By Robert Metz

When Sandra was a tot her mother, Helga Bullock, a German opera star, schooled Sandy in her native tongue. Helga then planted Sandy in the children?s choruses of operas she starred in.

Bi-lingual and a trained singer who also studied ballet, Sandy was well-equipped for success. But she did her stint as a waitress in New York City. And there were other setbacks, some physical. She once fell in a lake and hit her head on a rock. They say it left a mark.

Sandra?s sister, Gesine, once yanked open a garage door inadvertently driving her elbow into Sandra?s nose and breaking it. Scarred for life? Sandra has hit ?50 most beautiful? lists repeatedly.

It?s inner beauty that counts in any life and Sandra?s humanity shows: She donated $1 million dollars to the American Red Cross after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001. She followed up with a second $1 million donation to the Red Cross after the 2004 tsunami-disaster in Asia.

This selfless quality has to reflect breeding. It is endearing, even remarkable in Hollywood: consider that Sandra has received a Golden Globe nominations and lots of other awards. For her acceptance speech with regard to her 2000 Bambi award in Berlin, catch it in her best German here.

Yet she's a cheerleader for Meryl Streep to win more academy awards. To her Meryl is pre-eminent, "The Acadamy Awards shouldn't even nominate Meryl Streep anymore. She should just be given an award every year. There should just be the Meryl Streep category"

Her trip to the top financial rungs was steady. It started with Speed (1994/I) an action film about a bus loaded with explosives. Her pay: $500,000. Her decision to do a bus movie was panned by friends but heavily patronized by moviegoers. It made her a big star. A year later -- before the success of Speed was known -- The Net paid her a modest $250,000.

But Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997) -- a bomb -- paid her $12,500,500. Of Speed 2 she comments: That was a mistake, but in retrospect how are you supposed to know?

Murder by Numbers in 2002 put her in the top bracket with a reported fee of $15,000,000.

She is careful in choosing roles and is clearly surprised when Hollywood fails to understand.

She has said, "I remember sitting down in [action film producer] Joel Silver's office and Joel going, 'Do you want to do this film?'. I remember going, 'I would like to do it, but I would love to talk about the character', and it was almost like I had said the biggest joke".

Not to be type case -- and personally revealing in the roles she does pick -- Sandy says, ?I tend to do characters that I want to be more like. ?

Fans who have watched Miss Congeniality (2000) several times, would clearly enjoy nothing more than to spend some personal time with the effervescent actress. She has said:

?The first Miss Congeniality gave me the chance to do broad comedy that had nothing to do with being the romantic interest.? Not for her: ?The girl-next-door thing went away with that film...?

Sandy and friend, Jamie Lee Curtis are top movie comediennes -- Jamie starred in A Fish Called Wanda (1988) which to this writer ranks with Congeniality as one of America?s funniest films.

Sandra's reservations over romance movies reflects contempt for Hollywood love scenes:

?Movie sex scenes are never romantic, and you're never swept off your feet. It's always very technical....I'm counting the beats: Okay, we're supposed to kiss for two beats, then I say my line, then they want another kiss for four beats. I'm going, One Mississippi, two Mississippi, three and break. It's like choreography. Sometimes you have actors who feel it's their job to get as far down into your throat as possible. You're like, Excuse me, I like you, but not that much.?

With offers to spare she can be particular. In the beginning, following the smash hit Speed, she was "sort of the 'action girl'. And then with While You Were Sleeping (1995) (another Golden Globe nominee for comedy) "I was the romantic-comedy girl. But when I took time off, I thought, 'There's something I'm missing here.' I literally had to start from scratch.?

Her personal life is private: ?By keeping it private, you have a better shot at a healthy relationship. I learned at a young age that there are certain things you just don't talk about.

"I've always been very skeptical about marriage, because I only want to do it once; I want to do it the right way." She met actor Jesse James and soon decided he was the right guy. He got a start playing Helen Hunt?s young son, Spencer Connelly, in As Good As It Gets (1997), a Jack Nicholson movie. Jack, like James, is a motorcycle aficionado. Sandra, though very allergic to horses, was married to Jesse in a scene out of an old-fashioned cowboy flick.

They wed in July 2005 in a sunset ceremony on a ranch outside Santa Barbara, California, celebrating with several hundred guests including Jamie Lee Curtis and William Shatner.

Guests were seated on blanket-covered haystacks as an aria by Sandra's late mother echoed and a cake by her sister showed bride and groom on a bicycle. The couple arrived spectacularly peeking down from a red monster truck driven by Jesse James.

Sandra and her husband almost met disaster last month on April 18. The two were involved in a head-on crash with a drunken driver in Massachusetts. Both vehicles were totaled but no one was hurt, not even the drunk who could have ended a love story and a star's story, too.