Chicago native Precious Way is thrilled to be making her soap debut as Chanel on DAYS, a show that has a special connection to her family. “A couple of years ago, my grandmother passed, who was my hero, and she was so into what she called her stories,” Way relays. “All I remember is you would catch a hot hand if you changed the channel and cut off her stories. She was so serious about it. And I was so young that I couldn’t remember which one was her favorite. So when I found out that I was going to be on a soap, I was so excited, like, ‘This is for my grandmother. This is a special thing from me to her.’ I was talking to my sister a couple of months ago and I didn’t tell her I was going to be on the show. I wanted her to give me an honest answer [when I asked what my grandmother watched] and she said, ‘I think her favorite one was DAYS OF OUR LIVES,’ and I was like, ‘Don’t say that.’ And then I told her the news and I almost cried, like, ‘How does that even happen? How does it work out like that?’ ”
Way, who began her career as a rapper, was excited to get the call to audition. “Everything’s been so crazy with Covid, and I put up a self-tape audition and I had so much fun doing it because I really just loved the scene and I felt very free,” she recalls. Plus, “It was one of my first opportunities that I got to get dressed up, so I went all out for my tape! I put on a sparkly dress, and it gave me an excuse to put on some make-up and feel cute. My friend recorded me, I sent off the tape and I went through a series of auditions after that, and the rest is Chanel [laughs].” She admits she battled some butterflies on her first day. “Oh my goodness, it was a whirlwind,” she says. “I was so nervous but so excited, and honestly, I was so happy to be out of the house! I was just like, ‘Thank you. I’m out of the house with purpose.’ Before then, it was just masking up and putting on gloves to go to the grocery store, so this was like, ‘Thank God. I get to get out of the house and do what I love to do.’ And then when I got here, it was just lightning fast. I always tell everybody I was nervous, but as soon as I got on the stage, I had no room to be nervous because it was going so fast. The nerves just had to take a backseat. It has helped me out so much with the speed of it, and just think- ing and being quick in your acting choices, so I really love it, actually.”
She’s also loving her new castmates. “Well, first of all, everybody is absolutely gorgeous here. I mean, everybody,” she says. “And I feel like everyone’s spirits match. The way I’ve experienced everybody here, they are as beautiful in how they interact with me as how they look, which is really good. Jackée [Harry, Paulina] is a legend, oh my goodness. I always tell her every day, ‘I am so blessed to come here and work with you and just be around you, learn from you.’ She is a legend and she really lives up to it. I love it. Sal [Stowers, Lani] is so beautiful. She has such a great, loving energy, so we have that element in our scenes together. And everybody else has been really great.”
As for what her new alter ego will bring to Salem, she teases, “All kinds of trouble! It depends on who you ask, but if you ask Chanel, it’s good, fun trouble.”
