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Interview

A Day In The Life Of Tamara Braun (Kim, GH)

tamara
GENERAL HOSPITAL - The Emmy-winning daytime drama "General Hospital" airs Monday-Friday (3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network. GH18 (ABC/Craig Sjodin) TAMARA BRAUN Credit: ABC

3:20 a.m. Wake up. No, no, no, no, no!!! Insomnia, you stink and I am going to spray you with rose water and eucalyptus. You don’t own me!

4:05 a.m. You do own me. Forty-five minutes of trying desperately to get back to sleep to no avail. I tweet about it. Will that help? I go into the kitchen and make a hot water with lemon. Little, my pup, bosses me around because I haven’t fed him breakfast. It’s too early, Little, too early. He doesn’t get it. Neither do I. Take photo of myself and Little to document the joyful moment.

Tamara Braun

4:55 a.m. Look at Twitter and see that Laura Wright [Carly] responded to my tweet about being awake. She is planning on staying awake because she has an early call. So do I, but I want to sleep! Don’t you want to sleep, Laura? Reset alarms so I can sleep as late as possible and just roll out of bed and head to work. That’s right, I have decided not to shower. Don’t judge.

5:40 a.m. ARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!! Cursed be the sleeping gods and angels! Where are you when I need you? Can’t you see I need help? Grab script. Might as well look at it some more before work. Got doctor-speak and some sad scenes. The doctor-speak should make me sleepy! I will keep reciting those lines and drift off to dreamland.

5:55 a.m. Come on!!! No sleep. Doctor-speak is no cure for insomnia. Insomnia is no cure for comprehension of doctor-speak. Good thing I learned it last night.

6:07 a.m. I am sleepy, finally. Really sleepy. I tweet about it. I set my alarm for 6:30. I am so tired I know I can sleep. It will be like a catnap and will refresh me for the day ahead. Let’s do this!

6:30 a.m. Mean, mean, mean alarm goes off while I am in a deep sleep! Nooooooooo! I whimper like a baby. Drag my ass out of bed. Zombie-walk to the bathroom. Brush teeth. (Yes, I am brushing my teeth. I’m not that gross). Wash face and put on the potions and lotions. I look 20 years older than I did last night. I do not wake up refreshed. Thank God for the hair and makeup team at GH. Imma coming and you will be earning your money today!!

6:40-ish a.m. Drag ass out the door. Drive to set.

7:00 a.m. Get to work in a fog. Drop off stuff in dressing room and head to H&M. No, I am not going shopping. H&M = hair and makeup.

7:15 a.m. Called to set for morning blocking. Start up the stairs. Realize I forgot my pen for blocking notes. Whimper and scamper back into H&M and borrow a pen, promising I will bring it back. I promise, I will. I swear. Go up on set and pass Laura blocking her scenes looking all fresh and peppy. I want to say, “I’ll have what she’s having,” but don’t want to get sued for plagiarizing Rob Reiner’s mom’s line in When Harry Met Sally. Anyway, I have my own lines to say today. Go to my set. Say hello to our awesome crew, my castmates for the scenes, producers and our director, Bill Ludel. Get blocking. Line changes. Write it down. Try to appear normal and awake while doing so.

7:35-ish a.m. Go back to H&M. Return pen. Ask if I have time to go to the commissary for a decaf coffee before starting H&M. I need the little bump that decaf will provide. I cannot drink fully leaded unless you want me to sweat profusely, have heart palpitations and start grinding my teeth like a drug addict. I’m sensitive. I am told there is time. I go. There is construction. I get rerouted. I make it there. Buy decaf. Walk back.

8:00 a.m. Sit in hair chair. Apologize to Anzhie [Adzhiyan] for having greasy hair. Tell her I couldn’t shower because I couldn’t sleep. Don’t worry, I put on deodorant. Wait, I did, right? She works her magic. She is magic. Dry shampoo to the rescue. Go to makeup. Whimper in Donna’s [Messina] chair. She doesn’t sleep well, either. Start sweating a little bit from the caffeine in the decaf. Sorry, Donna. She works her magic, too. Change into wardrobe.

9:30 a.m. Still have a little time before my scenes. Should I close eyes? No. Look for scene partners to run lines. Can’t find them. Run lines on own. Got it. I’m good.

10:00-ish a.m. My morning scenes are called. I also have the last two scenes of the day. Go up, do morning scenes. They go fine but the brain is still in a bit of a fog and a couple of doctor-y lines might have been mumbled once or twice. My co-stars were great!

12:15 p.m. I am done until the last two scenes of the day. Great! Change out of wardrobe. Respond to an email. Start to head out and get called back to set to block those last two scenes of the day. Talk with director for a bit and say I am leaving for a while but will be close if scenes get pushed earlier. That happens sometimes.

1:00 p.m. Run to post office. Run a couple more errands. Go home, take Little for a nice walk. Go in backyard with pup after walk and lie down on outside bed. Take photo. Study awesome scene I have talking to God. Close eyes for a bit. Eat, feed Little, go back to work.

4:00 p.m. Get to work. Still a couple of hours before my scenes. Sit in H&M and watch co-stars do their work on the feed. Talk to Chloe Lanier [ex-Nelle]. Get call from producers that the day is long and they are cutting my awesome talking-to-God scene. Really? Really. Disappointed but there will be other good ones, I am sure.

4:30 p.m. Chat with Becky Herbst [Liz].

5:45 p.m. Go up to set early. Watch Maurice Benard [Sonny] and Chad Duell [Michael] do some lovely scenes. Wait for my last scene. Do it. Go home. Summer break begins!

Tamara Braun

 

 

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