iVillage Entertainment

Three years ago, Katherine Moennig was struggling just like most of the young actors in Hollywood, despite her show-business pedigree. Not only was her mother a Broadway dancer, but her father's sister, Blythe Danner, has a few connections, and Katherine has a rather famous first cousin named Gwyneth Paltrow.

The native Philadelphian hadn't planned on entering the family business. Sure, she had been acting since she was about 10 in local children's theater productions, but she says she entered Manhattan's American Academy of Dramatic Arts after high school because she couldn't stand the thought of attending a four-year college.

By the time she graduated, she was hooked. She spent two summers with the Williamstown Theatre Festival, on the advice of Aunt Blythe. Working on plays like As You Like It was as good as getting a masters degree, she says. "I worked on full productions with professional actors and directors. I learned how the real world worked."

Then at 24 she hit the big time ‑- she thought ‑- when she landed her first TV show, the WB's Young Americans, a spin-off of Dawson's Creek. She was one of the stars, along with Kate Bosworth and Lost's Ian Somerhalder, playing a girl posing as a boy in order to attend the exclusive Rawling Academy. That kind of gender bending might have worked wonders for Hilary Swank's career with Boys Don't Cry around the same time, but it landed Moennig on the unemployment line when the show was cancelled after airing for just two months in the summer of 2000.

The career hitch was thankfully brief, however. In 2002, Moennig landed a regular gig as Shane, the rocker-type Casanova of The L Word, the Showtime original series about a group of girlfriends living in Los Angeles.

Despite her experience with the fickle world of TV, she was willing to tackle another small-screen project because this one was on pay cable ‑- no ratings to worry about.

"Cable shows are like miniature films," says the now-28-year-old actress, who is a huge fan of HBO's Six Feet Under. "And this was a show that had never been done before. I knew it would make an impact. It was not a run-of-the-mill TV show ‑- it had a point."

That's an understatement. The L Word not only delves into the lives of a group of successful, articulate and highly educated women, but while most TV shows concentrate on the ditzier side of femininity, this one deals exclusively with sexy, passionate, beautiful lesbians.

Like its (mostly) heterosexual counterpart on HBO, Sex and the City, this sudsy drama tackles larger issues like wanting a family and the heartbreaking search for love. And yes, there's a lot of love going around, with Moennig's Shane acting as the chief bed-hopper.

The L Word has been such an attention grabber ‑- both in the media and among viewers ‑- that Showtime just signed it up for a third year even before the premiere of the second season on February 20.

That gives Shane plenty of time for new antics. "What you'll see this year is how this character's head and thinking affect her life and what demons she's trying to face," explains Moennig. Then there's a relationship with "a lot of twists and turns" with a new character named Carmen.

In fact, Shane won't be the only character who evolves. "Every character is more thoroughly looked at and explained," says Moennig. "I hope people enjoy it, because I believe it is a strong season ‑- more edgy and dark. It touches on some real human emotions."

Katherine has survived our Revolving Door. See who she's replacing in the hierarchy of Hollywood. Plus: Enter our The L Word sweepstakes.