General Hospital, Young and Restless Alum Emme Rylan Lands Role In New Justin Long Film
It was five years ago this month that Emme Rylan wrapped up her stint as Lulu Spencer on General Hospital, a role she played from 2013-2020 after playing Abby Newman on Young and Restless (2010-13) and Lizzie Spaulding on Guiding Light (2006-09). Now, Rylan — who made her first splash as a professional actress in the comedy Bring it On: All or Nothing in 2006 — has landed a new role in a movie comedy!
Meet Me In St. Louis
Rylan, who currently resides in St. Louis, MO with longtime partner Don Money and their three kids, Jackson (born 2010) and Levi (born 2011), and daughter Dakota (born 2017), teased her involvement in an exciting new project on October 26, when she shared multiple behind-the-scenes photos of herself glammed up for the cameras on her Instagram Stories. One was captioned, “Oooooooh this movie look feels like it could be on @beyondthegatescbs!”
She posted one picture, a mirror selfie showing off her voluminous hairstyle, to her main Instagram photo grid with a shout-out to her stylist: “Thank you @whisperstyleteam_ for the fabulous look on set today. 😘”
On November 6, she revealed more about the set in question, sharing new photos of herself on Instagram and writing, “I had so much fun playing @justinlong’s wife in @jleefilm’s new movie! @lamorne and the entire cast were amazing!”
Justin Long, Rylan’s movie husband, is best known for roles in comedy and horror films ranging from Galaxy Quest and Jeepers Creepers to Dodgeball and He’s Just Not That Into You. Lamorne Morris, who she also mentioned in her post, is best known for playing Winston on the Fox sitcom New Girl and for his Emmy-winning work on Fargo, where he played Whitley “Witt” Farr. His film credits include Game Night and Jumanji: The Next Level.
The movie featuring Rylan is titled Jacob Beats up Nate and is directed by J. Lee, a St. Louis native. A comedy, it is based on Lee’s experiences as a high schooler, and centers around an adult encountering his high school bully at a class reunion. The entirety of the movie production is taking place in St. Louis, and producers hope to set a release date for Summer 2026.
Having gotten her start in comedy, Rylan confessed to Soap Opera Digest in 2017 that landing in the dramatic world of soap operas came as a surprise to her. Recalling her original audition for GL, she shared, “I did my screen test with John Driscoll, who played Coop, and in the scene, Lizzie is apologizing and trying to get him to forgive her. At the end, I jumped up and threw my arms around him and hugged him with this big, goofy smile on my face, all excited and hyper and happy that he’s forgiven me. John was super-nice. I was feeling good about myself when we finished, and when I went to leave, the monitors on the first floor of the building were on, and I could see the other girls auditioning. Of course, I couldn’t not torture myself, so I watched! Every girl was so hot, so sexy and womanly, and this one leaned up against him at the end and it looked so romantic. I was like, ‘I never thought of that!’ It never crossed my mind to use sex appeal in the audition. I was like, ‘I have no right being on daytime!’ Because my audition was like, ‘Hi, I’m a bubbly goofball. I’m here to do a sitcom!’ I cried the whole way to the train because I thought I had totally blown it. When I got the call that I got the part, I was like, ‘What?!’ I couldn’t believe it.”
And while she had plenty of classic melodrama to play during her years on soaps, Rylan always relished the chance to inject humor into her work, which frequently occurred via the antics of Lulu and her BFF, Maxie (Kirsten Storms). In 2016, she told Digest that she and Storms “feel like we’re doing a sitcom within a daytime drama, The Maxie and Lulu Show.”
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