After spending most of her life as a character actor in musical theater, Kate Botello decided to knuckle down and get a "real" job. She was drawn into the tech world at TechTV (back when it was ZDTV) as a senior desktop analyst.

One fateful day, Kate was busted by Leo Laporte, who walked in while she was installing a printer and working on her Judy impersonation. Leo asked her to be his cohost (you never know when Judy might come in handy) on "The Screen Savers," a live call-in computer help show. For two years, she used both her strong dramatic skills (she was once the right cup of a tap-dancing Wonder Bra) and her computer savvy to help those who are technologically challenged. Kate won a real-live Bay Area Emmy award in 1998, as well as a bronze medal in the New York Festival.

It's a good thing Kate's parents bought her a big, red Pong console as a child, so gaming could make an early entrance in to her young psyche (ahem). The thing that really did her in was her time in the Ziff-Davis IS department. Her first computing client? Computer Gaming World magazine, where the editors gave her first crack at all the fun stuff. She wrote a few lil' capsule reviews for them, was featured as a hand model for a piece on "Magic: The Gathering" (thanks to her big rings and spooky nail polish) -- and, one fateful Halloween, won all their souls by beating them at "Baku Baku" on the Saturn.

Don't worry. She gave 'em back.

On the weekends Kate enjoys fuzzy slippers, the couch, the coffeepot, and tending her rose garden. She hopes she'll be successful enough to keep her cats in rhinestone collars for the rest of their nine lives.