TikTok star Caitlin Reilly will make her daytime debut on May 21 in the role of Annie Donely, whose father, Sean, was played by the actress’s real-life father, the late John Reilly.
“It’s kind of funny how it happened,” Reilly begins. “When I announced on social media that my father had passed, the day after, I believe, Frank Valentini, the executive producer — who’s amazing, by the way; he’s such an incredible guy — announced that GENERAL HOSPITAL was going to do a tribute episode for my dad. A couple months went by and then they reached out to my representation and asked if I wanted to be involved in the tribute show. I immediately said yes because that was something I would love to be involved in. It’s a super-special thing to be a part of. My dad loved being on the show so much and I am just so happy that I got to act with all of his old friends. We had such a fun day, and it was also very emotional and cathartic. It was sort of everything all at once.”
As her shoot day drew nearer, Reilly was in for a surprise when she discovered how heavily she’d be featured in the episode. “I really didn’t know how much [I’d be doing] in the beginning, and then when I got the script and got wind of the story and what the episode would be, it was pretty wild and exciting,” she recalls. “It’s so strange because when their team reached out to me and asked if I wanted to be on the show, I honestly thought that I was just going to be in one scene, that it would be sort of a fun experience for me and I didn’t think anything past that. And then when I spoke to, I believe it was [Associate Casting Director] Lisa Booth, she sort of told me how heavy my involvement would be and the scope of the episode. I was shocked, actually, because I had quite a lot to do. That was super-exciting, that they would entrust me to do that because, you know, they’d never worked with me before! And the stuff that I do on social media and other projects I work on is, you know, comedy-based! I am a dramatic actress, as well, but I was just really honored and shocked that they trusted me to have such a heavy involvement. There was a lot of pressure, as well, because I had a lot of lines to learn and I wanted to be as professional as possible and as we all know, soaps film very fast, so I knew I had to be on my toes. Also, I was working with people like Finola [Hughes, Anna], who’s a legend, and all these other people I’ve known since I was younger. Tristan Rogers [Robert] is basically like an uncle to me. He’s a very close family friend. It was so fun to work with him, as well, but I wanted to deliver. I wanted to be fully prepared for anything they were going to throw my way, so it was very exciting and intimidating and also a lot of fun.”
The actress prepared intensely before getting to set. “They sent me the script about a week before, so I just basically locked myself in my apartment and did not see anyone for seven days. Didn’t leave the house, just memorized all of my lines because, you know, it’s a big deal! I wanted to do my dad proud, as well, and I remember him constantly learning lines and running lines. Strangely enough, I had recently moved but I found my dad’s old script book, this big leather binder where he would put all his scripts, so I used that as my script book, which was a nice little moment for me. I felt like he was with me. I brought it to set with me. That was kind of special.”
On the big day, Reilly was thrilled to spend time with her father’s former colleagues. “I hadn’t seen Finola since I was maybe 2, so it was sort of like I had all these reintroductions. There were a bunch of people in the episode that I had known since I was a child and I’d be like, ‘Hey, I’ve met you before, but I haven’t met you as an adult, so it’s so nice to meet you, but also see you again!’ ”
In between takes, she loved hearing stories about her father from her scene partners. “Obviously, I knew my dad very, very well; he and I were very close. But you know, this was a different aspect of who he was. He spent 11 years on the show, he would be there 14, 15 hours a day — this was sort of like his work family, these people that saw him every day and knew him in a different way than my family knew him. They knew him as an actor, they knew him working, and all day long, they were just telling me these stories that I had never heard before and it was so interesting to hear them because, you know, being an adult now and being a working actor, I missed out on those conversations with my dad, where we could really talk about acting and memorizing lines and the craft and all of that creative stuff that actors relate to each other about. So it was sort of like I was having those conversations with him, but through the stories they were telling me. So that was really, really nice.”
Reilly says she would welcome the chance to play Annie again. “I don’t know if there’s a future for her,” she notes. “But there could be! And I would love to come back to the show.”
Turns out, the feeling is mutual. “We would love to have her!” enthuses Frank Valentini. “She was so much fun and she’s really hilarious. She just kept us all in good spirits all day even though the subject matter was really heavy and the workload was really intense.” Echoes Finola Hughes, “She is genius, honestly. Yes, she is this amazing Instagram and TikTok star and just fabulous at what she does and really, really funny, but she can deliver. She didn’t miss a beat on the day. With all the dialogue she had, she was word-perfect. She didn’t miss a nuance, she didn’t miss an emotion, and she was great to work with.”
