Читать книгу All The Days Of My Life (so Far) - Alison Sweeney - Страница 9

How long have I known that I wanted to be an actress?

Just about forever.

I think I might have been born with a passion for performing. I’m a native of Los Angeles, and I grew up in a musical household (my mom is a concert and studio musician who filled our home with classical music every day). I took the obligatory violin lessons and studied the violin seriously for eight years before I realized that my real love was acting—and I guess my mom realized it, too.

With my mother’s support, I auditioned for and landed roles in many TV commercials. The first one was for Kodak film when I was just four years old. But if you’re thinking that my talent was immediately recognizable to the world in that first acting experience—well, not exactly. I didn’t have any lines to memorize, and frankly, the weather didn’t exactly make it a magical experience. Although the ad depicted a winter scene, it was shot under a scorching 103-degree sun in L.A. But not to let sizzling weather interfere with the winter fun, the undaunted ad agency shipped in a truckload of snow to create a Hollywood version of a snow bank. Bundled up in a little red snowsuit, I climbed aboard a sled with my on-screen dad, and on the director’s command of “Action,” we rode down the slope while photos were being snapped of us (Kodak photos, I’m sure!). It was an all-day shoot, and as one take followed the next, the temperature became ever more blistering. But the show must go on, right? The prop guys worked overtime, frantically hauling in fresh snow to reinforce the man-made “mountain” that was melting under us. It was very hot, and the snowsuit sure didn’t help! In fact, I almost passed out from heat exhaustion!

Daddy’s Little Girl

Virtuoso in training!

Despite the boiling sun, despite the snowsuit, and despite what others might call a nightmare day, I do remember this: I really had fun. I absolutely loved making that commercial. I somehow knew even then that acting would be something I’d do for the rest of my life. There wasn’t a doubt. Some people are just lucky to be born knowing what they want and having the drive to pursue it. I guess I’m one of them.

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In the next few years, I took some commercial acting classes and went on a lot of auditions. By the time I was ten years old, I had appeared in about sixty TV ads. Some were as challenging as the hours on the snow slopes under a red-hot California sun; others were a breeze. Let me tell you about a few of my more interesting experiences.

Wasn’t I cute?!

When I was about six years old, I appeared in a McDonald’s commercial. In it, four other girls and I were sitting in a McDonald’s restaurant, eating French fries and giggling. Not too demanding, right? Well, at least not until the director ordered one take after another after another—requiring us to eat one handful of French fries after the next. You can imagine what happened. I was almost sick to my stomach by the end of the shoot. Now believe me, I think McDonald’s has the best fries around. But I ate so many of them that I was feeling pretty ill that night at home. I don’t think I had another French fry for about a year after that! Can you blame me?

Then there was a memorable commercial for Chewy Chips Ahoy. I was eight years old, and it was a two-day shoot, filmed by a lake more than two hours out of L.A. My “call time” was something crazy like 5 A.M., and I remember my mom having to wake me up at 2 in the morning to make sure we got there on time. I had only one line in the commercial, but there were a lot of different scenes—one of me eating cookies at a picnic, another of me eating cookies with my on-camera mom somewhere else in the park, and so on. You get the picture. Plenty of scenes. Plenty of cookies. If I had a cookie craving at the beginning of the day, it was gone by early afternoon.

When I was asked to appear in a second Chewy Chips Ahoy commercial, I guess I had forgotten just how demanding it can be to devour cookies virtually nonstop for a day or two. We did fifty takes of that second commercial—yes, fifty—each one requiring that I take a few bites of a Chewy Chips Ahoy cookie. This time, however, the director must have had visions of stomachaches sabotaging his commercial. So, he insisted, “Instead of swallowing the cookies, as soon as I yell ‘cut’ spit them into a bucket.”

You’ve got to be kidding! At first, I resisted. But the prop guy kept warning me, “You’ll wish you had.” It didn’t take me long to realize that he was right. I probably ate only five cookies that day—and spit out 45 more! Fortunately, the bucket never appeared in the commercial itself. It was pretty disgusting.

Nabisco promotes their cookies with the phrase “Ooey gooey warm ’n chewy.” At the time, I’m not sure if I would have described it quite that way. They are delicious cookies—however, after hours of eating (and spitting out) cookies, I must have worked myself into a sugar frenzy that took a week or two to wear off!

