General Hospital’s Charlotte Cassadine Recast Bluesy Burke Dishes About Life in Port Charles (Exclusive)

In September, Bluesy Burke made her General Hospital debut in the role of Charlotte Cassadine, the worldly teen daughter of Lulu Spencer (Alexa Havins) and Valentin Cassadine (James Patrick Stuart), who had previously been played by Scarlett Fernandez. The 17-year-old actress checked in with Soap Opera Digest about how she landed the gig, her adjustment to life in Port Charles, her new co-stars and more!

The Girl Is Mine

Burke’s parents, Billy Burke (Twilight, Fire Country) and Pollyanna Rose, are both actors, and she made her own screen debut when she was just a baby, appearing in her dad’s movie Luster. “When I was younger, I, I used to do a lot of commercial and print auditions,” the California native says. “And then I moved to New York when I was about 13, and wanted to focus on school, so I took a break for a bit.”

She dipped her toe back into the acting waters last year, explaining, “I got the opportunity to play a role in this movie called Stone Cold Fox, which is actually coming out in a few days, on November 7th. I did that movie,” which stars Keifer Sutherland (24) and Kiernan Shipka (Mad Men), “and that was really fun. I was like, ‘Okay … I actually think I want to do this more!’ So, I actually only recently started auditioning again, and [GH] was probably the fifth audition I got this year.”

When she first went in to read for Charlotte, “I auditioned and I didn’t think much of it,” she shrugs. “And I didn’t actually hear anything for a while — a month, maybe two months, actually. And then, out of the blue, I got a callback and I went into Prospect Studios and met with [Casting Director] Mark Teschner and [Executive Producer] Frank Valentini and I read for them. And then a week later, I got a call from my agent. They were like, ‘You got the job!’ and I was like, ‘Oh, my God! Wow!'”

That was when she found out who she would be playing! “I didn’t even know what the role was because they used a dummy name for [the audition],” she says. “So when they were like, ‘Yeah, you’re going to play Charlotte Cassadine.’ I had done a little research [into the show] when I got the callback, so I was like, ‘Wait! She’s actually pretty significant, I think.’ I was excited!”

A Little Help From My Friends

To prepare for her first day on the job, Burke did yet more research, this time focused on Charlotte. “I actually looked on Soap Opera Digest, because there was a bit if a rundown on Charlotte’s past and who she was as a character,” Burke says. “And before I started, my dad and I started watching the show a little bit, just to get a sense of what was happening in the story at that point.”

Still, first-day jitters abounded. “I was so nervous,” she says. “I mean, I was very, very excited, because this is my first really big gig, but I was very, very nervous! I think it was just a big mix of emotions, but once I started, everyone was so welcoming.” In particular, she notes, “Alexa and Finn [Carr], who plays Rocco, came and found me when I was getting my makeup done on my first day, and they introduced themselves to me and it just made me feel very welcome and I really appreciated that.”

Havins’s nurturing presence has helped Burke find her footing at the show, she says. “Pretty much from the get-go, Alexa has just been such a sweet, caring person,” Burke praises. “She’s always trying to make sure that everyone, but especially me and Finn, are really comfortable, and I’ve always felt very comfortable around her, from the very beginning, from doing my first scenes with her. Now, whenever I see that I’m filming with her, I’m very excited just because I never feel more comfortable and relaxed than when I’m with her.”

Her first several days as Charlotte were a whirlwind (“I had a lot of items and it was a little bit overwhelming”) but once they were in her rear view, she was able to breathe a sigh of relief. “When I got home, I was like, ‘Okay, I got this, I can do this.’ And from there, I definitely started feeling a lot more comfortable.”

Fortunately for her, with script after script piling up, she’s always had a knack for memorization. “This is definitely the most I’ve ever had to memorize in such a short amount of time, but I’ve gotten into a good routine,” she reports. “Maybe two or three days before we film, I just sit there with the words for about an hour and I read them over and over, and that’s been working for me. And the cast is really, really great about running lines. Like on my first day, Finn and Alexa were immediately like, ‘Let’s meet in the green room and let’s run the scenes and make sure you’re really [comfortable], and now, before any of my scenes, really, I’m always running lines with whoever it is I have scenes with, which is really, really helpful. I like that everyone here does that.”

Good Charlotte?

The more episodes she films, the more Burke feels like she understands what makes Charlotte tick. She describes the character as “pretty complicated. On the surface, she can come across as just, like, a sweet, normal teenage girl, but deep down, she has all this turmoil. She has a very strong relationship with her father; she pretty much worships him and she misses him a lot because he’s in prison. She was on the run with him before, so she’s gone from seeing him all the time to not seeing him at all.” The actress also observes, “I think Charlotte doesn’t reveal a lot unless she really needs to — and she definitely also has her sassy moments! I always have fun with those,” she confides with a laugh. “I like it when I get to be a little bit mean!”

Watching herself on the show has also been informative, even if “it was definitely a little weird,” as she puts it. “I’ve only watched a little bit — I haven’t yet decided whether it’s better for me to watch myself or not! It definitely made me a little bit uncomfortable at first; it’s just such a new experience for me! But I have learned a little bit from watching myself. Like, I’ve noticed that there are weird tics that I have sometimes, and it’s helped me when I’ve continued to work. I’m starting to work on controlling myself and really just being in the scene. So, I think watching myself has been strange, but it has helped me.”

Burke is less nervous when she gets to the studio these days, “but I don’t think the nerves will ever truly leave me,” she muses. “I always get a little bit of a turn in my stomach whenever I walk on the set, just because I am overall a little bit of a nervous person. But I think I’m slowly starting to come into the role and discovering new things about Charlotte, which has really helped me come into the role, and hopefully that shows.”

The positive response she has received not only from her new co-workers but from fans of the show has also eased her transition into life as a GH star. “I want to say to them, ‘Thank you so much for being so welcoming to me,'” Burke begins. “I know Charlotte was played by someone else for a really long time, so it’s definitely something I know fans have to get used to, but I haven’t really gotten very many [negative comments], and that’s made me feel a lot better because I was nervous at first! I was very nervous because they’re big shoes to fill and she’s a very complicated character! I’m just very grateful for the opportunity to be able to portray her.”