In the 1/27 issue of Digest, we chatted with Natalia Livingston about her return to her Port Charles roots. Here are a few tidbits that didn’t make it into the piece.
Soap Opera Digest: Was there any trepidation on your part about coming back?
Natalia Livingston: Yeah, sure there was, but I love a challenge. Since I wasn’t the first actress to play Emily, it’s a new experience for me to create a character from scratch. I’m looking forward to the whole process.
Digest: Is it surreal to be back? You must have a different dressing room.
Livingston: I actually have the same one. It looks very different from when I was there. There are no decorations. It’s pretty empty. They took the paint off the walls but I’ve got some time to make it look nice again. It’s the best one because it’s right across from the door going up to the set.
Digest: Wow. Talk about a sign.
Livingston: Yes, it’s the truth. Everything is the same in the fact that I’m coming home to a wonderful group of people. Bob [Guza, head writer] and Jill [Farren Phelps, executive producer] were so wonderful. They both were wanting to escort me down to wardrobe and people were like, ‘She knows where the wardrobe room is [laughs].’ Everyone was so kind in welcoming me back.
Digest: What were you up to in your time away from the show?
Livingston: I did a movie called Rough Hustle, which features two actors from Twilight, Michael Welch and Matt Bushell. We went to Nevada and filmed it there, in Mesquite. That was really fun. I got to play a lounge singer, if you can imagine that. I had to sing in front of 300 people in a casino.
Digest: Did you do your own singing?
Livingston: No! That would have been torture, for me and everybody else [laughs].
Digest: Did you watch GH in the interim?
Livingston: I didn’t at first but I did eventually. And I’ve been watching a lot recently to get up to speed on all the storylines.
Digest: I guess it’s safe to assume that Rebecca will come between Nikolas and Nadine?
Livingston: I’m ready to shake things up [laughs].