The message, my friends, is that even a dream job like eating cookies may require biting off more than you can chew. The same goes with feasting on ice cream cones all day long. In one commercial, three little girls and I were supposed to walk through the park, licking ice cream cones. Sounds great so far. But it also happened to be a very hot day, and the director knew the ice cream wouldn’t survive a single take, much less a day’s worth of shooting. So he ordered the ice cream back into the freezer, and replaced it with “mashed potato cones,” with the mashed potatoes dyed green! Sounds delicious, doesn’t it? It wasn’t exactly a child’s crème de la crème dessert. But I made the best of it. As it turned out, we taped about forty takes, licking green mashed potatoes and pretending to enjoy every morsel. Now that’s acting!

Child Acting 101

I’m so lucky to have always had an amazing and supportive family. From the earliest days, they encouraged my interest in acting without pushing me in one direction or another. My mom was always there to drive me to auditions, but she certainly didn’t fit the stereotype of the pushy stage mom. She let me take the lead, and she always said that if I didn’t want to go on auditions anymore, all I had to do was say so. With all that driving my mom had to do, going to and from auditions across town every other day, she would have been happy for me to call it quits at any time. She certainly never let the acting get in the way of my schoolwork or my friendships (although I was never a child who had lots of friends anyway).

From the beginning, my family has not only supported my dream of acting, but they’ve also kept me grounded along the way. They’ve always made sure I’ve stayed humble—never letting my ego soar out of control, no matter how well my career might be going, and never allowing me to feel crushed by the devastating lows that are almost an inevitable part of being an actor.

Of course, I’ve seen other parents driven by motives of their own. I grew up with kids who were literally supporting their families with their acting paycheck. Pretty sad. If that’s why a kid is acting—if it’s the parents’ dream and not the child’s—it’s not going to work. In my own childhood, I loved every minute of auditioning and acting. But it can be a pretty terrible life when it’s not the life you want.

So how do I respond when parents approach me and ask, “How can I get my kid into acting?” When parents seek my advice, I tell them, “If your child really wants to give it a shot, go ahead and see if she likes it. But if she doesn’t, you’ve got to follow her lead and let her back off. If she starts to complain about not getting to see her friends or if she’s falling behind in her schoolwork, then it’s time to reevaluate.”

Bitten by the Acting Bug

It’s almost a joke, but it’s true: No matter what your age, if there’s anything else in the world besides acting that you could see yourself doing, perhaps you should consider doing it, or at least having it at the ready as a safety net. Breaking into the acting business is very difficult, and the chances of making a living at it are so slim (the city of L.A. wouldn’t have any waiters were it not for all of the out-of-work actors!). On the other hand, if acting is in your blood (like it is in mine), and you just can’t do anything else, then I encourage you to chase your dream. I completely understand when young people (and adults) tell me that acting is something they have to do.

Of course, the acting business can knock the wind out of you without any warning at all. Sometimes, you leave an audition convinced that you did a great job, only to learn that you didn’t get the part because they wanted a red-headed kid instead of a blonde, or they were looking for someone taller or shorter than you. They might have been seeking an actor with freckles, or someone without them. It’s also possible that your acting performance just didn’t impress them, and if that’s the case, brace yourself. Casting directors can be brutally honest. They might tell your agent or manager everything they didn’t like about your audition, with the hope that it will help you do better next time. Maybe so, but it can be tough to hear criticism, particularly when you’re a kid. If you’re making acting a career, however, you have to be able to hear the negative comments, and find something constructive in them.

Believe me, I’ve weathered my share of audition disappointments. Of course, I’ve also been very fortunate to land some great parts (think Sami Brady!). But during those times when I’d crash and burn at an audition, it was nice to have someone nearby to help lift my spirits. Enter my mom. She was always great, even when someone else got the part. Not long ago, she told me that when I was a kid, she’d be so disappointed for me, but all she ever said was, “Honey, they don’t know what they’re missing out on.” She’d find a way to make me feel good about myself.

I know that 98 times out of 100, even the most talented actors are rejected for roles. But if you have a passion for acting, you learn to persevere, confident that successes are on the horizon. You learn to accept the disappointments because they’re part of the business. If you beat yourself up over them, it’s harder than ever to bounce back. I’ve gotten down on myself from time to time when I really wanted a part, felt I was absolutely perfect for it—but just didn’t get it. I give myself a day or so to be truly bummed about it, but then I try to move on. There will be another audition. There will be another wonderful part. And I can hardly wait to give it my best shot next time.

