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" It&amp;#039;s been an ongoing debate with my girlfriends,&amp;quot; says Gabrielle Union, glancing out the tinted car window at a tourist taking a picture of a New York City hot-dog stand. She turns to me. &amp;quot;We say we want a nice guy that treats us well, and then someone says, &amp;#039;So you&amp;#039;ll date a plumber?&amp;#039; Well, no, because that&amp;#039;s not my dream guy. We all have to let go of the Prince Charming complex and realize he doesn&amp;#039;t necessarily exist in the package we assume he&amp;#039;ll come in.&amp;quot; When Union first opened the car door and slid in beside me, I was almost intimidated by the smooth, tawny skin, the Pilates-toned arms accentuated by a sleeveless bright-yellow shirt (who can pull off bright yellow?), the wide, winning smile. As soon as she shut the door, her BlackBerry started ringing. &amp;quot;Ugh,&amp;quot; she said, glancing at the screen. &amp;quot;Boys are so much drama.&amp;quot; Then she laughed warmly, and I realized-she&amp;#039;s just one of the girls.  Speaking of Prince Charming, I say, was that who called her BlackBerry? &amp;quot;No,&amp;quot; she laughs. &amp;quot;I date, but the person I date most is myself, unfortunately.&amp;quot; Union admits it can be difficult to find quality men in L.A. &amp;quot;In our town, hot guys who know they&amp;#039;re hot are a dime a dozen,&amp;quot; she says. And don&amp;#039;t get her started on all of those guys out there living in a state of prolonged adolescence. &amp;quot;I don&amp;#039;t understand men that find that much time for PlayStation,&amp;quot; she says. &amp;quot;If you have bad credit but a great Madden score, clearly there are some priority issues.&amp;quot; Union, 34, got her start in Hollywood when she interned at a modeling agency her senior year at UCLA, giving herself a break before pursuing law school. But when her boss suggested she try modeling at the end of the semester, Union gave it a shot. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s not rocket science,&amp;quot; she says, uncrossing her shapely, denim-clad legs and stretching them in the cramped backseat. &amp;quot;If it didn&amp;#039;t work out, I always knew I could go back to my original plan.&amp;quot; No need to take the LSATs, though-in just two weeks she landed her first guest-star role on Saved By the Bell: The New Class.  Her desire to become a lawyer didn&amp;#039;t quite fall by the wayside, however. This month she plays alpha attorney Julia in Tyler Perry&amp;#039;s Daddy&amp;#039;s Little Girls, about a car mechanic/chauffeur who&amp;#039;s desperately trying to get custody of his three daughters. Besides the fact that Perry wrote the part for her, Union was attracted to a movie that&amp;#039;s willing to break the stereotype of deadbeat dads in the African-American community. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s a story we don&amp;#039;t ever see in the mainstream media or even in fantasy,&amp;quot; she says. &amp;quot;We have hobbits and Middle Earth, but we can&amp;#039;t have a black father who actually wants his kids.&amp;quot;  While Union&amp;#039;s drawn to scripts with a social message (Bad Boys II notwithstanding), she admits that she&amp;#039;s been equally drawn to her string of sexy costars, including Morris Chestnutt, Jamie Foxx, and Will Smith. &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;ve been very lucky in that department,&amp;quot; she says. But you can&amp;#039;t talk about her love scenes without bringing up her most unexpected lover: Annette Bening in Running With Scissors. When asked what it was like to play a lesbian, Union shrugs it off. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s just like if somebody asked me to cut my hair for a movie,&amp;quot; she says. &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m always up for the job.&amp;quot;  Well, maybe not always. There is one role you&amp;#039;ll never catch Union playing: the damsel in distress. &amp;quot;That&amp;#039;s not an emotion I identify with,&amp;quot; she says before hopping out of the car for a meeting, sounding less the ingenue than the movie producer she one day hopes to be. &amp;quot;After working with Joel Silver and Jerry Bruckheimer, I realize where the real power is.&amp;quot; Her dimples deepen. &amp;quot;I want that.&amp;quot; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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