It’s been a long time since we’ve seen former “NYPD Blue” starlet Charlotte Ross, but that’s about to change big time. A very reliable source tells Clatto that the still insanely hot 42-year-old actress goes nude in Summit Entertainment’s upcoming supernatural road-rage thriller Drive Angry 3-D.

Ross plays a waitress turned on by Nicolas Cage’s devil-may-care demeanor. The two engage in what can only be described as a graphic sex scene (breasts, butt, pubis area) during an outrageously inopportune moment (sorry, no spoilers here).

I’m also told the actual movie kicks serious ass and is a must-see for fans of over-the-top violence and spectacle.

Ross rose to fame during her stint as Detective Connie McDowell on ABC’s crime-drama procedural “NYPD Blue.” A 2003 episode entitled “Nude Awakenings,” catapulted Ross to sex symbol status by featuring her gorgeous nude ass and side-boobage in a controversial opening shower sequence that found her getting walked in on by a very young boy.

The network was fined $1.4 million by the FCC (see the scene here).

Directed by Patrick Lussier (My Bloody Valentine 3-D), Drive Angry 3-D stars Cage as a damned soul who escapes hell to run down the pricks that murdered his daughter and abducted his grandchild. Costars include Amber Heard (And Then the Darkness), Billy Burke (Twilight Saga), David Morse (Disturbia), and Playboy model Christa Campbell (2001 Maniacs: Field of Screams).

UPDATE: Looks like the cat’s out of the bag: