When Susan Ward was just a toddler, she followed the local veterinarian on his rounds and brought every stray animal she found to the private menagerie she and her parents called home. As a teenager, she had every intention of becoming a vet, until a modeling agent spotted her in a mall at the age of 13. Ward and her mom were convinced to travel to New York to investigate modeling opportunities. article continued below...

When Susan Ward was just a toddler, she followed the local veterinarian on his rounds and brought every stray animal she found to the private menagerie she and her parents called home. As a teenager, she had every intention of becoming a vet, until a modeling agent spotted her in a mall at the age of 13. Ward and her mom were convinced to travel to New York to investigate modeling opportunities. Ward saw it as the perfect way to finance her veterinary training and therefore was immediately enthused.

Little did she know that the weeklong mother/daughter adventure in the Big Apple would lead to a contract with the prestigious Ford modeling agency. "What just happened here?" Her mother asked as they left the agency, and then cried all the way back to their hometown of Monroe, La., over her daughter's good fortune. Over the next several years, Ward traveled back and forth between New York and Monroe as she built a solid modeling career and subsequently completed high school and several college courses.

After appearing in numerous public service announcements for the Northeast Louisiana Alcohol and Drug Abuse Association, she began taking acting lessons and soon thereafter embarked on a full-fledged acting career. She captured a small role on the popular daytime drama "All My Children" and a year later returned to the show as a recurring player.

In June of 1995, she auditioned for a part on the NBC prime-time series from Aaron Spelling, "Malibu Shores." More than six months later, she was asked to fly to Los Angeles to test for the role. "I had completely forgotten about it," Ward recalls. It was at the test that she was first introduced to Aaron Spelling, a meeting which she describes as "very overwhelming": "I was very nervous at first, but he is one of the nicest men I've ever met and put me totally at ease." Needless to say, she got the role.

Susan Ward then began pursuing opportunities on the big-screen. She continued her chain of passionate and seductive roles, appearing in "Poison Ivy: The New Seduction". Her next film, which opened July 19th, is the Warner Bros. picture "The In Crowd" in which she co-stars with Lori Heuring. Ward can next be seen in the upcoming primetime TV show "Day One".

Ward is single and lives in Los Angeles. As a child, she raced the BMX bicycle circuit in Louisiana but now settles for a more relaxing mode of transportation: rollerblading. She still has a love for animals and the outdoors but also enjoys the company of a good book, especially classics and murder mysteries. Her birthday is April 15.

• Became good friends with actress Charisma Carpenter after both were turned down for the role of "Maggie Cory on the soap "Another World".
• Auditioned for a role on Dawson's Creek (1998)
• The cities where she lived: Till she was 13 she lived with her parents at their farm in Monroe. Then the next 6 years she was living alone in New York for much of the year. In December 1995 she moved in Los Angeles for 3 months to do "Malibu Shores". In May 1996 she flew for 3 weeks in New Zealand to film an episode of "Hercules". She was there when she has been told that "Malibu Shores" was cancelled. She returned in New York soon after that and she started audition for another roles.
• Studies: Ouachita Parish High School in Monroe. The summer after her junior year, she changed schools. She went to River Oaks High School in Monroe. It is a fairly small private school. This is where she graduated from in 1994. She was on the junior high school dance/drill team. They were called the "Kit-Kats". She also attended Northeast Louisiana University in Monroe for a semester. She studied psychology. Susan wanted to become a veterinarian till she was 13-14 years old.
• Mad about animals: Susan has three cats: Velvet, Buffy and Sawyer. At her parents farm in Monroe there are dogs, cats, exotic birds, even a baby monkey.