SELLING POINT
When she’s not acting or appearing on the reality series SELLING SUNSET, Chrishell Hartley (Jordan, DAYS) keeps busy as a real estate agent, but she’s not always recognized for her first career. “I live in Los Angeles so my level of fame is nothing compared to the people you’d run into every day,” she says. “Like, ‘Oh, there’s Kate Beckinsale,’ or ‘Oh, there’s Renée Zellweger,’ or whatever. But you do get those people that are so excited because with soaps and SELLING SUNSET, they feel like they know you, even though on DAYS I’m playing a character. People really feel like they know us more than just watching a show. A lot of times they grew up with it. I feel for the most part I live a regular life and it’s not a big deal, but then every once in a while there’s people that are just so enthusiastic and are so lovely and sweet and they’ve seen everything. On real estate showings, it has helped me a couple of times, because I actually got a listing because [a client’s] wife was such a big fan. He didn’t know at all who I was and he was meeting with a couple of other agents. The wife was like, ‘No, I want to work with her. Give it to her.’ It was actually very sweet. It’s definitely worked in my favor before.”
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A WORLD APART
Gabrielle Carteris (ex-Andrea, BEVERLY HILLS, 90210) was thrilled to revisit her roots on the BH90210 reboot. “For me, to be able to be there with everybody, to do the work and to really do what I love, it has been a breathtaking thing,” she raves. “I don’t think that I could say in words how meaningful this whole experience was.” Carteris’s soap roots actually go way back to the mid-’80s, where she first appeared on ANOTHER WORLD, first as Janice and later as Tracy. “I went out to be an extra as a college student, and I had to read for it, and they actually said, ‘We have a role for you,’ ” she recalls. “I came in. I did the role and it became recurring. It was such a great experience. Working on a soap was great training. People don’t realize how fabulous daytime actors are and how hard they work! The discipline of soaps is one aspect that has stayed with me through my entire career.”
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PLATONICALLY CORRECT
Wilson Bethel (ex-Ryder, Y&R) has appeared in plenty of prime-time series since he was last seen in Genoa City in 2011, and his latest is the upcoming legal drama ALL RISE. “There are a lot of things that are relatable in one way or another with my character, Mark Callan,” Bethel previews. “But probably my own personal favorite is his relationship with Judge Lola Carmichael, which I think really sings on screen. I also think it’s important to see on TV, because it’s not very often that you have a prime-time network show where a man and a woman are best friends, front and center on the show, and there’s not any sexual tension and a ‘Will they or won’t they?’ push and pull. One of the things that Simone [Missick, Lola] and I are finding is that those are some of the most fun scenes to play because the relationship has as much history and depth and affection as it does. If anybody happens to have a friend of the other sex, which I know is unheard of, then you can probably relate to that.” ALL RISE premieres on September 23 on CBS.
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FAN JOY
There’s a very good reason why Jason Thompson (Billy, Y&R) was a no-show at the soap’s recent fan club event. “It was my grandmother’s 90th birthday that weekend and I was in Canada,” the actor explains. “There’s just no way I could miss a family celebration like that. She’s been a huge fan of Y&R for years; she and my grandfather used to watch it together every day. When I got on GENERAL HOSPITAL [as Patrick], they watched both shows. My grandfather was a mason and he would be working in the garage but he’d stop so they could have lunch and watch Y&R. If he ever fell asleep while the soap was on, my grandmother would give him crap for taking a nap, but he told me his joke was, ‘What, I can watch once a week and still know what’s going on.’ Since my grandmother is a huge Y&R fan, I think it was kind of fitting and serendipitous that I was with her during fan club weekend.” Despite the happy occasion in Canada, Thompson says he was disappointed about missing the event, which is held every other year. “I find them amazing and always have fun at them,” he declares. “I think soap fans are the best and I enjoy interacting with them. It’s always nice to be wanted and I’ll definitely be at the next one.”