Jamie Dudney Q & A on SOD Online
No Stranger to the Spotlight: Days' Jaime Dudney (Chloe)
by Meg McCaffrey
DIGEST ONLINE: Who was particularly helpful to you on the set?
DUDNEY: The Days cue card guy Ted Hanick. He's one of my best friends in
Los Angeles. Also, Bryan Dattilo [Lucas] is one of my really good pals,
too. He kept me entertained all day long. When I first moved out to Los
Angeles, I became wonderful friends with Christie Clark [Carrie]. I met
Bryan and Carrie both through mutual friends.
DIGEST ONLINE: Have you ever watched any soaps?
DUDNEY: I love [Days]. I wanted to appear on it. I was a fan of it
before I moved to Los Angeles. My ex-boyfriend Drew's grandmother got me
watching it while I was in high school... Here's a funny story. [Drew]
was a wonderful basketball player at Vanderbilt Univesity. I went to
Belmont University. Anyway, he was in love with two women besides me at
the time -- [singer] Shania Twain and Christie Clark. I had become
friends with Thyme Lewis [ex-Jonah, Days after meeting him a celebrity
fundraiser]. Drew found out that I knew Thyme, so I got an autograph
picture of Christie for Drew. As I was leaving Nashville for L.A.,
[Drew] was like, 'Go become friends with Carrie Brady!' And I just so
happened to do that! You never think that you'll become friends with
someone on your soap. Drew's now getting married, and I wish him all the
best.
DIGEST ONLINE: When you first glanced at the show, what storylines
hooked you in?
DUDNEY: Austin and Billie had just found out that Kate was their mother.
And Marlena was possessed by the devil. [Laughs] It's an addictive show.
DIGEST ONLINE: What was your impression of working on a daytime soap?
DUDNEY: Wonderful. [The cast and crew] are like your family because you
get to see them almost everyday. Christie has been on the show for a
long time. She loves it -- that's her family.
DIGEST ONLINE: Did your mom give you any advice about soap acting or the
business in general?
DUDNEY: No, not really. She was just happy for me. We kind of separate
our careers. She might say to me motherly things, 'Oh, Jaime, your hair
looks wonderful or your hair looks like poo poo.' But when it comes to
[acting], she lets me do what I know to do.
DIGEST ONLINE: Have you ever performed with your mom?
DUDNEY: I was on her TV show Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters
in 1980-81. I played my Aunt Arlene when she was a little girl [in a
skit.]
DIGEST ONLINE: When you told your parents that you wanted to become an
actor, how did they react?
DUDNEY: I'm with Creative Artists Agency, and the head of the agency was
at our house in Nashville [for a visit]. Meanwhile, I had mentioned to
my mom and dad that I wanted to move to Los Angeles to become an
actress. But we really didn't talk about it. Anyway, we were all sitting
around the breakfast table with the [CAA head] and my agents, and mom
turned to the agents and said, 'Jaime's going to be moving to Los
Angeles in July.' And I'm like, 'I am?' She said, 'Yeah, you are.'
DIGEST ONLINE: Performing runs in your family. But when was it that you
caught the acting bug?
DUDNEY: My senior year in high school I auditioned for this CBS pilot
that was being produced by Brandon Tartikoff, the former head of NBC who
recently passed away. I didn't know what a reading was, what a pilot was
or who Brandon was. But I auditioned and got the part. That was God's
way of showing me what I was supposed to do. He just gave an extra
start. After that, I thought this is fun, but soon I also realized that
this is a lot of work, too. I moved to L.A. a year-and-a-half later.
From Soap Opera Digest Online
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