Vanessa Minnillo already has a Nick — as in Lachey — her long-term beau, who is a golden boy in his own right. Now she aims for an equivalent from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. Really!

"My goal is to be acting and winning an Oscar," the 27-year-old MTV alum recently told In Touch Weekly. "I want to be an actress with an Oscar and babies."

Minnillo takes inspiration from another Hollywood lovely, Julia Roberts, who received an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress of 1989 for "Steel Magnolias" and best lead actress of 1990 for "Pretty Woman," but lost, respectively, to Brenda Fricker ("My Left Foot") and Kathy Bates ("Misery"). Finally, in 2000, Julia Roberts prevailed for best actress ("Erin Brockovich").

"She's phenomenal!" Minnillo says of Roberts. "I would love to be just like her."

Of course, first Minnillo might try landing the kind of movie roles that Roberts' nabbed. So far her most notable celluloid "accomplishment" has been running around, shrieking, in her underwear in "Disaster Movie."

"Seldom has a pic been more appropriately titled," said Variety. The New York Times called the flick "the latest disposable parody of disposable Hollywood movies (with) a shelf life of about five minutes, tops."

Photo: Maxim