Playmates
Lisa
Dergan

Catching up with Lisa Dergan is not easy. Just shy of 28, Lisa is already an in-demand model. You may remember her from three What Sort of Man Reads Playboy? pages (in June 1996, January 1997 and January 1998). Now this San Diego-bred beauty has turned her talents toward acting (landing parts on Silk Stalkings, Renegade and Frasier). We meet as she takes a breather after a morning workout at her West Los Angeles health club.


Playboy: Do you usually start your day with a workout?
Lisa: No, coffee. I'm an early bird. I start off with coffee, and within 30 minutes I'm at the gym. I work out as much as I can. Sometimes that means five days a week, sometimes, if I'm traveling a lot, it means two. On a typical acting or modeling job, if the call time is late enough, I'll go to the gym before the job. I prefer working out in the morning, because my day goes so much smoother if I've already been there.

Playboy: In college, you studied interior design. Did you think you would design for a living?
Lisa: Yes, I used to be Chilis restaurants' interior decorator in charge of the Western region. I did restaurants in northern California and Los Angeles and even one in Dallas. That was a great experience and a lot of responsibility for a college student.

Playboy: And then you were discovered on your college campus, right?
Lisa: A scout recruited me. I always wanted to do typical teenage stuff -- to be a cheerleader in high school and do my own thing. I never particularly wanted to be a model. Then I interviewed for an agency in Los Angeles -- Wilhelmina -- and my life started getting crazy. I was constantly working. I've done some really great campaigns. I did Guess golfwear ads for spring and fall. I did a Miller print campaign. They put big cardboard cutouts of me in liquor stores and in bars. My collector friends try to rip them out of bars whenever they see them. And I just shot a Budweiser television campaign.

Playboy: At home, you're still a designing woman, right?
Lisa: Oh, yeah. I'm Martha Stewart. I'm constantly remodeling. I love to do faux finishes and rag rolling. I like my place to look like Italy. Right now, I've got the neoclassical look going on. I have iron rods with sheer drapes coming off the window and puddling on the floor.

Playboy: You made your first appearance in Playboy three years ago, but you didn't become a Playmate until now. What took so long?
Lisa: I had a boyfriend at the time who definitely would have freaked. Not that that would have stopped me. If anything, that probably would have made me want to do it even more. I just wasn't ready. In between I've been hired for Playboy jobs three more times. That's why shooting this pictorial was a piece of cake. I enjoy going into the PLAYBOY studio every day. I'm friends with everybody there. It's not like modeling a product. In these pictures I'm the product, so I want to put an extra effort into it.