Brook Kerr, best known to daytime fans for her work as Whitney Russell for the entirety of PASSIONS’s 1999-2007 run, made her GH debut in March as Trina’s mother and Taggert’s former wife, Portia Robinson. “It has been such a blessing and I’m just so grateful,” she beams.
The chance to audition “came out of the blue and when it did, I was like, ‘Yes! This is perfect!’ ” she explains. “GH has such a good reputation, and working with the cast and crew and everyone there, who have such professionalism and grace, and do everything so well and efficiently — I’m just really excited. It’s been a really great new adventure.”
GH reached out to her agent early in 2020. Says Kerr, “I had been doing some real estate stuff and I did a movie [MOMMY IS A MURDERER] with Lindsay [Hartley, ex-Theresa, PASSIONS], which just aired on Lifetime, and I was guest-starring a little bit, but I was like, ‘Okay, pilot season is about to start, I need to ramp it up, get new pictures, blah, blah, blah.’ And then I got the call from my agent saying that GH wanted to bring me straight in to test for this role. I was kind of caught off-guard because usually, you at least have to go in for producers [before a screen test]. But [Casting Director] Mark Teschner has always been such a great, wonderful person, and I’ve known him since before I even booked PASSIONS. He’s always looked out for me and been a great cheerleader for me, which I’m super-grateful for, and M.K. [Weir, a GH producer who used to work on PASSIONS] is there, as well. So, they were like, ‘We are bringing you straight in to test because we think this role is perfect for you.’ I read the role and I was like, ‘This is perfect for me!’ Especially right now. A lot of my career, I’ve played younger, you know? So it was such a cool thing to be asked to play a fully [realized] adult, who went to school, who’s a doctor, who has her life together, who has a kid. Of course, I’m a mom, too, so to be able to play those mom moments, I was just salivating. I was like, ‘Oh, my God, let me get this!’ ”
She screen-tested opposite “my beautiful daughter, Sydney [Mikayla, Trina], and Steve Burton [Jason], actually. He was such a pro, obviously, and so kind. I used to see him on the circuit, I guess you’d call it, the soap circuit, years ago, and he was like, ‘You got this!’ It felt so nostalgic, even just going in for the screen test, because I knew some of the camera people and was hugging them, and I knew the grip and one of my old directors was there. “It’s been a really great new adventure.” It felt like coming home — but I hadn’t come home yet! I still had to book the job. I’m just blessed that I got it.”
Kerr had a pinch-me moment when she found out that the role was hers. “I thought the screen test went really well, and it happened on a Thursday or a Friday,” she recalls. “Monday was Martin Luther King Day, so I thought, ‘Okay, I probably won’t hear anything until Tuesday, so let me just put it out of my head.’ And then my agent called me that night and I was like, ‘Well, this is either a good sign or a bad sign, but something’s happened!’ I called him back and he said, ‘Congratulations, you booked it!’ I was like, ‘Are you serious?’ And he said, ‘Yes, they loved you.’ Then I talked to Mark and he was so complimentary. On the phone, I kept saying, ‘You’re kidding me, right? I still can’t believe it.’ He said, ‘Oh, it’s finally hitting you, huh?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, this all happened so fast!’ Even now, while we’re [on a production hiatus], I’m sitting at home watching myself on TV in my doctor’s coat going, ‘Oh, my God, this is such a trip!’ ”
The actress was flattered by the warm response from fans when news of her casting broke. “That means everything to me,” she says. “PASSIONS was such a precious time in my life and meant so much to me; so did my role and how I wanted to portray a young black woman who has goals, aspirations, a tight-knit family and friends. The fact that it resonated with the fans, as well, is such a special thing. It’s kind of overwhelming, and I’m so appreciative that it meant something to people. I hope I can touch them in that way again. This job on GH feels so full-circle, it’s nuts. On PASSIONS, my mom was the doctor, and now I’m the doctor having scenes with my teen daughter!”
From the start, Kerr has enjoyed working with on-screen daughter Mikayla. “I just love her,” she smiles. “She’s a consummate professional, so prepared, and she’s such a great person to work with because she’s so present and has such fire. She’s never coming from some sort of passive place; her conviction is so strong. She’s amazing! She really brings me to that teenage place where your heart is like a nerve; you’re either angry or frustrated or so in love. Everything is just to the tenth power. She plays that beautifully.”
The actress also considers herself lucky to be mixing it up with more veteran heavy hitters like Genie Francis (Laura), Maura West (Ava) and Maurice Benard (Sonny). “A lot of these cast members, I’ve been a fan of for a long time,” she notes. “The fact that I’m kind of in the middle of it now is so amazing! I’m just really enjoying the ride and I’m so happy to be a part of this team now.”
