role like Salieri as he thinks one of the best things about acting is learning things. “Lots of different things. I get to learn little bits of skill — a little bit of the cello or a bit about the natural sciences or a little bit about tennis. When the writing’s good, I get to learn a little bit about people ...”

He says he never planned on being an actor. “It happened by mistake. I wanted to write music and be a pop star, but I hated singing my songs in front of other people, and that’s obviously quite a large stumbling block in becoming a major recording artist. So I picked acting instead, I think.”

She's crazy like a fox

Vivica A. Fox co-stars in Aleshea Harris’ film adaptation of her own play, “Is God Is” opening in theaters May 15. You may remember Fox from her CarShield commercials with Ice-T, but she’s always in there hustling with shows like the Hallmark and Lifetime Christmas movies, “Independence Day” and “Kill Bill: Volume 1.”

“I’ve always been a little ham,” she admits. “Even growing up I used to drive my mama crazy. I was always wanting to do extracurricular activities, singing in the choir, fashion shows, after-school programs. I was very athletic, basketball, volleyball, track, cheerleader.

“So I’ve never had a problem getting in front of people and performing. So it’s a good thing I'm being paid for it,” she laughs.

“My mom was actually glad I wanted to act. She said, ‘Well, she ain’t running after the boys.’ I still like running after the boys, but I’ve always been career and success driven. I’ve always had this A-personality, a go-getter, very ambitious. Growing up, my idols were Michael Jackson and Diana Ross. And I just loved people that were fabulous and doing things. I loved makeup and I loved hair.”

O'Dowd helps herd 'The Sheep Detectives'

Irish actor Chris O’Dowd is one of the stars in the new hybrid mystery, “The Sheep Detectives,” opening in theaters Friday, May 8. Hugh Jackman plays a shepherd who reads detective novels to his sheep nightly. But when things go awry, the sheep soon realize they must follow clues and prove they are intrepid crime fighters.

Known for his roles in “The IT Crowd,” “Get Shorty” and “Bridesmaids,” O’Dowd explains why he likes his chosen profession.“I’ve been a storyteller from early on. I come from a line of storytellers. It’s nice to step outside of yourself for a while. I like the camaraderie,” he says. “I came from a theater background so that, being around a set or a stage with a bunch of creative people, is very exciting to me.

“The cameras and all of that I can live without, if I'm honest. The glitz and the glam part has never been that fun, but I like being in the trenches making the thing. I love that.”

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