When you first announced that you were going to join ATWT there was a lot of surprise among fans, who only thought of you as Dixie and didn't know quite what to make of the news that you were going to be playing someone new. What went into making the decision to go from being a perky girl from Pigeon Hollow to ...
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A bitch? (laughs) Well, 9/11 had just occurred and after that I decided that I wanted to quit my job, dye my hair, dump my boyfriend, and move. Because if I wasn't happy then everything had to change. And so, I signed up to go to NYU, I moved to a studio apartment, dyed my hair red, broke up with my boyfriend, and then [As the World Turns executive producer] Chris Goutman called. He said, "Hey, I've got this really interesting role. What do you think?" I was tempted by the idea of creating a character that was the absolute opposite of Dixie, and proving to the daytime audience that I could actually do other work than that role that everybody knew me for. I had done a lot of plays, and a lot of indie films, and some TV work, but I had really gotten stuck in that niche, you know. Which is a fantastic opportunity for any actor to feel that you have some sort of long-term employment, but ha ha ha. (Using a dramatic voice) But thusly it turned out, "No, you don't!" But I think that was the impetus behind it. It was certainly not to betray the long-term viewers of All My Children. But for me as an artist, I wanted to show another side of myself, something I could do. And I needed to do that and I needed to prove it to myself. I also knew that I would never win [another] Emmy playing Dixie simply because of the way that it was being written for me. I was sort of worn out by how much of a victim she had become on the show. She was just hanging off of cliffs, hanging off of buildings, Tad was rescuing me... You get a little tired of that. Even when I went back in '06, I really wanted them to create a strong female character for what is essentially a strong female audience. Even though it was agreed to in words and deed, all the characters are still victims on that show. As the World Turns actually has the strong women that are proactive and take action to change their future. Yes, they need men and love men and all of that, but they are not lightweights and not bitches for the sake of being bitches, which I also think All My Children has a lot of.
You were right, in a way. You felt you wouldn't win another Emmy for your work as Dixie -- and then picked up an Emmy for your work on As the World Turns.When I won my Emmy on All My Children, it was as a kid. I was like 21 at the time. I knew that once I became an adult woman that that wasn't going to work. That character wasn't going to achieve enough of an adult sensibility. It was just an instinct that I had. They were going to try to keep her in that same type of role. So World Turns was a great opportunity for me in that regard, and I love playing Rosanna. It was really hard work, much harder in a way because our schedule [on As the World Turns] is really intense. We start really early in the morning and the pace is really fast. It was really hard, but I am really glad I did it.I think the thing about the fans feeling like, "Oh no, no. You have to stay on this show and be this character because we've committed to that," I can completely understand that and I totally respect that. Their commitment is essential to the long-term prosperity of these shows. I also think that there have even been actors who have walked away from daytime all together and pooh-pooh it and said I am going on to nighttime, films, and blah blah... I've never done that. I've always said that daytime is a great place to work if you want to work with just a very specific medium. You can do whatever you want to here. I have loyalty to daytime television. It's been good to me and I've tried to be good to it in return.
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