Of course, particularly when I was younger, there was something else I had going for me in terms of self-preservation. As I’ve mentioned, I loved auditioning, as though it really didn’t matter whether or not I got the part. I loved meeting new people. I loved getting all dressed up. Of course, it also didn’t hurt that I’d occasionally get to leave school early for an audition. And I absolutely enjoyed spending time with my mom. There’s a lot of “waiting around” at auditions before your name is called, and although I’d usually go over my lines a few times, my mom and I used to spend much more time just chatting and playing word games to occupy ourselves. Some of my best memories are playing Hangman or other games with my mom.

What was my favorite game? My mom or I would start making up a story, and then we’d take turns jumping in and creating the next sentence of the story line. One time, however, when I was about nine years old, I was sipping on a milkshake as we played the game. Big mistake. At one point, the story got so absolutely funny that laughter got the better of me. What happened next? I accidentally spit up my milkshake all over my clothes. What a mess!

Rather than panicking, my mom and I took action. Get this: We splattered the rest of the milkshake all over my outfit, hoping it would look like it was part of the attire! It’s not as crazy as it sounds—the part was for a tomboyish little girl, so I’d worn overalls with splattered paint on them. The chocolate ice cream fit right into the look! Even so, it was a wardrobe department’s worst nightmare! Never let it be said that we didn’t know how to impress a casting director!

Even during moments like this, I rarely felt any stress associated with the auditioning experience, although some of the other kids clearly were dealing with the pressure (especially those whose moms insisted that they “don’t talk to the other kids; just practice your lines!”). I enjoyed performing for the adults I was auditioning for, making them smile and, if I was lucky, even making them laugh. Most of my memories are positive. I don’t ever remember reflecting back on the day and saying, “Well, that was another job I didn’t get!” I looked at it more like, “I had so much fun today.”

Again, I have my parents to thank for the emotionally smooth ride during much of my acting career. Few things irritated or stressed me out, even when I was juggling a heavy schedule at school along with the life of a working actress. From an early age, my mom and dad taught me that when there are challenges in front of me, I should not look at them as titanic in size and virtually insurmountable, but rather should break them down into smaller goals that can be achieved, one at a time. If you look only at the big picture, it may overwhelm you. But if you take it apart and confront it a step at a time, you can beat it, and not let it defeat you.

Life on the Stage and Screen

As valuable as commercials were in my own development as an actress, my appearances on TV shows, in motion pictures and on the stage may have been even more important learning experiences. In 1985, I got my first real acting job in a TV show. It was an episode of St. Elsewhere, titled “Santa Claus is Dead.” In the show, Santa collapses at a children’s party and is rushed to St. Elsewhere (where else?). It was a touching story, and I played a character named Chrissy, one of several children who arrive at the hospital, clamoring to find out about Santa’s well-being as the doctors work to keep him alive. It was a small part, but I did have a few lines (although nothing was more challenging than “Where’s Santa Claus?”). But, hey, I was only five years old, and it was a good stepping stone in an acting career.

I had bigger parts on other television shows, and at times the episodes dealt with very sensitive and important issues. You probably remember Webster, the TV series starring Emmanuel Lewis, Alex Karras, and Susan Clark (like me, Emmanuel started his career doing commercials, including some national spots for Burger King). In January 1985, when I was eight years old, in an episode called “The Uh-Oh Feeling,” I played a student (named Beth) in Webster’s classroom who was being molested by a substitute teacher. Webster overhears a conversation in which the teacher asks me to stay after class.

Beth tells the teacher, “I don’t like it when you touch me there.”

The teacher responds, “Just don’t tell anybody. You’ll start to like it.”

It was pretty chilling and ahead of its time. It still makes me feel a little creepy just thinking about how terrible that can be for a little kid. It was the first time that a situation comedy—or just about any other TV show, for that matter—had confronted the issue of child molestation.

The program had an enormous impact. Near the end of the episode, a teacher tells the children, “If anything makes you uncomfortable, tell the principal or another adult you trust.” After the show aired, kids in all parts of the country came forward and, for the first time, told what had happened to them. That’s the power of television. Looking back, I’m so proud that I was part of that show.

