Detroit- She was maimed twice in a slasher flick, posed as a scantily clad cop and starred in a commercial for an anti-hangover drug.

She is also a private investigator, who, as an occasional guest on “The Maury Povich Show,” talks about hunting down cheating spouses and missing children.

Now Carey Torrice is under a new spotlight as she launches her political career as a Macomb County commissioner. In true Hollywood style, Torrice campaigned in a 1949 Ford police car and unseated former pastor Bill Revoir in November for the 16th District seat in northern Clinton Township.

The 29-year-old who danced on stage twice with the Beach Boys stands out among the former state lawmakers, lifelong politicians, lawyers and business owners on the board.

Known in the acting world as Carey Shawn, she has played a seductress, girlfriend and partygoer in commercials, television shows and movies. “I love acting, but I want to make sure my county job is No. 1,” said Torrice, a Democrat. “I don’t think I’m going to be running off to Hollywood.”

Torrice decided to run for office after her late father — a war veteran — urged her to get more involved. Passionate about veteran services, she said she knocked on thousands of doors. She defeated her primary opponent by two votes and went on to beat Revoir in November.

She has aligned herself with the progressive wing of the Democratic Party and supports a four-year university in the county, cleaner water and economic development.

“I was sick of politicians when I ran, so I always tell people I’m not a politician,” she said last week. “I just want to help people.”

Her husband, Mike Torrice, also a private investigator, described his wife as “a happy-go-lucky kind of person.”

“She is just an ordinary, everyday girl like your neighbor, who isn’t like the typical politician who owes people favors,” Torrice, 35, said.

Commissioner Paul Gieleghem, a former state legislator, said Carey Torrice’s nontraditional background brings a fresh perspective to politics.

“She is a very bright woman, and she is catching on to things very quickly,” said Gieleghem, D-Clinton Township.

Torrice attributes much of her drive to doctors’ warnings that she’d end up in a wheelchair as a young adult because she had rheumatoid arthritis.

“I got really healthy, so I wouldn’t end up like that,” she said.

Torrice has been a fund-raiser for the Muscular Dystrophy Association and other causes. For one charity event, she played Marilyn Monroe.

She can be seen in photos on the movie Web site www.imdb.com, including as a cop with a tight miniskirt and a plunging neckline. Her own site, www.careyshawn.com, depicts Torrice as a dancer and actress.

“They are silly pictures,” Torrice said. “I never hurt anyone.”

Commissioner Philis DeSaele, R-Sterling Heights, said the pictures are “between her constituents and God.”

“Personally I have a particular decorum that I present to my constituents and the county, but that’s my ethics,” she said Monday.

Torrice modeled for DaimlerChrysler and acted in commercials for General Motors, Ford, Toyota and the Buick Open. She played a seductress on “Guiding Light,” appeared on an Eminem video and competed on the TV dating show “Elimidate.”

And she may be the only county commissioner to be killed twice in a movie, “Silent Scream,” a horror flick co-produced by Jeff Daniels. She is dismembered twice. The film is available at video stores.

To audition, “I had to cry on cue, scream and throw myself to the ground,” she said.

With the county facing a growing deficit, those talents may come in handy.