WELCOME WAGON
When Eva La Rue joined Y&R as Celeste, she was blown away by how many familiar faces there were to be found in the halls of Genoa City. “Michelle Stafford [Phyllis], I’ve never worked with, but I’ve known her for ages,” she begins. “And then Elizabeth Hendrickson [Chloe]! Lizzie and I worked together over at ALL MY CHILDREN [where La Rue played Maria and Hendrickson played Maggie], so it was super-fun to see her and it was just awesome to catch up with her. Christian LeBlanc [Michael], I also knew going in. Joshua Morrow [Nick], I’ve known for ages. We had the same manager for a thousand years and we did a Hallmark movie together. And then over at BOLD AND BEAUTIFUL [which shares the same studio as Y&R], of course, I know Don Diamont [Bill]; he is married to one of my best friends, Cindy Ambuehl [ex-Amy]. And Thorsten [Kaye, Ridge; ex-Zach, AMC] was an old love interest of mine from ALL MY CHILDREN. I’m hoping to run into a bunch of those guys. It’s like old home week! It’s awesome.”
BARE ESSENCE
AMBITIONS’s Essence Atkins (Amara) is thrilled to be doing her first TV series for OWN. “I think we are all in agreement that working under the leadership of Oprah Winfrey is an honor,” the actress smiles. “It carries a gravitas in terms of the brand. I’ve been a series regular on many shows and every network is different. What I really appreciate is feeling supported. Just because you have a show on the air, that doesn’t mean that the network is behind you or that they believe in you and that they’re going to do everything they can to set you up for success. All we have control over is the artist part of it; doing our best, making sure we’re prepared and executing the stories. The rest is out of our hands, so it’s a partnership. These days, you really need network support that says, ‘We’re going to put the marketing dollars behind this to have the awareness.’ Because with all these multiple platforms pulling for your time, it’s hard for the audience to know where to look. You can get lost in the shuffle. We’re excited about being on a network that’s going to go deep for us. I’ve never gotten to 100 episodes, even though I’ve done many shows, so I’m like, ‘Please, Jesus, let there be a syndication!’ ”
ENEMY TERRITORY
While GH’s Valentin is girding for battle with Jax, his portrayer, James Patrick Stuart, thinks that his most formidable opponent is actually Spencer, played by Nicolas Bechtel. “Valentin, he’s emotionally at the level of a teenager at any given moment,” the actor chuckles. “I think Spencer actually represents a legitimate adversary to him, and I don’t believe he actually emotionally feels Spencer is below him. I do also believe that Valentin has regret over what went down with Nikolas, so the fact that Spencer and Nikolas have a connection, I think probably works in Spencer’s advantage because I think Valentin is always wrestling with trying to somehow make it a little easier to live in Port Charles along with Laura and her family and the descendants of Nikolas. I think he’s always wrestling with how far he can go in putting Spencer in his place.” According to Stuart, the strained Valentin/Spencer dynamic keeps rolling once the cameras have stopped. “Our whole relationship off-screen is exactly what it’s like on-screen,” he declares. “The moment he turns the corner, he’s talking tough to me. He’s constantly poking me in the ribs. It’s fun ’cause it works!”
FIT AND FABULOUS
When she’s not at DAYS, Sal Stowers (Lani) is likely working out. “Fitness has been something that I’ve loved forever,” she says. “I was very athletic in high school and I’m just a very athletic person in general. I work out all the time.” Stowers turned her hobby into a new profession and got certified as a personal trainer. “I wanted to do something on the side that I loved and that I could turn into something,” she explains. “At my gym, the trainers there were like, ‘You would be really good at this. You could totally incorporate this with your acting.’ So I started studying for it and I took a course at Equinox. I took my exam and got certified. There’s more certifications that I want to do because I definitely want to be able to help people with nutrition, so I’ll be doing that, as well. And then just keep adding on the certifications. Like acting, you never stop learning. And it’s the same way with fitness. There’s so much to learn. Everybody’s body type is different, so when you do train people or help give nutrition advice, you want to be able to specifically cater to them. I just want to have all of that knowledge to be able to do that. I want to turn it into something really cool and be able to inspire and help people outside of my acting.”