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- 50 Ways to Get a Date for New Year's Eve (iVillage.com)
- Skin and Ink (CBS Soaps In Depth - October 12, 1999)
- The Mod Quad (Soap Opera Digest - August 10, 1999)
- Blonde Ambition (Soap Opera Digest - August 3, 1999)
- Soap Opera Digest On-Line Chat with Terri Conn & Jaime Dudney (July 1999)
- Sunset Beach Without the Tan (Soap Opera Weekly - July 6, 1999)
- Car and Driver (CBS Soaps in Depth - May 25, 1999)
- Take Five (Soap Opera Digest - May 18, 1999)
- A Year Abroad (CBS Soaps In Depth - May 11, 1999)
- Charmed (Soap Opera Weekly - April 27, 1999)
- Growing by Leaps & Bounds (CBS Soaps in Depth - April 6, 1999)
- Hairy Situation (Soap Opera Digest - March 23, 1999)
- Conn Artist (Soap Opera Digest - February 9, 1999)
50 Ways To Get A Date On New Years Eve (iVillage.com) Looking for love this season? With great advice from top experts, celebrities and happy iVillagers all over America, there's no need for single girls to rely on mistletoe alone! Here's to making this year your best yet -- with or without Mr. Right.
#28 Celebrate your friends: "Have a party for all of your girlfriends -- no boys allowed. And no makeup or dresses, either. Serve great wine and food, and ask each person to bring her favorite CD or movie rental. This is an ideal time to revel in the beautiful relationships that you share with your girlfriends, especially any you may have neglected recently." - Terri Conn, Katie Peretti on As the World Turns
Skin and Ink (CBS Soaps in Depth - October 12, 1999) Just like her alter ego, Terri Conn proves that good girls can have an edgy side. Case in point: the actress sports a tattoo of a flower. "I wanted one so bad," she says. "I knew I would hate it later in life, so I got one where you couldn't really see it," quips Conn of her tattoo. "I was going to get one on the bottom of my heel, so that when I walk you could see it." But after deciding that it might hurt, she opted to mark the spot on the top of her foot. "I was 18 when I got it," says the actress, who admits that it's faded only after a few years. In retrospect, Conn is glad that she didn't go for a more obtrusive design. "When I did it, I was with one of my girlfriends," she continues. "She got Mickey Mouse on her thigh. She hates it now." Still, Conn won't say she isn't tempted to go further. "You know how everyone says that they're addictive? Well, after I got one, I wanted to get another one. Like on my back. I'm so glad I didn't though. Now I wouldn't want it."
Caption: "I knew I would hate it later in life, so I got one where you couldn't really see it," quips Conn of her tattoo.
The Mod Quad (Soap Opera Digest - August 10, 1999) ATWT's Generation Next adds a new dimension to Oakdale.
They may be characters on a soap opera, but Katie, Georgia, Chris and Eddie, the fresh faces on As the World Turns, are still fairly innocent to the ways of the world. That presents a unique challenge for the four young adults playing them. Terri Conn (Katie), Jaime Dudney (Georgia), Ben Jorgensen (Chris) and Nathaniel Marston (Eddie) sat down with Soap Opera Digest to discuss social issues, "the condom thing," and the struggle to act their (characters') age.
Digest: Do you hang out together at the studio?
Jorgensen: Hang out? We're too busy working ....
Marston (laughing): Working and preparing -- that's all we do.
Dudney: Terri and I hang out a lot off set.
Conn: But we ditch these losers.
Marston: They live near one another and they're from out of town. I've lived here, so I have a large base of people to hang out with.
Jorgensen: And I'm despicable, right?
Marston: No, Ben is the coolest. My grandma loves Ben. She told me that Ben was a really good guy.
Conn: And to watch out for him.
Marston: Yeah, she said, "Watch out for him." And at first I was like, "What do you mean? He's a sweet guy." And she's like, "No, watch out for him." Little does she know him.
Jorgensen: I'm just a deer in the headlights.
Marston: I just want that on the record because my grandma's an amazing judge of character.
Jorgensen: And she told you to protect me.
Marston: He's more vulnerable than he gives off.
Jorgensen: Aww.
Digest: How would you describe each other?
Jorgensen: I'll do word associations. Nathaniel: Trivial Pursuit.
Conn: That's a good one. This is hard.
Marston: Well, we could be really mean.
Jorgensen: Jamie's a Southern belle, which is a huge compliment.
Marston: Southern or belle?
Jorgensen: Southern.
Marston: Belle is just a throwaway comment?
