In the hours after midnight and before dawn, we wearily lower the steel-plated armor that we wield each day in our on-ongoing battle for survival in the big city.  We let go of our defense mechanisms, our Teflon exteriors and our bubble-like encasements.  With our shield at our feet, we are vulnerable.  But sometimes the only person we need fear is ourself.  During these nights, loneliness, introspection and self-doubt can gnaw at us relentlessly.  It is during these hours that we often seek refuge in that which is familiar.  We turn to the comforting, dependable arms of our radio.  A reassuring voice in the night.  A voice that let us know that everything is going to be okay.  A voice that makes us laugh, makes us think and even makes the endless night a little more bearable.

One of those familiar, spirit-lifting voices in the night belongs to Wendi Westbrook of KIIS-FM.  Her energetic humor and up-beat delivery pours over the radio wires into our homes and into our lives.  Out there in the stillness of night, we enjoy a very personal relationship with Westbrook's faceless voice, which is as welcome to many of us as a favorite relative or a good friend.  But do we really know the woman behind the silky voice?  Who is Wendi Westbrook?

As Westbrook bounces into the disc-jockey booth for our interview, she is a whirlwind of energy, cracking jokes, telling stories and even proudly displaying photos of her new dog, Hannah.  At first glance, her self-confidence and easy-going nature seem to fit her as comfortably as her faded blue jeans and cowboy boots.  Is this Wendi Westbrook?

Westbrook begins to talk and slowly slips into the sweet-molases, Southern accent that she probably worked very hard to lose.   As she reveals her life story (Born in Shreveport, Louisiana. Divorced parents.  Three half-sisters and a half-brother.), something quite amazing begins to happen.  The polish and gloss of her "public' persona gradually begins to dissolve and a more thoughtful and sensitive private side emerges.

By her own admission, she tries to maintain a happy face for the public.  You sense that she feels a true responsibility not to disappoint people.  "Being in radio, you put up a façade that everybody else sees.  There's this character or being that people expect when they meet you, and so you kind of have to be that when you're out representing the station," Westbrook explains wistfully.  "You have to do it.  If you don't do that and you have a bad day and you don't cover it up - don't mask it - people will say, 'Man, she was a bitch.'  But they have to realize that no, I'm not.  We're all entitled to a bad day.  And sometimes I have to tell people that."

The road from Shreveport to Los Angeles was not an easy one for Westbrook, who is also and accomplished actress, having appeared in such shows as Models, Inc.,  Silk Stalking, Beverly Hills 90210 and Renegade.

Incredulously, Westbrook, who is a tall, blonde stunner, says that she was an "ugly duckling" growing up and was unpopular with the "in-crowd" in high school.  This had a great effect on her.  "It has been a huge motivating factor in my life trying to live up to the standards that other people set for me," she admits.  For a minuscule moment, the hurt of being a misfit school girl flickers in her pretty blue eyes.  She adds, "I'm trying to prove to them that I have it in me to be as good as I want to be, or better than they think I am."

She also had something to prove to her father, who was not always a supportive voice for her.  Although she has a very good relationship with him now, that wasn't always the case.  "Being the oldest of [her father's] kids and not living with him, I don't think he really knew how to treat a daughter.  I don't think he knew that a daughter needs to know that Daddy loves her.  I don't think he knew how to convey that, she says as she fights off the urge to let her tears flow. Perhaps her desire to prove herself, was the guiding force that led her to drop out of college, where she was studying accounting, and enter the unknown waters of radio.  Her gamble eventually paid off as she found her way to Y-95 FM in Dallas, which at the time was the hottest, hippest radio station around.  She quickly became one of the most popular deejays, which catapulted her to celebrity status in Dallas.  This opened the door to commercials, print ads, a popular poster and even her own local television show, where she introduced music videos.  The unpopular little girl was now more popular than she could have possibly imagined.

It didn't take KIIS-FM long to come a courting Westbrook.  Soon she was on the air in Los Angeles, at one of the most popular radio stations. Living in Los Angeles, opened up many doors for the gregarious Southern Belle.  Besides becoming a popular disc-jockey, she also spent a one-year stint as an MTV deejay.  She was also able to study her craft as an actress.

Interesting enough, being a big radio personality hasn't always helped Westbrook's acting career.  "Casting directors don't see being on the radio as acting, and I wish they did.  But they really don't, probably because a lot of deejays have tried to make it who have not had the proper training and background.  They give those of us who have studied and are trained a bad name...  They [casting directors] think I act with my voice only, which is really unfair," Westbrook states matter-of-factly.

Westbrook advises newcomers to Hollywood to learn the basics: know your way around the city, learn about the casting publications, discover Samuel French Bookstore and find a good photographer.  She also encourages actors to avoid negativity and not to take rejection personally.

She has developed a powerful and positive philosophy for herself in dealing with the rejection that gets dished out from tinseltown.  "I know that there is a yes out there for me, for a really good project.  I know it in my heart.  I know it just as sure as I'm alive and as sure as I'm sitting here talking today," she says passionately.  "But I also know that there's a certain number of n o's that I have to go though to get to that one special yes.  And every time someone tells me no, it doesn't mean that I'm not good enough or I'm not pretty enough or I'm too fat or too thin or I'm too this or I'm too that ! I take it as 'Thank you.' Because it puts me one steps closer to my yes."  Considering Westbrook's talent, determination and dedication, her yes can't be too far away.

Westbrook says that today she is less motivated by a desire to prove herself, and more by her wish for children and a family.  She is willing to work as hard as she can for now, so that when she has a family, she won't have to.  But does she still need to prove anything to other people?  She pauses for a moment of reflection,  then says, "Screw what people think!"   Her full lips are swept into a broad smile she adds, "I'm happy now."