By the way, I recently ran into Steve Sunshine, the executive producer and head writer of Webster. He is a producer for a daily entertainment show, and he remembers that episode of Webster well. He told me how proud he still is of that story and the impact it had. Nineteen years later, it’s still rewarding to hear such nice things from your boss!

Along the way, I also performed in two equity-waiver plays in the Los Angeles area. I had known that I wanted to be an actress since I was a little child, and so I went on auditions for everything. My mom thought, “Why not try theater, too?”—after all, my acting classes often took on the format of performing in front of a dozen or so other child actors, which gave me a sense of what performing before a live audience was like.

At the age of six, I was cast in The Wedding Band. I played the part of the daughter in a very poor family who was building a porch onto their house. I had only a couple lines in the play; I remember one line, said in a very bratty voice, was: “My new tennis porch!” (don’t ask me why, it’s been so long I’ve forgotten the storyline!). It was a line that has taken on a life of its own in my real family; my dad and brothers still sometimes tease me—whenever they think I’m being bratty, I hear: “My new tennis porch!”

At age ten, I performed in another play, The Traveling Lady, by Horton Foote (one of America’s leading dramatists). I enjoyed doing the play so much, although there was one embarrassing incident that happened after a few months of that show’s run. At one point in the play, the actress who played my mom called my character’s name, which was my cue to come onstage. But one night, I was backstage in my dressing room not paying attention, and I missed my cue—really missed it! My onstage mom called my name again and again for about forty-five seconds, and I was nowhere to be seen. It must have been an unbearable amount of time for her to be standing there, alone on the stage, waiting for her distracted cast-mate to appear.

Finally and mercifully, I did hear her, and I raced onto the stage. We continued the scene, rather awkwardly as I recall, and then the script called for us to exit down the theater aisle and through the audience. When we reached the lobby, I got such a tongue-lashing from her (which I certainly deserved!). She leaned into my face, shook her finger at me, and said, “Don’t you ever miss a cue again! I know you were goofing off backstage. From now on, you better pay attention!”

Well, I almost started to cry. But I did get the message: Acting is serious business, and you better take your commitment to heart because everyone else in the cast is depending on you and your performance.

Despite moments like that, both of those childhood plays were so much fun and were such great experiences. Perhaps more important, they were pivotal in contributing to my growth as an actress, even at such a young age. More than ever, they convinced me that acting was something I wanted to keep doing.

I also learned that live theater is completely different than acting before the TV cameras. Even though you’re saying the same lines in a play, performance after performance, something completely different can happen every night, and it often has to do with the audience. When you go to the theater, remember that you’re part of the experience, not just a witness to it. The actors are definitely affected by you, whether you’re laughing, crying, feeling tense, or having the time of your life. It can be such an exciting experience for the actors.

Staying Centered

There are all kinds of perks that come with acting, and when you’re a kid, even the smallest ones seem pretty spectacular. When I was ten years old, I was chosen as a regular cast member of a new ABC situation comedy called Family Man. It starred Richard Libertini and Mimi Kennedy, and I played Mimi’s daughter, Rosie. (I was starstruck meeting Richard for the first time—he’s in one of my all-time favorite comedies, All of Me, with Steve Martin.) In one episode of Family Man, the script called for me to get my ears pierced. What a thrill! After all, my mom had established some age boundaries for ear piercing and most other childhood milestones, and I knew not to expect to get my ears pierced until I was twelve. So when I saw the script, was I ever excited! My mom was hesitant, of course, but she finally gave in. I got my ears pierced two years ahead of schedule (although the pain associated with the procedure certainly got my attention!). Family Man didn’t last long—it was canceled after only seven episodes—but at least I had a few pairs of earrings to show for it.

Backstage on the set of Family Man

One episode of the show was about my character getting an embarrassing haircut and being teased at school. My mom was able to talk the producers into a wash-out perm. Equally embarrassing, but not quite as long-lasting.

My mom occasionally bent on other issues, but she held her ground on many more. She was a Stage Mom in the best possible sense; she guarded me and looked after me without being intimidated by anyone, and she always spoke up if she thought a script crossed the line. Remember, my mom insisted that I have as normal a childhood as possible, and in an era when kids were being cast in horror movies like Poltergeist, she kept me away from auditions for those kinds of films.

