Imagine going to a job interview with 2,000 applicants fighting for one position.

This is the life of aspiring actress and model Wrenna Monet, formerly of Juneau.

She was born Wrenna Monet Klose in Petersburg and later attended Juneau-Douglas High School. She dropped her last name after moving to Hollywood, Calif., at age 18.

Her initial goal was to be on one magazine cover. She's since surpassed that goal by landing five magazine covers and two calendar covers while traveling to exotic locals such as the Bahamas, Peru and Las Vegas for shoots.

For all her globetrotting, though, her career launched as a 17-year-old waitress at the Hangar on the Wharf restaurant.

Accompanied by her mother, Monet entered and won a local Miss Hawaiian Tropic swimsuit contest held at Marlintini's Lounge. Monet then won the statewide contest and went to Hawaii for a national model search.

The small-town girl got her first glimpse of big-time pageants.

"When I went to Hawaii for the pageant, I felt so out of place," she said. "My roommate was Miss Los Angeles. She had big, fake boobs and long brown hair; she was stunning.

"I was crying because I was so uncomfortable there and I realized she was crying too in the bathroom. That's what really bonded us and I realized even the beautiful people feel uncomfortable here."

Monet hired an agent and started building a modeling portfolio after her Hawaii experience. In 2004, she won the Ms. Petite Alaska pageant and moved to Los Angeles full-time.

"Whatever she set her mind to, she did," Kay Klose, Wrenna's mother, said. "You have to let your kids follow their heart."

Monet was 18 and determined to make it in Hollywood. Her dream got off to a bumpy start, though. In her first year, she said she met a con artist, got ripped off and lived in her car for six months.

Monet got a big break when her agent booked her a modeling assignment in Peru for Maxim en Espanol. Traveling to Peru was an adventure, but the photo shoot didn't go as planned.

"I'm in a thong in Machu Picchu and there's five policemen that come up and were pestering (us)," she said.

It was illegal to do swimsuit photos in Machu Picchu. Her producer in charge of the shoot took off while her Peruvian bodyguards explained the situation to the police.

She never heard from the producer again but months later a friend told her she was featured in a four-page photo spread in Maxim en Espanol. Monet received $300 for the shoot only after her agent pressured the magazine for payment.

Things got worse when she returned to Hollywood.

With no money, Monet lived out of her car by sneaking into private campgrounds late at night. She then got into a car wreck on Sunset Boulevard, breaking her right wrist and doing major ligament damage to her knee.

Her best friend, Austin Connella, took her into his home and let her stay there while she healed up.

Now 22 and living in L.A. for four years, her career is starting to take off.

Monet recently landed a small role in the movie Lakeview Terrace, starring Samuel L. Jackson. The Sony Pictures' movie is due for release in September.

Producers cast Monet as a stripper paid to seduce and blackmail a loyal husband played by Patrick Wilson.

"I only get sexy roles," Monet said. "My manager says I have to do them. I hate them. I have to stick to the sexy roles until I can break into more sophisticated five-pages-of-lines roles."

Though she works as a model, Monet draws a line on what kinds of work she chooses.

Shortly after arriving in Hollywood at 18, she said Playboy offered her $25,000 to pose nude. She declined the offer.

"I don't like being viewed as a walking vagina," she said. "If I went back to Alaska after being a centerfold I would have no respect in my mind."

Monet currently studies painting at Santa Monica College and will pose for photographers from Vogue and Cosmopolitan magazine for Taschen Books later this year. The book will feature Klose as a model and her paintings. The book will be sold at art auctions and in galleries.

"It will make me look like a piece of art, not a sex icon," Monet said.