Soap Opera Digest: How would you sum up your time on Y&R?
Loren Lott: Life-changing. It was a great introduction to being a series regular and a great transition from Broadway. Three weeks after I moved to L.A., I booked YOUNG AND RESTLESS and it was just fate. I absolutely fell in love with Bryton [James, Devon], who played my brother. It was a dream working with him and forming a friendship that has lasted since the show. We still hang out, he’s still my big brother, and he still gives me so much guidance in this industry.
Digest: Ana was going great guns at first but then she was strangely sidetracked from her own singing career to promote Fen. Did you feel that was the wrong direction for your character?
Lott: Yeah, looking back, I wish there were so many other things that they tried, including giving me a love interest, because that means longevity on a soap. And I would even read people tweeting, “How does she not have someone to love yet?” So that’s when I was like, “Oh, maybe I’m not going to last.” They just weren’t acknowledging that I could be a romantic lead. Still, I had a great time on the show. I was grateful for every single thing that I learned.
Digest: And it wasn’t for lack of popularity because the fans really loved Ana.
Lott: I know that the soap audience is tough and very picky so I’m very glad that I made an impression on them. And I still watch YouTube videos where people will bring me up and say how they want me back on the show and it just lets me know that I did my job, so I’m grateful. I gained a loyal, strong fan base of soap opera lovers who have followed me in every single thing that I’ve done since.
Digest: Would you ever give soaps another try?
Lott: I want to do more movies but I would love to pop back into Y&R now and then. I loved when Shemar Moore [ex-Malcolm] came for Neil’s memorial episode and I was honored to be on set with Shemar that day. I would love for Ana to visit Devon, then leave so I can do my movies, and then pop back in.
Digest: Do you still get recognized as Ana?
Lott: I actually get more recognized from TikTok and Instagram, plus I have so many things on YouTube from Broadway, so social media is really where I get so much YOUNG AND RESTLESS stuff. It’s not the same like before when people would be like, “Ana!” Now they’re like, “Do I know you from somewhere? Do you go to my church?”
Digest: You’re in a new series called THE PORTER. Can you tell us what it’s about and who you play?
Lott: THE PORTER follows two train porters in the 1920s, Zeke and Junior, as they go through life, but also as they end up in kind of a conflict over what they consider justice. One goes the more gangster route and the other one follows the civil rights route. We follow them along with the people who they interact with, including myself as Lucy, a showgirl. There’s also Junior’s wife, Marlene, a Black Cross nurse, and a female gangster Junior encounters. It’s a wild ride.
Digest: How did you like working on this project?
Lott: We shot this during quarantine and before I even screen-tested, they said, “If you book this part, you’re going to be shipped off to Winnipeg, Canada, which is a small town, and you won’t get to come home for four months.” At the time, my grandmother was sick, and I see my mom often, plus I’m pretty social and hang out with my friends all of the time. When I booked it, I panicked and the rules started changing, so while I was out there, I was able to fly home during shooting. For me, making this movie was just such a wild ride. We were pretty isolated, so we got extremely close and I’m so grateful. That cast was funny and so much fun and so loving because I would have been really lonely without them.
Digest: What can you tell us about your other project, RENEGADES: OMINARA?
Lott: I play the younger version of Nichelle Nichols’s [ex-Lucinda, Y&R] character from Star Trek. Ominara is kind of based off of the Uhura character. When I went in for that audition, they were so specific about what they were looking for. I was like, “There’s no way I’m getting this. I’m going in for fun.” I even wore a waist trainer in my audition so that I’d look super-skinny because I knew I wasn’t going to get that part and I was having fun with it. And when I got offered the role, I was like, “Dang it! Now I have to work out and get in super-shape!” So I really just did my best to get down the look that Nichelle Nichols had because she is stunning and super-iconic to the Star Trek world. So I felt all that pressure and I was like, “Please let me do her justice.” I’m still hoping that it gets picked up because I know that they’ve been shopping it around and I felt like a full superhero in that role.
Digest: What can you share about your personal life since leaving Y&R?
Lott: I’m definitely single. I just had a terrible heartbreak and I’ve never been heartbroken before, so that shocked my soul. Maybe I shouldn’t be dating entertainers anymore. They’ve all been actors and singers, whatever, but I’ve never dated an athlete. Maybe I’ll give that a try. I would like a God-fearing man who’s successful, so they won’t be intimidated by everything I do, and who has a great sense of humor and loves to have fun, because that’s me. Anything is better than my last relationship, okay? And I move a lot, so you need to know how to do the long-distance thing with me.
