That Girl Page 2
Fun is the word used by Budig to describe what it’s been like to portray Greenlee, a character with whom she feels a kinship. She’s older, of course, than the character she played on GL. “Michelle was young and naive,” she explains. “I’m sure I’m still a little naive, but it’s hard for an actor who’s older to play younger. You have to go back to being somewhat innocent, and it’s hard once you’re not to go back to being that way. Greenlee’s worldly and naughty, and I can relate more to her — not that I’m a naughty girl,” she says with an impish grin.You can bank on that. After all, although Budig may have been forced to grow up fast in New York during her tenure on GL, she is a young woman who was raised within a large, loving family, with strong role models in her mother and grandmother. She calls her mom her best friend, and she states with conviction, “I know my family and my faith are the most meaningful things to me. I try by my actions to live my faith. I’m human, and I’m full of sin like the next guy. I don’t want to be a saint. I try to live my life patiently and not get too stressed out. But in times of trouble, when I feel I can’t handle life, I give it over to God and pray that everything is going to work out, and it does.”Hence, Budig is proud that she’s been able to maintain her moral standards in a business where that is a continual battle. She gives all the credit to her parents (her father had three children by a first marriage, her mother two, and together they had three more; Budig is the youngest), who still expect her to do the dishes when she comes home to Kentucky to visit. “I’m not treated any differently now,” she says. “Everyone in my family has turned out OK. I don’t know how they did it. It’s such a hard job, raising kids. They’ve been happily married for 30 years, and they’re still affectionate and love each other so much. My mom was so selfless when my dad and grandpa had their accident. I can’t even talk about it because I get so emotional.”She’s talking about a vehicular mishap back in August; her father recovered quickly, but her grandfather had to spend three months in a hospital recuperating from his injuries. “It was a very exhausting and traumatic event,” she explains, “and it really put my own life in perspective. I went home almost every weekend to see them.” “My dad was the one who had a hard time letting go of us,” she adds, “while my mom would just say, ‘We give them roots and then we give them wings to fly, honey.’ My dad taught me to be very independent, to take care of myself. As a woman, you need that in this day and age. My dad still helps me and guides me if I have a problem, but it’s up to me to deal with it.”One dilemma she says she’s never had to come to grips with is whether to stick it out in her chosen profession. She also harbors little patience for those who moan and groan about toiling on a soap. “There are choices in life,” she says. “If you choose to stay on a show for three years, be happy about it. I hate when people complain about that. In this business, just to be working is something very special. We don’t have to have a survival job. I try to embrace the opportunity and use it. I studied for two years at night, at the William Esper Studio. I don’t subscribe to any one style or method of acting. I just think it’s about trying to be as truthful as possible. The danger in doing a soap role every day is that you can start to get lazy in your performance. You don’t do the little things you need to do in order to make it real and truthful.”At the moment, Budig is happily embracing life in Pine Valley and settling into her new Manhattan apartment. “When I’m here, even if I’m not working, I’m fine,” she says. “I can have conversations with people in New York I don’t even know and talk to them for a half-hour. I can be happy anywhere. It’s just that Los Angeles is an industry town; it’s Hollywood. Here, you meet all kinds of different people in different fields. Being in L.A. made me really think about what I’m doing and what I’m doing it for. You see all these people out there chasing this dream of being a movie star. That’s not my ambition at all. I just want to work, and do good work. I also want to do things I believe in. If I didn’t like this character and believe in this show, I wouldn’t have signed a contract. The business out there is so bizarre. Everyone is looking to be the next ‘It’ girl.”Pausing midthought, Budig then breaks into a self-deprecating guffaw. “Now, tell me I’m going to be the next ‘It’ girl tomorrow, and I’m sure I’d take it!”This article originally ran in the April 18, 2000 issue of Soap Opera Weekly.
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