Exclusive: Valarie Pettiford Dishes Her Return To Daytime As Y&R’s Amy

Valarie Pettiford, who got her start working in television as Dr. Courtney Walker on Another World from 1988-90 and is also known to daytime fans for starring as Dr. Sheila Price on One Life to Live from 1990-94, is making her Young and Restless debut on Tuesday, October 29 in the role of Amy Lewis, previously played by Stephanie Williams. The actress spoke to Soap Opera Digest about her history in soaps and joining the Genoa City ranks. “It’s great to be back,” she says of her daytime comeback.

 

Soap Opera Digest: Valarie, I’m so excited to get to chat with you because one of the very first soaps I fell in love with was Another World, back when you were on it.

Valarie Pettiford: Oh, come on! How delicious were those people? I mean, I learned so much from those guys. Everybody there was so wonderful. It just truly was loving and good, and so was One Life To Live. I was so, so lucky.

Digest: You’re a New York native and were living there at the start of your career. What do you recall about where you were in your life and what landing that first soap gig in 1988 meant to you?

Pettiford: I started off as a dancer and I always consider myself a dancer first. And so early on in my career, when I decided not to go into more concert dancing and do more theater, I was working with the best of the best choreographers, usually featured in a show or whatever. But I realized if I wanted to do a role like Anita in West Side Story, I needed to train. And so that’s what I started doing. I had to make a conscious choice to have the casting directors see me as a leading player, so I kind of pulled back on getting in the dancer roles and auditions and studied hard and so that when I was ready, they would see me more as an actress. And so my first acting role — non-dancing, non-singing, was Another World. And like I said, I was so lucky.

Digest: Who are the people that stand out to you as central to your experience there, who helped show you the ropes?

Pettiford: Victoria Wyndham [ex-Rachel Cory], Stephen Schnetzer [ex-Cass Winthrop] — because I got a chance to work with him a lot, and oh God, he was so delicious and I had a huge crush on him. I had a huge crush on everybody, but he was so lovely when I got to work with him. Linda Dano [ex-Felicia Gallant]. I’m going to repeat that several times: Linda Dano, Linda Dano, Linda Dano. Watching that woman work was a master class. I mean, they all were [helpful to watch] but there was something about her approach. They all had all these lines [of dialogue] on the daily and I was like, “Oh, my God! How do they do it?!” They were so ready and there was barely any rehearsal. It was, I feel, one of the best training grounds because you have to be prepared and you have to be quick. And then for me, James Pickens, Jr. [ex-Zack Edwards, who went on to a prolific career in prime-time, including his long-running role on Grey’s Anatomy], of course, because he was kind of my love interest. And look where he is now, you know what I mean? Anne Heche [ex-Marley Hudson/Vicky Love] was always extraordinary. I can’t believe she’s gone. That is just not fair and not right, but thank God we had her and her spirit lives on. And thank God I got to watch her on that soap because she was pretty brilliant.

Digest: After AW, you went to One Life To Live, and I love that you worked there with Nathan Purdee (ex-Hank Gannon), who has this Young and Restless connection, playing Nathan Hastings.

Pettiford: I know! And then what are the odds that when I left the show, Stephanie Williams [the original Amy Lewis on Y&R] took over [as Sheila]! I mean, come on! Full circle. And again, Erika Slezak [ex-Victoria Lord], Erika Slezak, Erika Slezak. But all of them, really, all the names I mentioned on all the shows, were the best of the best. And not only the best of the best as actors, but as humans. They were the nicest people. Erika used to give parties in her home and we were invited and they were lovely. Phil Carey [ex-Asa Buchanan] was funny as hell — old movie star, you know, bringing that whole vibe into it. They were just extraordinary and I’m so blessed to be able to say that I got my start in the soaps with them.

Digest: So fast forward many years, and many career accomplishments, and here you are, coming back to daytime on Y&R. Had doing a soap again been anywhere on your radar?

Pettiford: You know, I knew that there were a few soaps left on the air, and there’s nothing like a great soap fan. They are some of the best fans ever! So I knew it still existed, but I had no idea [that being on one was in store for me]. I think it came more to my consciousness because I know Jackée” Harry [Paulina Price Carver on Days of Our Lives] and found out she was doing one and I was like, “Yay!” But still, I never thought of it. And then I literally get a call from my people and they said, “They’d like to offer you this [Y&R] role.” And I was like, “Hell yeah!” Because it’s not that I wasn’t a Young and Restless fan, I was just [more familiar with] All My Children, One Life to Live, Another World, Guiding Light. I didn’t watch Young and Restless as much as the others, but I knew these people were heavy hitters because during my soap days, when you’d go to awards shows and see everybody, I would just be in awe of them. I knew, of course, of these brilliant actors that worked on Young and Restless.

