Maxim calls Amber Smith one of the 50 sexiest women in the world. GQ Magazine says Amber Smith is one of the 8 most erotic women. We at Savvy agree. That's why we went one on one with Amber Smith.

To get a measure of how driven Amber Smith is, you need only look at her reluctance to settle up with a list of accomplishments that most people only dream about.

A Supermodel walking the runways for world famous designers... Sports Illustrated swimsuit model... Movie star...

Amber has captured the hearts of people around the world. Women want to be her. Men wish they could have her. But like any great artist or inventor, she looks back at things she could have done differently and dreams of taking her career to an even higher level as the one calling the shots.

Her appetite for producing grew after she compiled the highlights of her past in a new DVD titled "Amber Smith RAW." This rare behind-the-scenes documentary contains some of her most sizzling photos and much more, available at foreveramber.com.

She appeared in Howard Stern's Private Parts, and Amber may just be the "queen of all media", having conquered not only magazine covers and the Internet but also Hollywood.

While other models fail trying to translate their beauty from the page to the screen, her credits include the Oscar-winning American Beauty and the Oscar-nominated L.A. Confidential. Asked why she thinks she has had more success with a movie career than, say, Cindy Crawford, Amber comes to the defense of her teen idol.

"It's the numbers game with me, and I'm still playing, looking for that role that I'll shine in, and I still need experience. [Cindy Crawford in Fair Game] was more a case of a bad movie. She's never played the numbers game. If she did 10 movies, maybe one of them would hit big, maybe she could get a great role. She seems like a more serious businesswoman and may not be into exposing herself the way an artist needs to do. There's nothing wrong with not being an actor," she said.

"I've played a lot of roles in movies that never came out or they were itty-bitty roles that I probably shouldn't have taken. I did nudity. I said, 'Hey, if it takes being topless in this film to get some screen time, to just get in front of a camera and get experience to know what I'm doing...' I don't know if that was the right way to go, and believe me, it has come back to bite me in the ass, but I did five movies with nudity in them. But that's what I wanted at the time."

Her experiences have paired her both with some of Hollywood's brightest and also those still hoping for a break.

"I've worked in the B movie market, and they are very sweet people," Amber said. "They're used to being knocked down because they make B films. I've worked in the A film world, and there are some total snobs. The fashion world is very snobby. Nothing gets a rise out of the fashion world or impresses them. They don't even believe in the cover of Maxim. My agency didn't even want me to do the cover of Maxim, but I think it's a great magazine, one of the best out there."

She achieved four national U.S. magazine covers in one month (January 2001) and has more than 200 international covers to her credit. Her celebrity arose from an appearance in the coveted Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition.

"SI helped me a lot. I appeared in the issues and their 'Making of' video, TV show and calendars," Amber said.

Bert Stern, the last photographer to shoot Marilyn Monroe, shot her celebrity pictorial in Playboy.

"I didn't find that Playboy did anything for my career. As a matter of fact I probably lost a few clients because of it. For some girls, Playboy just completely makes them. I'm not sure why it didn't have any effect on my career. Around that Sports Illustrated time, I didn't understand there are two or three 'hot' girls every year. I didn't get that during a couple of years, I was one of those girls who could have asked for the world. I should have been more aggressive. I'd modeled since I was 14, and I kind of hit 21 when things happened for me. I wish I'd known I could have gone to my agents and been more demanding like the other girls, told them to get me a contract to promote a brand of makeup. Instead, I was always very nice and sweet to the agents, telling them it was no big deal if something didn't come through."

She may lack bitchy instincts, but Amber's will to succeed comes from being raised by a single working mom.

"I am very driven. [My mother] was very educated. My own education was cut short by modeling but career came first. I'm still single. I wouldn't mind finding something more serious, but I am very driven. When I was pulling out of modeling and getting more into acting, I became even more driven and into multimedia. It just kind of escalated from there," she said.

The entertainment industry is full of sharks and skirts, but Amber claims she's never faced a casting couch situation.

"People don't believe me," she said. "I'm not a big, strong girl. I'm a crier, a fainter. There's a lot of vulnerability there, but when you first meet me, I come off as very driven, very forceful. The second time we talk, I may be in complete tears over something. I think that wall that comes up scares a lot of people who might prey on girls. I've been in the business a long time, so maybe that abrasive first impression helped me a bit."

As a reminder not to let anyone exploit her, Amber keeps a Polaroid.

"I was living in Paris, and I was on my last scoop of rice," she said. "I was a little bit overweight. I'd already had a meeting with my agency, which told me they couldn't give me any money because I'd taken out too many loans. This photographer asked me to strip down to my bra and panties. I was very young at the time, maybe 17. I said, 'The hell with it, I want the job'. So I did, I stripped down to the bra and panties, and he took a Polaroid to check the lighting. I had never done any nudity before. He said 'Take your bra off' and etcetera. I don't consider this one a casting couch. I had a choice to make and I made it. I went nude.

"I got dressed, and when I walked out, he was gone. I grabbed the Polaroids and walked out. I didn't get the job. I remember the disgusting feeling in the pit of my stomach, thinking 'That guy just got me nude. Who really knows what angles he just got on me?' I'm 17 years old and the guy could have gone to jail if he was here in the U.S. You would think I would never do nudity again because of such a bad first experience. Yes, I have done nudity since, but it has been on my terms.

"The end of that story is I called my agency and they said, 'That wasn't for a nude job, that was for a beauty job.' You live and learn. I still have the Polaroid to this day. It reminds me not to be vulnerable, not to let someone talk me into that, especially when I don't have the job yet."

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on the net:

http://foreveramber.com/