Y&R’s Vivica A. Fox Reveals She Beat Out Nia Long For Breakout Role on Generations (Exclusive)
Vivica A. Fox has just returned to The Young and the Restless as Stephanie Simmons, the role she first played from 1994-95. Before her arrival in Genoa City, she had a bit part as a nurse on Days of Our Lives and a longer, breakout stint on Generations as romantic heroine Maya Reubens. Looking back on her early daytime career with Soap Opera Digest, Fox revealed that none other than Nia Long was one of the other finalists for the role of Maya.
Star Search
Generations, which ran on NBC from 1989-91, was a groundbreaking series, the first U.S. daytime soap to premiere with a core Black family (the Marshalls). When the show was searching for a love interest for Adam Marshall, played by the late Kristoff St. John, Fox was called in to audition for Maya. “I don’t recall auditioning with Kristoff,” she says, “but I do know that we did [screen] tests and I remember that I was there with like, three or four other girls. And one of them was Nia Long, believe it or not!”
Like Fox, Long was just starting her long and impressive career as an actor, with only two TV credits — an episode of 227 and a Disney Sunday Movie — on her resume. Fox chuckles, “I remember Nia saying to me, ‘You’re probably gonna get the part because [St. John] is tall!’ Kristoff was a 6-footer and we looked great together.”
Fox, of course, did land the part, making her debut late in 1989. “I think Generations was definitely before its time,” she muse. “But we had a great run. I mean, I worked with some incredible actors, from Kristoff to Richard Roundtree [who played her on-screen father, Daniel Reubens] to Jonelle Allen [ex-Doreen Jackson],” with whom she shared one of daytime’s all-time most memorable catfight scenes. “That scene was one of a kind, okay? To this day, that catfight scene is classic!”
Needless to say, Fox has fond memories of her time on the show and the training she received there. “I loved Generations and learned a lot there,” she says. “And it’s definitely been the springboard that then prepared me for The Young and the Restless, which then opened the doors to the destiny of my career.”
As for Long, she wound up nabbing another plum soap role, Kat Speakes on Guiding Light, in 1991, which she played until 1994 — and she and Fox later teamed up to co-star in the beloved 1997 family drama Soul Food as both actresses made the successful leap from daytime to the silver screen.
Conversation
All comments are subject to our Community Guidelines. Soap Opera Digest does not endorse the opinions and views shared by our readers in our comment sections. Our comments section is a place where readers can engage in healthy, productive, lively, and respectful discussions. Offensive language, hate speech, personal attacks, and/or defamatory statements are not permitted. Advertising or spam is also prohibited.