Digest: The character you’re playing, Amy, has been on the show before, but she has been away from Genoa City for so long that who knows how her life experiences could have changed her? So in a sense, even though it’s a recast, you do kind of get to create her all over again.

Pettiford: Right, which makes it a little easier. Actually, a whole lot easier, because there is so much time that has passed. I’m lucky in that respect. I did do a little bit of research just to see her connections to different characters in the show and stuff like that. But then I left it alone and took my own trajectory on it. I usually do that with parts sometimes; I try to make sure I have the right information to give to the story, the sense of what’s really going on, but then I leave it alone and bring my own stuff to do it. And that’s what I did with her.

Digest: Were you warned going in that soaps tape even faster now than they did in 1994?

Pettiford: Oh, it’s fast! And I knew it, because I was panicked back in 1988 and I was panicked again [laughs]! I was like, “Oh, my God, what did I just get myself into?” I was so nervous, because it’s fast and furious, but I was excited at the same time and I’m grateful that in the dressing rooms, on the TVs, they show you the scene [being taped] prior. Watching the actors do the scenes before mine just calmed my nerves. I was like, “Okay, I see the lay of the land. My muscle memory has come back and I’m good to go.”

Digest: Has it been an adjustment to have to commit so much dialogue to memory again? Have you been spending a lot of time studying?

Pettiford: Well, since I’ve done a few shows now [at Y&R], I’ve got the rhythm, and I’m so grateful, I have to say, because it’s so well-written. The writing is so important because when it’s good, you don’t have to think. What I learned watching those brilliant actors back in the day is that it was almost like they wrote it themselves [because their delivery was so natural]. There is this kinetic energy between the writer and the character, so it’s almost like you don’t have to think, it just comes out. I do have a method, if I have, like, six scenes and I have enough time during the week to do a scene a day and just run it, run it, run it and I put it on my phone and say the other’s actor’s lines so I get that rhythm of hearing another person say the other line, so I know when my cue is. But as I said, it’s just so well-written, I don’t have to think about anything else. I’m not saying that it’s easy. I hate when I slip lines, I hate when I can’t remember. That drives me crazy! But when it’s so well-written, it just makes life easier.

Digest: Talk me through your first day.

Pettiford: Well, thank God for [Y&R’s publicist], who I love so much. He was like my caretaker. He met me in the parking garage, he took my little roller bag and he showed me the lay of the land and took me to my dressing room and gave me the [rundown] of what’s happening on the day, and then he met me again to take me to rehearse. Rehearsing, my heart was beating out of my chest because I wanted to do good. I wanted to make Stephanie [Williams] proud and I just wanted to do good work. But everybody was so wonderful to me and so welcoming and they treated me like gold. They knew it had been a while [since I’d worked in the soap environment]. And I work well under pressure. I might be crazy before, but when it’s game time, when you’re up at that plate, let’s go! And I knew that would kick in and I put the nerves aside. [Pressure] just makes me really focus and really delve into the character and just let it play itself, and that’s what happened that day. I worked with Sean [Dominic, Nate] and I absolutely love him. You know, [on a first day] you’re meeting actors for the first time and they just made it so welcoming. Unfortunately, I’ve been on other sets where sometimes they’re not very welcoming, or just very busy, they’ve got other things on their mind and you’ve still got to find your way. But it’s so nice when you walk onto a set like this, that’s a well-oiled machine with incredible people.

Digest: What did Sean do to be helpful to you?

Pettiford: Number one, he’s a nice human being. He’s a beautiful spirit, a beautiful man inside and out. Two, he’s a brilliant actor. I didn’t have to act. I just looked into his face and it was like, “Okay, here we go! Game on!” So giving, so loving. And because he knows the rhythm, his energy calmed me and if I did mess up a line or whatever, he was like, “It happens all the time.” Everyone was like that; I didn’t hear, “Oh, gosh, she messed up a line,” like, “Oh, my God, I need to get out of here!’ There was none of that energy on set. And he just reminded me that this is what happens, especially when you have lots of dialogue.

Digest: What are you finding about the character you’re playing that is resonating with you thus far?

Pettiford: Her love of family. That’s big for me. My family is everything. My character on Half & Half [the UPN sitcom she starred on from 2002-06], she was a snob, but she loved her family. It’s the same thing with Amy; it’s about the love of family. And when I have that kind of connection, it thrills me.

Digest: And what would be your message to fans of the show who will be tuning in to your debut?

Pettiford: Okay, I’m scared as heck. Hopefully you like me. Hopefully I’ve done Stephanie proud. Hopefully I’ve done Young and Restless proud. I’m so proud to be part of this show, to be part of this legacy. I don’t want to let people down, like, “Oh, my God, why did they hire her [laughs]?” But I would say, “Get ready for an incredible ride. There’s some really great stuff that’s gonna come up. So just sit back and enjoy!”

Knock, Knock: Pettiford’s Amy returns to Genoa City and shows up to see Nate (Sean Dominic).