Sugar and Spice - SOD

And Everything Nice? Not if ONE LIFE TO LIVE's Jessica Morris Has Anything To Say About It

Just the Facts
Birthday: May 16
Favorite Actress: Parker Posey (ex-Tess, ATWT)
Scoop of Choice: Coffee Heath Bar Crunch or plain vanilla
Social Whirl: Currently unattached. "I'm not seeing anyone special."
Nickname: "Mark Derwin [Ben] calls me Chubs. I have no idea where that came from."
UNDRESSED Alum Club: Brandon Routh (Seth) also appeared on the MTV show. "We talked about it one day. I even auditioned for the part of a girl who was in scenes with him. Didn't get it, though."

Do not be deceived, Jessica Morris may appear to be a tender, sweet, young thing, but look beyond those golden locks and adorable dimples and observe the twinkle in her eye. Despite her neophyte status as a professional actor, Morris has little of the expected shyness when it comes to talking about getting up close and personal in love scenes with co-star David Fumero's Cristian. In fact, she's done far more risqué things in the name of acting.

"This is tame," she shrugs when asked about wrestling around on-camera with Fumero. Naturally -- Morris spent a season on MTV's UNDRESSED, a show that makes daytime look like playtime. "I'm not a prude or anything. But the very first day [at UNDRESSED], I had to be in my underwear, walking aroundin heels and a thong. Later on, I had to lick whipped cream off someone's chest. So what I'm doing now ... it's a little mild." Fortunately, "mild" isn't the word that would describe the impact Jennifer has had since her arrival in Llanview (after being hidden away in Switzerland) in January. Since then, she's stolen Cristian's heart; been attacked by her uncle, Colin; become a linchpin in her father's trial; and thoroughly frustrated her overprotective mama, Lindsay. She's also dazzled her executive produced, Gary Tomlin, who gushes, "She's a lovely young girl. She's very modern in a lot of ways, but sometimes I look at her and I could see her as a lady-in-waiting that the knight is coming for."

Stay tuned for the fantasy sequences. But Morris, unlike her character, isn't the sort of girl to wait for that knight in shining armor. She grew up in Jacksonville, FL, as the middle child of construction worker Don and teacher Elaine, loving to dance but knowing there was more to her interest in the stage. "I always liked performing," she admits. "I just fell into it." In high school, she did Grease not once, but twice. "I was Sandy one year, and Patty Simcox the other year. I liked [being] Patty better because it's much more fun to be the annoying cheerleader than the perfect little blonde do-gooder."

Take that. Which she did, after a brief stint in the local community college. "I got restless," she recalls. So, she packed up, jumped in the car with older brother Wesley (she also has a younger sister, Natalie) and drove cross-country to Los Angeles. "I knew I wanted something more," she says. "I was grasping for anything at the time."

Living in Hollywood, Morris did what every young starlet does -- waited tables and auditioned. Along the way, she tried out for roles on Port Charles, As the World Turns and Dawson's Creek, then began landing small roles, including one on the Saturday-morning show City Guys. Undressed came next, as did the lead in a grade-Z horror picture, Bloody Murder (see sidebar).

And then, with California sun still fresh on her face, New York called, and Morris shifted cross-country yet again. "Everything about [the move] was hard," she shares. "But now I'm getting used to it. It feels more like home these days. Jacksonville, when I go back to visit, is so boring!"

No doubt, compared with the frenetic pace of a daytime soap. Still, Morris says that she's settled in well. "Linda Dano [Rae] has really helped me; she's made me a real effort. I'm having a great time right now -- I love working in this kind of a fast paced-environment. I'm learning so much."

Not to say she doesn't miss L.A. -- she's named her cat Cali to remind her. And already she's got maternal plans to make kitty a star. "I want to get her into show business. She's got a great personality. I could train her!"

Bur Morris's life as a cat agent may have to wait -- her front-burner story will keep her busy for some time to come. If she's lucky, perhaps there'll be some more whipped-cream scenes in the future. But no matter what's in Jennifer's -- or Jessica's -- future, there's no doubt she'll launch into it with gusto.

"When I first started, someone told me you have to act with your heart, not your head," she explains. "It might sound cheesy and very basic, but as long as you're giving your heart to what you do, you're going to be good."

Dial Morris For Murder
Okay, so every actor has at least one past role that makes her want to climb under the table. Morris chalked up her first (if you don't could UNDRESSED) in a very forgettable horror flick last year, Bloody Murder. She played the heroine, Julie McConnell, which meant that she didn't get chainsawed to death -- but that was perhaps the only indignity she was spared.

"I was the screamer," she sighs, embarrassed. "I've been told I'm a very good screamer, actually. It was my first job when I went out to L.A., just four monts after moving there. I did a lot of running and screaming, and I got hurt so many times. During one of the scenes where I had to run away from the killer, my leg got caught on this branch. I had big pieces of branch caught in my skin."

Still, it wasn't all that bad. "The cast all stayed in Big Bear [CA], and I made a lot of friends from it. I guess the whole experience was pretty cool, when you think about it."


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