For someone so young, An has had plenty of experience as an actress. She's very popular with young people, and now that her series is on an hour earlier -- at eight o'clock-- she'll be even more so. Ari is serious about her acting, as you'll see from this interview, but she's also interested in getting a good education and is already thinking about the future, including what college she'll go to and what she'll study.

Even though she was very busy taping this season's episodes of Kate & Allie, An took a break to talk to TV MOVIE JR. and to tell our readers all about herself.

JR: The season premiere of your series was all about you, Ari. Have they decided to concentrate more on the young people in the cast?

ARI: I think so. We're on at an earlier hour and they want to make more of an appeal to the kids out there. We were always a good part of the show, of course. It's not going to be that drastic a change. Just now and then there'll be an episode about one of the kids.

JR: In real life Susan Saint James is going to have a baby, but her character on the show isn't. How are you dealing with that?

ARI: Oh, it's great. It's so cute. They have to find funny ways of hiding it. They do silly things. It's fun. She's been working as long as she can and now she'll be taking a few weeks off to have the baby. She can't have the baby on the set.

JR: No, I guess not. You started acting when you were five years old?

ARI: Yeah, I did modeling and commercials then. And I stopped when I was about ten.

JR: Why did you stop?

ARI: I wanted to play and do things like that. And I wasn't really enjoying auditioning. And then when I was about twelve I decided that I missed it and I wanted to go back. I started auditioning -- this time more for acting. I guess I realized that I really did like acting. I got a part in the movie Author Author.

JR: How did you like working with Al Pacino?

ARI: He was very nice. It was very exciting, a lot of fun. He was easy to work with. I had never done anything like it before and there I was in the middle of all these experts. But it was just great. They were all great to me.

JR: Your nother is an actress, isn't she?

ARI: Yeah. Taro.

JR: Has she encouraged you to go into acting?

ARI: Not at all. It was always my choice. If I do want to, if I don't want to, my Mom supports me either way. She's never pressured me. It's always been separate. Her being in the theatre never really influenced me.

JR: Did you study acting?

ARI: No.

JR: Do you study dancing or singing, any of that?

ARI: NO...I take aerobics. I've taken dance once in awhile but not like steadily.

JR: How do you get along with Susan Saint James and Jane Curtin?

ARI: They're great. I love them both. They're so much fun to be with. The whole atmosphere on the set is so friendly and warm, it's a real nice place to be. We're like a family there, it's very supportive.

JR: What's your schedule like when you're doing the show?

ARI: In the morning we go to school for about two hours of tutoring. And then we rehearse from, say 11:00 to 5:30 and then we do more tutoring from around 6:00 to 7:30 or 8:00. We're tutored right on the set. And when I'm not working I go to a real school for regular hours. It was hard at first, coordinating everything. Anyway, we rehearse for three days and shoot the fourth. And on Fridays I have tutoring or I go to school.

JR: You do the show in front of a live audience, right? Was that nerve-wracking at firet?

ARI: When I first started. I had never worked in front of a live audience so I was kind of nervous. But now I'm used to it, I love it.

JR: What are your hobbles when you're not acting?

ARI: I make costume jewelry, with stones and beads. I love Katherme Hepbunn and Spencer Tracy movies. And musicals. And Alfred Hitchcock movies. I loved Rear Window and...oh, just tons of them. I see them on video. And then I'm also interested in scuba diving. I went to a camp in Antigua where I got my certification. And I just loved it. I took underwater photography. And it's the most incredible experience to be underwater like that.

JR: What's your social life like now?

ARI: Well. the extent of my social life right now is going out to movies with friends. I'm trying to decide on what college I want to go to in a year or so.

JR: Will you stay with the show while going to college?

ARJ: That's what we hope.

JR: Do you know what you want to study?

ARI: No. I don't know yet. I love political science, history, writing. Lots of things. But I still love acting. It's really important lo me and I think I'll stay with it as long as I still enjoy it.

JR: You live here In New York City, where the show is taped - do you run into a lot of people on the street who recognize you?

ARI: Oh sure. They'll ask if it's me. They'll say they like me or like the show. Sometimes they'll ask for an autograph.

JR: Do you get a lot of fan mail?

ARI: A lot of people write in.

JR: Do you answer them?

ARI: Oh yeah...Sure. It's fun.