ARI MEYERS   While Ari Meyers, 15, calls herself a "regular New York kid," the actress who plays Emma on CBS's Kate & Allie is considered someone special by those in a position to know. "She's a lovely actress, a rare find and she's going to end up gorgeous," says series creator Sherry Coben.

Adds her TV mom, Susan Saint James (Kate): "She has a quiet, subtle, fluid kind of acting style - comparable to mine."   Ari's solid professionalism was inspired by her mother, actress Taro Meyer (currently appearing on Boradway in "Zorba"), and honed by a stint as a child model. Though she quit modeling at 6 - "I wanted to play with my friends" - at 12 she won her first acting job, as one of Al Pacino's daughters in the theatrical film "Author! Author!"

:It was like a dream, it was so much fun," she recalls. "Everything's been fun so far that I've done." Besides her series work, Meyers wil appear next season in a CBS TV Movie, "Kids Don't Tell," about child molestation. Her long range goals include attending college and becoming a pediatrician.

:Ari's not taken in by all the glamour," says her mom. Maybe but if you ask Ari what she likes best about acting, it's "meeting all the people and staying up late."   It's tough to be 15 and then go on to be 25 and stay in the business, " says Saint James, "but Ari's very good and I definitely think she has a big future."   As long of course, as she's still having fun.