Five Minutes With Bonnie Dennison
Weekly takes five with GUIDING LIGHT’s resident bad girl, Bonnie Dennison (Daisy), and learns the high school senior is nothing like her hell-raising character.
Soap Opera Weekly: How do you balance school and GL?
Bonnie Dennison: I go to a private school. I have a deal going where I keep up my grades and keep up with the work, and [the teachers] tune in when they can. It’s a mutually satisfying deal.
Weekly: Any favorite subjects?
Dennison: Chemistry. It’s a big puzzle and it’s fun to figure out. It makes mundane things in everyday life more interesting when you can look at an object and you know what all the tiny little particles are doing. I also take an anthropology class. That definitely puts things in a whole new perspective.
Weekly: You were immediately thrown into a major story at GL.
Dennison: There’s always something exciting happening. It’s a little daunting when there are pages and pages to memorize in an afternoon, and blocking to memorize. There’s a lot to fit into your head. Plus, you want to give a good performance. I’m trying to maintain both the technical and the creative. That has been tricky but it has been a fun challenge.
Weekly: Who has helped you most around the set?
Dennison: Everyone is really receptive. You say a word and they are there to help you. Ricky Paull (Goldin, Gus) has been great. He loves to run scenes over and over again, which helps me, too, since there really isn’t that much rehearsal time, and that makes the scene 10 times better. Everyone in the makeup department, I whisper to them between takes trying to figure out what’s going on. [Executive producer] Ellen Wheeler and [casting director] Rob Decina have been welcoming. It made the transition very smooth.
Weekly: Do you watch yourself on the show?
Dennison: Absolutely. I find it helpful because I can look back and remember what I was trying to do and see how it reads, which could be something totally different than what I was trying for. It’s helpful to see: “Oh, maybe I should try a different tactic.” You are doing it for this final product, so it’s important to see how you are coming across.
Weekly: Was Daisy’s nose ring your real piercing?
Dennison: It’s not real. But I fooled a few of my friends with photos from the set. The first day I came on-set, the wardrobe department had stuck it in with the rest of my clothes and I thought, “Oh, cool.” I started out with the magnetic stud, but it kept falling out between takes, especially during the make-out scenes with Gillespie. That was impractical so we switched to the ring.
Weekly: Are you used to kissing scenes from your time on THIRD WATCH, where you were a regular, or is that new to you?
Dennison: There were a few love interests there. I had done that before so I had a professional attitude and it wasn’t so nerve-wracking. I remember the first time I had to do [a kissing scene], I was biting my fingernails and chewing lots of gum. But it isn’t all that bad.
Weekly: What do you do when you’re not at school or working?
Dennison: I like going to yoga class. I hardly get to go anymore, which is a shame. In the summer at my grandparents’ house there is a big kitchen and a lot of fresh fruit so I like to make pies. It’s a fun hobby and it’s therapeutic. You have a nice result at the end, which everyone can enjoy.
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