This morning Stephanie made a special television appearance on PIX11 in New York and looked simply ravishing! Here’s the video for all of you that could not see it. I will be getting caps of it soon as well as images from the interview! Enjoy

Stephanie Jacobsen, who plays surgical resident by day/call girl by night Lauren Yung on The CW’s Melrose Place sat down with Jill Nicolini on The PIX Morning News earlier today to dish the dirt about her character, Heather Locklear and Ashlee Simpson-Wentz. Check out her interview. And don’t be thrown by Stephanie’s accent. While her character Lauren is from Cincinnati, Stephanie is actually from Hong Kong by way of Australia.

This just in: Sources confirm that The CW has picked up The Vampire Diaries for a full season and Melrose Place for, well, a sorta-full season.

Melrose has been a ratings misfit, which explains The CW’s decision to pick up only five episodes instead of the typical nine. [Source]

This really fun article on Steph.

Stephanie Jacobsen doesn’t feel sorry for her “Melrose Place” character.

“I think that it’s important for an actor not to pity their character,” Jacobsen said during an interview in Pasadena, Calif. “That’s for an audience to do. An actor is there to justify a character.”

The Australian actress plays Lauren Yung, a financially struggling medical student turned call girl on CW’s remake of the sexy ’90s serial (Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on WLVI)

“From my perspective, a character like Lauren is an actress’ dream,” she said. “She’s so diverse. She is in and of herself kind of a human dichotomy. On the one hand, she’s a medical student, which is the epitome of diligence and self-discipline and academic ambition; and on the other hand, she’s this sex bomb. It’s great. I’m having an absolute ball with it.”

Jacobsen found ways to understand Lauren even though she doesn’t agree with the choices her character is making.

“She’s like me in the sense that she’s as passionate about her medical career as I am about my acting career,” she said.

“She just encounters some really difficult obstacles, and it’s her determination to achieve this professional goal that dictates her decisions. We’re not encouraging what she does or anything like that, but we’re trying to approach her circumstances and the evolution of her story as a potential reality. There are young women in the world who meet with similar hardships and make similar choices.”

The 29-year-old, who was born in Hong Kong, never watched the original “Melrose Place.” Her mom was a devoted viewer, so Jacobsen was aware of the show’s popularity.

“I understand what this is,” she said.

Jacobsen graduated from Sydney University with degrees in philosophy and English literature.

“I never conceived of acting as a plausible career. It was always kind of a hobby,” she said. She never got to put her double major to work, though. After filming commercials while in school, she landed a job on an Australian TV series right before graduation.

American audiences know her from her roles as Kendra Shaw in the made-for-TV movie “Battlestar Galactica: Razor” and Jesse Flores on “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.”

“I’m getting beat up little bit less,” she said of her “Melrose Place” role. “I’m also beating people up a little bit less. I’m wearing a little more makeup, slightly higher heels. I love sci-fi. I love working in sci-fi. I feel that this was a very timely change for me, though.” [Source: Bostonherald.com]

The CW will kick off its fall campaign on Sept. 8 with the sophomore year of “90210″ and the bow of “Melrose Place.”

It’s the second year in a row that “90210″ is the centerpiece of the net’s fall launch campaign, and CW is hoping that anticipation will be high for the remodeled “Melrose.” CW is getting a jumpstart on its competish by launching the week of Sept. 8, but it won’t be quite as quick out of the gate as last year, when the net’s fall sked launched on Labor Day.

It’s official! The CW has just picked up Melrose Place.

“Melrose Place” continues to march to the CW’s fall schedule.

The project on Thursday was given permission to begin hiring staff, the clearest indication yet by the network that the series will be picked up.

With its name recognition and built-in buzz factor, the updated “Melrose” was an instant favorite before a single page of the script was written.

Still, the CW executives waited to watch the pilot, and liked what they saw.

The Dish Rag snagged “Melrose Place 2.0″ hottie Stephanie Jacobsen at the Aussies in Film event this weekend. So naturally, we had to ask her about the comparisons between the original show’s characters to the ones in the new series.

For instance, her character, Lauren Bishop is reportedly a bit like Michael Mancini’s Thomas Calabro, a straight-arrow med student who falls on hard times and is forced to pull a Sydney Leighton and have sex for money. Can’t wait to see how this busy girl has the time or the energy for both those activities.

“I personally feel that it’s open to interpretation,” Stephanie says. “I think everyone in the new ‘Melrose’ is going to be a new character. Though you’ll find echoes — I guess — of the originals.”

And the echoes of old “MP”?

“I’m a doctor, which is like Michael Mancini’s Thomas, and I’m also a prostitute like Laura Leighton’s Sydney character.” [Soure: The Envelope]

Pilot season is here, and as always, the most exciting new projects are on the CW. And of those, this year’s most tantalizing effort is easily the reimagined Melrose Place. Officially, we’ll have to wait nearly six months to see it, but unofficially, we’re starting to get a picture of what life will be like for the residents of what may still be L.A.’s hippest street.

High Profile, High Security: Lest you think Melrose Place is just a concept flying high on a wing and prayer, you should know that there is a fully developed pilot script. But unlike last year’s 90210 pilot script, which traveled far and wide through Hollywood before the series ever made it to air, the Melrose Place pages are being kept top, top secret.

Who’s Who? Putting aside the less famous boys for the time being, let’s check out the new Melrose characters and the starlets who will play them.

* Stephanie Jacobsen is best known for gritty, grubby sci-fi gigs on Battlestar Galactica and Terminator, but in the new M.P., she’s all prettied up. Well, Pretty Womaned up at least. She’s playing a med student who works as a high-class escort to pay her tuition. An oldie but goodie! (Does anyone else remember Lisa Edelstein as the law-student-slash-prostitute who got Sam Seaborn in trouble on the first season of The West Wing? Loved it!) The most important thing to know about Jacobsen’s character Lauren is that she lives a double life. And that means when she’s not studying or hooking she’s going to be lying.
* Jessica Lucas (whom you may remember from Cloverfield) plays Riley, a vivacious wife-to-be who’s having doubts about her emotionally unavailable fiancé. Think ScarJo’s character in Lost in Translation.
* Ashlee Simpson-Wentz is Violet, a small-town girl who’s not afraid to use her sexuality (or anything else) to get what she wants. A far cry from her goody-two-shoes gig as Cecilia Smith on 7th Heaven!
* Katie Cassidy (aka the original Ruby on Supernatural) is Ella, who works in PR, dabbles in bisexuality and probably qualifies as the playah of the group. As a high-strung, snarky fashionista, she brings the funny to the party. [Source E! Online]

Apartments are filling up fast at the CW’s new Melrose Place, so get your first month’s rent (plus security deposit) to Amanda Woodward (or her current stand-in) pronto!

Stephanie Jacobsen, who this season has been appearing on Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, has joined the soapy pilot in the role of Lauren, a med student by day, high-end call girl by night. (You can’t make this stuff up, kids.)

Jacobsen’s Terminator scene partner, Brian Austin Green, earlier this week booked a CW pilot of his own, Body Politic.

Also moving to Melrose, says the Hollywood Reporter, is Colin Egglesfield, whom All My Children fans will remember as Josh Madden, Erica Kane’s abortion-that-wasn’t. (Long, bad story.) The Egg will play Auggie, a surfer by day, sous-chef/aspiring restaurateur by night.

Previous Melrose vacancies have been filled by Michael Rady (Greek), Katie Cassidy (Supernatural), Ashlee Simpson (7th Heaven) and Jessica Lucas (90210). [Source]