B&B’s Katrina Bowden Has Found A New Home In Daytime
Katrina Bowden has packed a lot into her first few months on B&B. Her new alter ego, Flo, has aided a baby stealer, alienated his daughter, passed herself off as a birth mother, turned out to be Wyatt’s ex, endeared herself to Quinn, connected with her mom, Shauna, and began a shocking search for her bio dad. “I’m adjusting really well,” Bowden says of the hectic pace. “It’s definitely getting easier every single week for me. I’m having a good time.”
Bowden was no stranger to soaps when she joined the show — her first gig was on ONE LIFE TO LIVE in 2006 as Britney. “When I was a teenager, I started modeling,” she begins of her path to showbiz. “I would come into New York City after school and I’d go on auditions. I was doing commercials and magazines, started taking acting classes and then I booked ONE LIFE TO LIVE. I was a mean girl to Starr, but then 30 ROCK came very shortly after.”
30 ROCK was Bowden’s big break, where she played Liz Lemon’s sexy young assistant, Cerie Xerox. “That’s pretty much the No. 1 thing I get recognized for,” she relays of the NBC sitcom that ran from 2006-13. “I was 17 when I started and learned everything I know about comedy from that show. It was an award-winning comedy, and I got to work with so many incredible actors and comedians. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!”
One that had her sharing scenes with seasoned performers like Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin [ex-Joshua, KNOTS LANDING et al]. “Tina Fey is exactly how you would hope she would be,” Bowden raves. “She’s so cool and down-to-earth and funny and normal. She does it all. She’s like Superwoman, and she somehow maintains herself. She’s great.” As for Baldwin, “He is just one of those people where he walks in the room and everyone stops talking and looks at him,” she observes. “He just has that ‘thing’. He is so funny and kind. He’s really a lovely, lovely person.”
After the series wrapped, Bowden was cast in the short-lived show PUBLIC MORALS. “It took about two years from when I booked the pilot to the time it was canceled, so right after that my husband and I moved out to L.A.”
A slew of TV movies and films followed before B&B came calling. “I think a career kind of ebbs and flows and you go through so many different types of experiences, and I was presented with this opportunity,” she enthuses. “I hadn’t ever really done it, so I thought it would be really fun. I’ve done so much comedy in my life that getting to sink my teeth into something dramatic, I thought, would be really challenging. It was the perfect timing.”
She is well aware that her connection to Reese hasn’t endeared her to the audience. “B&B’s fans are so passionate,” she marvels. “I was warned not to go on social media. But I did anyway … So, I’m not gonna do that again [laughs]! But, I love how enthusiastic they are. It’s amazing because that kind of loyalty to a television show doesn’t really exist anymore, so it’s been really cool to see.”
The actress shares that she was thrilled when she learned that Denise Richards had been cast on the soap. “I was so excited when I heard that Denise Richards would be playing Flo’s mom because I’m such a big fan of hers,” Bowden exclaims. “She’s so awesome and so cool and has had such an amazing career, so I was honored.” Bowden reveals that she has doled out advice to her new co-star. “They throw you into the deep end and it was kind of like that for her, too,” she explains. “She had a bit of a learning curve like I did in the beginning, but she’s so awesome. She’s picking it up so quickly, and she’s just so normal and down-to-earth — and since I have been there for a little while now, I was able to show her the ropes a bit. Imagine that!”
Bowden reports that her family and friends back in New Jersey have become instant fans of the show. “My mom never watched soap operas — and she watches B&B every single day. And all of her friends do, as well. She’s just really proud. She’s my No. 1 fan.”
As is her husband, musician and photographer Ben Jorgensen. The two wed in 2013, but their story began well before that. “I met Ben when I was 16 on the set of a Fall Out Boy music video for ‘Dance, Dance,’ ” she shares. “He did a cameo because he was in a band at the time and they were all friends. I knew who Ben was because I had an ex-boyfriend who loved his band. So I went up and said hello. We started dating loosely, but it didn’t work out. Five years later, we met again when we were both living in New York City. We went out on a date and we’ve been inseparable ever since.”
With Ben running his own photography business and Bowden going into the studio every day, “Married life is awesome,” she beams. “Ben has his own hours doing something he’s really great at, and doing a soap is like the most normal job you can have as an actor, because lots of the time, your schedule is all over the place and you’re running from here to there. You’re busy and then you’re not busy. It’s like a roller coaster. It’s awesome to have a studio to go to every day, and you can actually have a life outside of work. It’s a great job to have.”
JUST THE FACTS
Birthday: September 19
Hails From: Wyckoff, NJ
Her Other Half: Wed to musician/photographer Ben Jorgensen since 2013. View his work at www.benjorgensen photography.com.
Baby Love: “We have a 7-year-old Pomeranian, Puffin, that we’ve had since he was 6 months old. He’s my little baby angel. We just adopted a female Jindo mix, Yuki. She’s a rescue from a meat farm in Korea, and she’s 6 months old now. She’s been a handful, but [Puffin] is warming up to her.”
What’s In A Name? “I was born in the [time of the] 1988 Olympics. My mom really wanted to name me Katie, but she didn’t wanna name me Katherine or Kaitlin like all the other girls. There was a diver who was a Katrina and they just decided that was what it should be.”
“Aren’t you…?” “I mostly get Cameron Diaz and Christine Taylor.”
Fit Bit: Check out Bowden’s lifestyle blog at www.fitkatby
katrinabowden.com.
Fright Night: The actress appeared in Scary Movie 5. “I did just a cameo kind of scene in that one with Ashley Tisdale and Sarah Hyland [ex-Heather, ONE LIFE TO LIVE]. We get possessed and we become zombies. It was just like a really fun, creepy scene. I had a lot of fun doing that.”
The Ex Files
Bowden’s audition scenes were with Darin Brooks (Wyatt), so she knew Wyatt and Flo would cross paths. “I didn’t really know in what way,” she clarifies. “I thought it was really great that they have a past, they didn’t just randomly meet and like each other and whatever. I think it’s really cool that they had this romantic history. It’s more than a romantic history: They were high-school sweethearts and best friends, too. They know a lot about each other, and it’s things that the other characters that are in both of their lives don’t know about them. They have this bond that is really cool and exciting. I think Flo is still in love with him. I think he’s the guy that she never got over. He’s the one who kind of broke her heart and she’s been wishing and hoping that someone like him would come back into her life. I think deep down she hoped that something could happen between her and Wyatt.”
