Soap Opera Digest: What do you remember about the first time you met?
Alyvia Alyn Lind: In my first scene with Sharon, I was sleeping on her chest, and everyone offstage was telling my mom what a great job I was doing pretending I was asleep. Then when they yelled clear, I still laid there and everybody realized I was actually fast asleep. My mom took a picture of me sleeping with Sharon in the bed. I was only 3 years old and the picture’s still in my room today.
Sharon Case: I remember when we shot that scene, Aly. I thought, “Wow! I wish I was so relaxed when I’m on set that I could fall asleep, too!”
Lind: Sharon is very nurturing and caring, and even though it was just the two of us on set for that scene, I felt like I had a second mom with me.
Case: Aww! That’s so sweet. Who wouldn’t feel nurturing and motherly toward sweet, little Aly? I just adored her as soon as I met her. She’s so cute, and I was so happy they cast her. That was a really great first scene for us to have because we were just meeting each other, so it was nice that scene was just simple.
Digest: Aly, you must not have been that nervous on your first day if you fell asleep during your scene.
Lind: No! The first day, everybody was so nice. It just felt like such a safe place, and even today it feels like a second home that I can go to, so it doesn’t even feel that much like acting anymore.
Digest: In some of the early photos of you two on set, Sharon, you look so blissful holding Aly in your arms. Did you feel an instant connection with her?
Case: I really did. You know, there was just a natural fit between Aly and me, Aly and Joshua [Morrow, Nick], and Aly and the entire show. It really felt like she was part of the family right away, which emanated out of me in that photo.
Lind: I definitely feel like we had a lot of chemistry right from the beginning, and we would always have so much fun on set. [In the beginning] Sharon or Josh were always carrying me, so I would never walk. They wouldn’t let me walk.
Case: The director would tell me to carry you all the time. At some point, you got heavier and I had to have Joshua carry you instead. I said, “Joshua, you’re stronger than me.”
Lind: I was so excited when they actually let me walk around. I was thrilled!
Case: I remember that, too, and I was also thrilled because sometimes, when we were shooting and it’s winter on the show, I’d be bundled up and she was bundled up and when I was holding her, it got very hot on the stage. I remember being so happy when she started walking around on her own.
Digest: Did you do anything, Sharon, to build that bond with Aly?
Case: A lot of it was very organic, but what Joshua and I do a lot onstage is joke around. We get a lot of chitty-chat and small-talk in between scenes and blocking, so we have a lot of just fun, personal time, getting to know each other. We’ve always have been that way with Aly as well, and she shares a lot with us. She’s always been very talkative. She wants to inform us about her day and her life, so she’s really very involved in our lives when we’re onstage.
Lind: Whenever Sharon and I are onstage, we’re always talking about beauty advice and Halloween costumes.
Case: You also taught me a fun-to-do dance, remember? I keep forgetting it, so you have to keep trying to teach me.
Digest: What kind of dance?
Lind: It’s called Z Formation.
Case: Yeah, and I picked up on that one pretty quickly. We haven’t done it in a while, so I’ve forgotten it.
Lind: It’s pretty complicated.
Case: It’s a lot of movement.
Lind: I was trying to teach Josh, too, and he was like, “Uhhh….”
Case: Well, I think it’s a girl’s dance.
Digest: What have been your favorite scenes together?
Lind: One of the best scenes for me is when Faith had a big family meeting with everybody, and Sharon and Nick tried to convince her to go half-and-half with them like it’s always been. Faith told them that she didn’t want to do that anymore, and then she realized that she had the power, so she decided to stay at her grandparents’ house. Usually, in a scene with kids, writers are like, “Have the kid come in, say, ‘Hi, Mommy,’ and then run out the door.” I’m so grateful to the writers because they always give me fun and cool storylines and make Faith seem wise beyond her years.
Case: That’s absolutely true. They do make Faith very wise, because they watch you and they can see how wise you are. One of my favorite scenes, that we did not so long ago, was when Sharon and Dylan told Faith that the baby is not really baby Sully, but is Christian. You stole those scenes. You were so great. Aly just filled the scene and made it all about how Faith felt.
Lind: Thank you so much!
Digest: Aly, what else do you like about Sharon?
Lind: I love that she’s so much fun, and she’s really nice. It’s always fun going to set because I know when I get there, Sharon will be in hair and the makeup, and we’ll talk about girl stuff.
Case: It’s a two-way street. That kind of relationship can’t come out of one person. We both care a lot about each other, and we do have a fun rapport, just talking about funny, silly things. Beyond that, I really admire how amazingly intelligent and professional Aly is at work. This job is not easy, and here she is at her age, pulling it off every single time with ease. She’s really a true artist or she wouldn’t be able to do that.
Lind: Thank you! It blows my mind how much dialogue Sharon and Josh have to learn and it’s just crazy how prepared they are. I’ve obviously learned from the best.
Digest: Do you ever ask Sharon for advice, Aly?
Lind: Yes! If I have a crush, she’ll be the first person I tell.
Case: She’s right. We connected as girls right away, and, you know, when you put girls together, then it’s all over. We’re talking about hair and makeup and boys and dancing and singing.
Digest: What’s more fun to play: when Sharon and Faith are loving or fighting?
Case: I prefer when they’re getting along, but I think there’s a lot of value, obviously, to both sides, so that adds a lot of dimensions to our characters and their relationship. But I really think that it’s lovely to see a healthy mother/daughter relationship.
Lind: It’s true to life when it’s not always good, but they do give Sharon and Faith a lot of layers. In one scene she’ll be so mad because her brother is gone, and then the next scene she’ll be hugging her mom because she’s sorry for making Sharon feel bad. I do like it better when they have good chemistry, but bad chemistry is sometimes good.
Digest: How did you both like sharing scenes with the baby who played Sully?
Lind: Oh, my gosh!
Case: She’s in love with those babies. We both are.
Lind: I’m a babyholic.
Case: That’s the perfect way to put it.
Lind: I love babies so much. On the show, there can be a lot of kids sometimes, like when we have family dinners, so there can be four, five kids. For some reason, kids really like me, so I’ll have two on my lap and three down in front of me. It’s so much fun. It’s weird because all of the kids really listen to me. I don’t know why. They call me the baby whisperer or the baby wrangler.
Case: Do you remember, Aly, when we did a scene, where you were sitting on the sofa, and they put baby Sully in your arms for the first time? He was so happy sitting there. You were great with him.
Lind: Whenever I got to hold Sully, I was in heaven. I’m the youngest in my family, so I never got a little baby to hold.
Case: I’ve worked with a lot of newborns over the years, and Ozzy and Jude [McGuigen] who both played Sully, were just such great babies from the very beginning. I’ve been holding them from almost the time they were born, so I really got to know them quite well. Having them in my arms every day, I knew what soothed them and how they wanted to be held. Sometimes, when I would have to pass a baby over to another actor in a scene, and he got a little fussy, I could actually give that actor advice on, “Here’s what he likes,” or “Hold him this way.” It was so fascinating that I knew that!
Lind: See, she’s a great mom!
