Had you played bad girls or villains before you started working in soaps? “Oh, yeah. One of the first shows I ever did was a guest star on GREY’S ANATOMY and I played one of the bitchy cheerleaders. I had just turned 17 when I shot that and [in the story] the head cheerleader ended up in the hospital after a bus accident. My character was the co-captain and became the captain. I visit her in the hospital and she’s all bandaged up and I said, ‘Ryan said that he still wants to take you to prom even though your face is all messed up.’ It was my first big speaking thing and I loved it.”
When Sally was introduced on B&B, we sort of assumed she would be a troublemaker just because of her namesake. “Yeah, she was definitely a rebel but with a good heart, like her aunt Sally. It was such a big dream for her to resurrect Spectra Fashions and she was willing to do whatever it took to make that happen.”
Why do you think it was so hard for her to stay on the high road for that quest? “She was easily influenced by her grandmother. When she stole Thomas’s designs, it was actually her grams’s idea to do that and Sally trusted her enough to go along with it, but she was the one that actually got the flak for it. She was like, ‘Okay, Grams, we’re gonna do this in the name of Spectra,’ and then Sally’s the one who loses the guy.”
Sally’s behavior, particularly on B&B, ventured into bad girl territory, but did you ever see her as a villain? “No, Sally’s actually never been a villain. She does things with pure intentions, but they just always went terribly wrong.”
But you have to agree Sally went too far by faking a terminal illness and chaining Flo to a radiator in an effort to get Wyatt back. “Yes, it was absolutely extreme but I thought that really humanized her. It showed everyone how much Sally just really yearns for stability but can never keep it. I thought it really spoke to the true wounds of Sally of finally getting someone with security like Wyatt and getting blindsided when it was taken away. She then went to such desperate lengths to stop Wyatt from going away.”
How would you describe Sally to someone who hasn’t seen her in action? “I would say that Sally’s very rebellious and doesn’t follow the rules. I wouldn’t even necessarily say ‘rule breaker’, but she’s a ‘rule challenger’. She definitely goes against the grain and walks to the beat of her own drum.”
When Sally moved to Genoa City she did a lot of conniving to send Summer away to Milan in order to get Summer’s job as president of JVC. “Yes, but to an even better job at Marchetti. In fact, Summer should have thanked Sally but never has.”
What do you consider some of Sally’s redeeming qualities? “She’s got a conscience and she’s a really kind person. She’s had moments of getting in these catfights but quite frankly, I always feel like it comes from a place of defensiveness. She feels the need to stand up if she’s being attacked and she’s super-tenacious. I think her most redeeming quality, which is what separates her from being a true villain, is she has a very authentic heart and she cares so much.”
Do you ever feel badly when you have to spew not-so-nice dialogue to a scene partner? “Oh, for sure. In my personal life, I don’t do well with confrontation. I like to talk things out so they don’t escalate. I remember there was one scene with Katrina [Bowden, ex-Flo, B&B] in Wyatt’s office and I came at her. After the scene was done, I was shaking, because I just don’t do well attacking people like that. I was like, ‘Can I give you a hug?’ Thankfully, Hunter [King, ex-Summer] is the same way. We would have these scenes where we were at each other’s throats and then they’d yell, ‘Cut!’ and we would just laugh and give each other a hug. But one of the things I do like about Sally is she’s never below the belt. She always speaks her mind, but she’s had moments of impulsiveness with the cake fight or the water stuff.”
Is there anyone in Genoa City who you think would be a bad influence on Sally? “Sally hasn’t had many scenes with Billy but there’s something about the way Jason Thompson plays Billy that I think could be really fascinating for Sally because he’s in a lot of ways similar to how Adam is, but I think Billy’s a bit more obvious. There’s something about him that I think could bring out some of Sally’s older tendencies.”
Sally has really been behaving herself lately. Would you say she’s now officially a good girl? “No, not really. She’s kind of gotten a little mainstream but I don’t think that’s really who she is. I would really like to see her spiciness come back.”