I remember one motion picture, The Price of Life, which I appeared in at age twelve. It had a futuristic plot in which I played a rebellious girl named Alice, who had a tough attitude and made the wrong turn at every point in life. The script called for me to smoke and curse, which definitely didn’t find a warm place in my mother’s heart. In particular, she is very antismoking, and when it came to a twelve-year-old—particularly her own twelve-year-old daughter—smoking in a movie was simply out of the question.

My mom dug in her heels with the director of the movie. She was determined to reach some kind of compromise that would keep a lit cigarette out of my mouth—and she ultimately succeeded. They finally agreed that I would be allowed to hold the cigarette and pretend to smoke it. But I never really took a puff.

It was just one of several incidents where my mother intervened, speaking on my behalf, usually without me even knowing about it. She insisted that I always show up on the set prepared, take the job seriously, and know my lines. But she protected me from the tough negotiations that sometimes went on behind the scenes. She wanted me to enjoy the acting experience as much as possible without stressing out about some of the details and the fine print.

My mom also did something else that was very important: As I continued to act and was cast in better and better parts, she made sure that I stayed humble. As I mentioned earlier, Hollywood is renowned for egos soaring out of control, but my parents wouldn’t stand for it. In 1989, a year after The Price of Life, I landed a role in a new NBC situation comedy called A Brand New Life.

On location with the cast of A Brand New Life

In the show, Don Murray portrayed a millionaire father of three who marries a blue-collar waitress (played by Barbara Eden) with three children of her own (no, we weren’t the Brady Bunch, despite the obvious similarities). Don’s character raised his children in a permissive, free-spirited household, and Barbara’s family grew up in a much more conservative environment. Much of the series’ conflict grew out of the attempts to merge the families (the original name of the show was Blended Family, although that title never got out of the starting gate). I played Barbara’s daughter, and Jenny Garth (pre-Beverly Hills 90210) was cast as one of my siblings.

One day backstage on A Brand New Life, a hairdresser was brushing my hair, and when I felt she was tugging on it too hard, I raised my voice and complained to her. Bad move.

Later, the hairdresser took my mom aside, and said, “You may want to talk to your daughter and tell her to get her act together. My job is to make her look good. If she’s going to go anywhere in this business, she needs to treat everyone here with respect.”

Ouch. That really pressed my mom’s buttons, and she wasn’t happy with me at all (and understandably so).

“Look, Ali,” she told me, “you aren’t entitled to a ‘star attitude’ here. You aren’t going to be a ‘star brat’—you’re my daughter, you’re a normal kid, and you’re very lucky to be working here. So start treating people with respect, or you’re not going to be here for long.”

True story.

My mom was right. And I’ll never forget it. Let’s face it: At age twelve, it’s a rather make-believe life to be on television, have people tell you how special you are, and pamper you endlessly by tending to your hair and makeup. If you’re not careful, it really can go to your head. But I was lucky to have parents who would bring me down a notch or two if necessary, and make sure I kept things in perspective. It was an important lesson, and as I matured, I’ve never allowed myself to think I’m somehow better or different than other people just because of the type of work I do—because I know I’m not.

Nowadays, my husband, Dave, also helps me stay grounded. He’s not only a wonderful guy, but it’s such a relief to spend so much time with someone not in show business (Dave’s career is in law enforcement). He’s not starstruck. He’s not particularly impressed with what’s going on in Hollywood. Our life together really is separate from my job, and I’ve learned that it’s important for me to avoid immersing myself in show business twenty-four hours a day. As much as I love the entertainment industry, I also know it’s good for me to go home at night and enjoy time with my husband, play with the dogs, and lead a completely normal, nonshow-business life.

You Gotta Have Friends

Both before and during Days, I’ve had the opportunity to work with some wonderful people both in front of and behind the camera, and I’ve learned so much from them. In 1991, I appeared in The End of Innocence, a feature film in which Dyan Cannon not only starred, but served as director and screen-writer. It was a movie about the challenges of growing up female, and I played Dyan’s character, Stephanie, as a preteenager (the late Rebecca Schaeffer was cast as the same character at a little older age). Dyan is not only a talented actress in her own right, but she was a wonderful director to work with—never pushing me in ways that would raise my anxiety levels off the charts, but still challenging me at every turn. She’d say things like, “I know you can do this. You’re the best. That’s why I hired you, Ali.” When she’d talk to me like that, I’d think, “I can do this.” With her support, I did.

