BethAnn Bonner
ON SOAP OPERA DIGEST AND WEEKLY ONLINE
SOAP STAR STATS
BethAnn Bonner (Kat, ALL MY CHILDREN)
 |
|
— ABC
|
Vital Statistics
- Birthday:
- October 22
- Hails From:
- Stillwater, OK
The 411
Although she was second runner-up to I WANNA BE A SOAP STAR 3 winner Mike Jerome (ex-Ted, OLTL), it didn't take long for BethAnn Bonner to book a contract role as intuitive cop Talia on OLTL. After the final taping of SOAP STAR in 2006, OLTL Executive Producer Frank Valentini approached Bonner and gave her his business card. "He was just really lovely about it, but I wasn't going to be, like, buying a house because Frank Valentini told me to call him," recalls Bonner. So, she did the smart thing by sending him her photo with a thank-you note, signing with SOAP STAR judge and talent manager Michael Bruno and going on casting calls in L.A., where she was living at the time. Within a few months, she was asked to screen-test in New York for OLTL.
"I got flown out to New York City and they put me up in a hotel, and I went and got my hair and makeup done, and I bought a padded bra that was really awesome," laughs Bonner. "Talia doesn't really show much boob, but I didn't audition for Talia." Bonner actually auditioned for Marty, but the show had her in mind for the part of Rhanda, which was later renamed Talia.
Bonner left OLTL in 2009, and after a 5-episode stint as Natasha on GUIDING LIGHT shortly after, she is set to join ALL MY CHILDREN in fall 2009 as Kat.
Et Cetera
Five Random Facts
— Growing up, Bonner and her sisters, Megan and Kelly Ann, weren't allowed to watch television, so she hadn't seen a soap opera before her SOAP STAR audition. "I watched one episode of ALL MY CHILDREN and I was like, 'Okay, let's do this.'"
— Bonner studied musical theater at Emerson College in Boston, where she played two male roles in a production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. "I can sing contralto, which is a really low vocal range," she explains.
— At age 5, Bonner sang "All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth" at the Orpheum Theater in Omaha, NE, thanks to her father, a retired Air Force Band director. As a teenager, she recorded an album, Born of Love, with two songwriters from her church.
— Bonner has a serious passion for shoes. "I love going to the shoe department in Saks [Fifth Avenue]. It's so beautiful; it's like a museum."
— Like her dad, the actress loves college football and TiVos the Oklahoma University Sooners games. "He has tickets every year. He'll call me and is like, 'I'm at the game! We're slaughtering Utah!' I'm like, 'Woo hoo!' "
Memorable Quotes
"What's funny about him is you think he'd be kind of huffy because of his character, and he's not. He's really fun to work with."
— On Michael Easton (John, OLTL), Soap Opera Digest, 11/20/07
"It was weird how I kind of forgot about reality. You forget to put things in perspective.... You put all of your energy into trying not to get kicked off instead of putting it into your acting."
— On SOAP STAR, Digest, 11/6/07
"She was very encouraging and gave me great advice. She said I had acting chops!"
— On meeting Crystal Chappell (Olivia, GL) at the 2007 Daytime Emmys, Digest, 7/20/07
"She's pretty cool. She's a feminine tomboy. She is tough to a certain degree, but she just really wants to do well."
— On her soap alter ego, Talia, Soap Opera Weekly, 3/20/07
