British stunner Kate Beckinsale may look like she just stepped out of a fashion shoot day in and day out, but she prefers kicking butt in front of the camera.

Beckinsale, 38, covers Redbook's January 2012 issue, where she talks about being drawn to strong action roles.

"I love that I now get to play these empowered, kick-ass women," she says.

"[They're an] incredible opportunity. Here I am with a gun; here I am on a wire; here I am learning gymnastics. I remember turning up in Budapest my first day of filming, running along a subway with a couple of guns. I thought I was going to die, I was so scared," she adds animatedly about learning a variety of skills on the set.

Beckinsale will appear in "Underworld: Awakening", the fourth installment in the dark vampire film franchise.

The brunette beauty will reprise her role as the vampire warrior Selene who finds herself in the middle of a war against humans after they discovered the existence of the Vampire and Lycan clans.

Having had her share of drama and romance flicks (Pearl Harbor, Serendipity), the actress enjoys adding more variety to her already impressive resume.

"But I very much wanted to play roles that were not just the girl taking a shower, the girl who was getting beaten, or just the girl. Now I'm someone who goes to Comic-Con - someone who knows what Comic-Con is!" Beckinsale reveals.

It's easy to write off the British babe as being just another pretty face, but this stunner clearly takes her craft very seriously.

Apart from the diversity in her choice of films, Beckinsale also isn't afraid to shed her good girl conservatism if the part calls for it.

In Redbook, she admits that she is willing to consider onscreen nudity, as long as it's a role that her thirteen-year-old daughter Lily can understand, and ultimately support.

After all, family is extremely important to this Brit who raises Lily with the help of ex-husband Michael Sheen and current husband (and first "Underworld" director) Len Wiseman.

"We've got a kind of unconventional family situation, with two dads, and I've always been the constant parent, the one who is here. Even if I'm working, it's me," Beckinsale tells Redbook good-naturedly.