I landed a number of other roles in my pre-Days career, including guesting on TV shows like Simon & Simon, Tales from the Darkside, and I Married Dora. Tales from the Darkside was such a dark show, similar to The Twilight Zone. In the episode I was in, my character would say “goodbye” to people and then they would die. A pretty creepy script. I remember my mom talking to the schoolteacher on the set about all the special effects that would be required to fulfill the writer’s vision. One scene required me to stand in the set while the crew filled the room with smoke. My mom was really concerned about me inhaling all that smoke, as was the on-set school teacher (who was also a social worker and was responsible to help protect minors). Fortunately, this particular production company was very responsible and didn’t question the teacher’s authority. A special kind of smoke was used that isn’t damaging to the lungs, and the camera angles were changed to minimize the smoke that was required. The scene was still powerful, and the show was a success.

Since joining Days, one of my most memorable guest appearances, and one that fans often ask me about, was my appearance on Friends in 2000, in which I portrayed an award-winning, diva actress on Days of Our Lives (of all soaps!).

On the set of this successful prime time series, I could see that the cast and crew were so dedicated to creating the best possible show. Similar to Days, Friends has a confident cast and crew who had created a routine that was professional yet comfortable and easygoing. The atmosphere at Friends is different than that of a first-year sitcom that’s just getting started and trying to prove itself. On the new shows, life can be hectic and even a bit chaotic as the cast and writers try to prove their worth to the network. It can be a high-tension, high-wire act with a lot of jobs on the line. However, on Friends, there was no tension—just a great time.

On the show, my character was a bit of a bitch, but really fun to play! I had a scene with Jennifer Aniston and Matt LeBlanc. During my first day on the set, we rehearsed the entire script. It was the first time I had met Jennifer, and she asked me, “Do you work with my dad?” (Her father, John Aniston, has been on Days for many years.) I told her, “Yes, in fact, we play bitter enemies. He’s tried to kill me several times on the show!” Both of us laughed until we got back to the serious business of rehearsing.

On Friday of that week, we rehearsed the show again until the director and producers were completely happy with everything and ready to put the show on tape. The actual taping took place on Friday night.

Friends is taped before a live audience, a setting that was mostly new and enjoyable for me, but also the source of anxiety. After all, you’re not only trying to be funny, but with an audience, you know right away whether you’ve succeeded. As an actor, you definitely feel a powerful energy from the audience, and since they’re on your side, it’s an energy that can drive you to perform even better. At the same time, even though I had been on Days for many years, it was a little jarring when I realized that a live audience would be out there, watching my every move. It had been so long since I had performed in front of an audience, and I did have a brief moment of freaking out a little, thinking, “Oh, oh, I’m not prepared for this!”

I remember standing backstage with Matt LeBlanc, waiting to make our entrance, and I half-jokingly whispered to him, “My gosh, what do I do differently here? Got any advice?”

Matt was so nice. “You’ll be fine,” he said. “It’s just the same as what you’ve always done. Just wait for the laugh.”

A Days Debut

Now for some Days trivia: Do you remember what character I played before Sami on Days? At the age of six, I played a character named Adrienne Johnson Kiriakis as a child, portraying her in a flashback scene when she was abused by her father. The adult Adrienne was played by Judi Evans for about five years (she later moved on to Another World, and as is only possible on soaps, she’s now back on Days playing an entirely different character, Bonnie). When Adrienne reflected back on what had happened to her as a young girl, I played her in those childhood flashback scenes. Judi and I had scenes together just recently and I reminded her of how we’d worked together before. She had no idea that little girl was me!

Judi (Bonnie) told me when she played Paulina on Another World she was a Days fan, and that Sami was one of her favorite characters! I was so flattered—but it was definitely a “mutual admiration society” I told her that when she came back to the show, I had to remind myself that her real name was Judi—in fact, “Adrienne” (her first Days character) kept popping into my head!

My Days debut as a young Adrienne was very exciting, even though it lasted just two days. At the time, Days was being shot at the Sunset-Gower Studios in Hollywood, several miles from where we tape the show today. I auditioned for the part along with a roomful of other kids, and when I was fortunate enough to get the job, one of my older cousins became more excited about it than I was (geez, I was only six!). She was a huge fan of Days, and so as a family favor, I got members of the cast (none of whom I had heard of at the time) to sign my script for her.

When I gave my cousin the heavily autographed script, she almost died! I gotta admit, she absolutely loved it!