MY INTERVIEW WITH HOLLY GAGNIER
(EX-CASSIE CALLISON, OLTL, JENNIFER SMITH, GH)
Welcome to the Spiel, Holly!!
What was your experience at GH like?
My GH gig was FAST, way too fast!!! I got the role the night before, and the next day I was at work. There were conversations with casting, and the writers regarding the direction they wanted the character to go in. I didn't sleep a lot that night, was up learning lines and trying to do a little research on the back story.
When I did get to work the next day, Frank Valentini, who knew me from OLTL saw that I was now blond. he said "no way, we need your hair BLACK!'. So it was off to hair where they put black colored mousse in my hair to make it dark, wardrobe found me the BEST Jennifer clothing and we kind of all created this very funny, edgy, trampy character!! It really was a collaboration.
When I finally met Tony and Genie, they could not have been more lovely. We worked and practiced and they made sure I was comfortable. There really isn't a heck of a lot of time in daytime to prepare, and I had even less time than most. Everyone was incredibly supportive, I saw some old friends and I truly felt at home. That really surprised me, because having not stepped foot on a soap stage in 20 years, i was expecting it to be far more terrifying!!
When that first day was over I was so bummed. It goes by so quickly, I wanted to be able to have another stab at my scenes!!
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Thoughts on the cancellation of AMC/OLTL
Any time a show gets cancelled, and you have that many people out of a job its devastating. seeing so many shows give way to reality, and talk shows is pretty rough. Especially since some of the acting in daytime is as good as you will see. When you see the scenes between Tony and Jonathan Jackson, you will be blown away, and those were shot in ONE TAKE. Daytime is incredibly hard, and when you see people like Robin Strasser, Erika Slezak, Kim Zimmer and Susan Lucci, David Canary...the list just goes on and on, day in and day out so EXTRAORDINARY work, its sad to see it go. Sad for the fans too!
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What are you currently working on?
I currently am in a play in Los Angeles. I teach acting at a well-known acting school in-between jobs, and you always find me popping up in something. Now that my daughter is older I would LOVE to be back on a soap!!! I took time off to raise her.
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What is your challenging role to date?
I have had many challenging roles. Crazy enough the most difficult one I did was a CD rom called Wing Commander IV. It was REALLY hard because you had to live out ALL the various scenarios of the game take after take. So one take your partner is killed, one take he lives. I was the master mind of the tech portion of the ship, LOTS of memorization and it took several months to shoot.
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What is your fave thing to do when not working?
When I am not working I am always with my daughter. I also enjoy gardening and working on my house. I am a REAL DIY person!!! I also spend a significant amount of time with my siblings and their families. I am very lucky we all live in L.A..
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What advice would you give to up and coming actors?
Advice??? Oh man, if there's anything else you THINK you might like better than acting go do that instead! hahaha Actually work hard, the journey is as important as the actual work you procure.
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What actors have you never worked with, but would like to?
I would LOVE to have the opportunity to work with Eric Braeden, Kin Shriner and Justin Deas, I think Jane Elliot and I could REALLY go after each other hahaha. Tony was on that list, so I at east got one in there!
Those guys are amazeballs in the daytime world......Other than that Robert Duvall, Anthony Hopkins and Diane Keaton would be IT for me.
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What made you become an actor?
My father was a cinematographer. In fact he was Donna Mills DP on Knots Landing ( so it was great to run into her as well). I did my first commercial at 3 years old for Mattel. I was also a professional dancer, I did all of my own dancing in Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. Dance led to many roles for me which ended up with me acting and training full time.
Thanks for the interview. I would love for Jennifer to make more trouble in Port Charles, if the fans would continue to voice their support, that would be great!
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I agree!! Tweet GH, write. Do whatever you have to. Let's see Holly and Jennifer back on GH! Thanks for being here Holly!!
