You know her as: Actually, you don’t, since the 18-year-old Canadian cutie is something rarer than a Hollywood blizzard—a spanking-fresh talent who hasn’t been cranking out Burger King commercials ever since she could spit up.

New show: Popular, a sorta funny, sorta serious series about two babe-acious teen girls—one cool, one not—whose single parents do the Brady Bunch thing and somehow form a family. (WB, Thursday, 9 p.m.)

She plays: Sam, a beautiful bookworm living in the shadow of her pompom-wielding stepsister-to-be. “Cheerleaders are like the eighth wonder of the world to me,” Carly says. “They’re not a big deal in Canada.”

The girl most likely to:
Cause an eight-car pile-up. “I’m new to L.A., and got on the freeway for the first time yesterday. Absolutely terrifying. I’m sticking close to home for a while.” Good idea—we’ll be right over.

Favorite thing in her bedroom:
A photo of her parental units. “It’s my favorite because it’s from the ’70s. My dad has the whole helmet-hair thing going, and my mom is wearing bell-bottoms. Pretty groovy.”

Nickname:
Lita, a shortened version of another childhood nickname, Carlita. Well, it’s better than Carl.