Jorgensen: No, belle is because she's also very pretty.
Marston: Your lips are getting browner as we speak.
Jorgensen: It's the Chris Hughes in me.
Marston: Ben is extremely diplomatic.
Jorgensen: Terri is "friendly anger." [Conn laughs] Because you know she's just ready to explode.
Conn: That's why I always get cast as the bitch.
Dudney: She vents to me. She's like my best friend in New York. I mean, thank God for Terri. We're a lot alike.
Conn: We are.
Dudney: Nathaniel's a walking encyclopedia, and he's very protective of the people that he loves and cares about. And Ben, he just entertains me. Talk about smart.
Marston: Ben is the philosopher. He can pontificate on anything. I mean, I know about things, but Ben can argue each side of something.
Conn: He totally does that.
Dudney: I think Ben is extremely sensitive and has a really good heart.
Digest: Who's the most like their character?
Marston: I don't think that any of us are.
Dudney: I think I'm a little like Georgia. We're [referring to Marston and herself] way more like our characters than they are.
Digest: Were you surprised that Katie turned into a such a bad girl?
Conn: I was surprised, but once I thought about it ....
Dudney: I was happy.
Conn: I was, too.
Dudney: But people are nice to me. They're like, "Oh, we love Georgia." I think, "Poor Terri. Everyone hates Katie."
Conn: It was the condom thing [when Katie pretended to sleep with Eddie by planting a condom wrapper.] People freaked out about that.
Marston: Oh, people hated that. They'd come up to me on the street and be like, "I can't believe she did that!"
Conn: I was on a plane and this woman came up and goes, "I just had to ask - are you the condom girl?" It's amazing how one little deed like that changes a character. But I'm glad; it's fun.
Digest: Where would you like to see your storyline go?
Dudney: I'd like to see Katie and Georgia have a better friendship. And I want Georgia to throw a huge party at Lucinda's. But I read the script for next week, and [to Conn and Jorgensen] you break into Lucinda's house and throw a party.
Conn: We go skinny-dipping.
Jorgensen: And the script says you "smile appreciatively."
Dudney: Oh, is that what it is?
Conn (laughing): It's his idea.
Digest: You're such troublemakers.
Marston: How come no one on soap operas ever has a heroin problem?
Dudney: Billie did on Days of Our Lives!
Marston: Did he really?
Dudney: She.
Marston: Well, cheers to that. Why isn't there a crackhead or prostitute?
Digest: Well, there are prostitutes, and Paul Anthony Stewart played a crack addict [Casey] on Loving.
Marston: Are you serious? Someone played a crackhead on daytime?
Digest: Well, recovered.
Jorgensen: We'd like to see storylines that are more socially conscious.
Marston: Exactly.
Conn: I think if the story's interesting and it happens to have a social message, why not? Instead of "I like him, she likes her ..." [laughs] well, not that.
Marston (laughing): "She likes her" is a very advanced storyline. That's what I think should happen. We should be left out in the cold because they decide we're just a couple of jerks.
Conn: We've already discussed that.
Dudney (laughing): Don't you think we'd much rather kiss each other than kiss you guys?
Digest: Is it hard playing characters who are younger than you are?
Jorgensen: I think it's kind of fun, actually. I forget when I was 18, I thought I knew it all. I think we forget how smart kids are.
Marston: Or how smart they think they are.
Jorgensen: But when I observer 18- or 19-year-olds, they have fake wisdom, because they don't know any better.
Marston: That's what naivete is -- it's thinking that you know, and really not knowing.
Conn: But pretty good at faking it.
Marston: I knew far more when I was 18 then now. I knew it all.
Jorgensen: So along those lines, I have to remind myself, "You're not stupid ..."
Marston (laughing): No?
Conn: ... Just because you're playing younger. You're [playing] 21, right?
Jorgensen: No, 18.
Marston: I just had my 21st birthday, so I can drink. I can manage a bar.
Digest: I thought it was your 22nd because you could drink before.
Jorgensen: Yeah, it was.
Marston: But there were times with Margo where we wanted to crack a beer and they were like, "I don't know." Whereas now, I can have beverage.
Dudney: But you can't have sex!
Marston: There will be no sex.
Jorgensen: I know I'm 18 because Bob just said, "You're 18! Isn't it about time you knew better?"
Dudney: I'm 18.
Conn: I think I am, too.
Marston: So basically, I'm a cradle-robbing bastard.
Conn: Your cradle was robbed by Margo.
Marston: And now I'm robbing it back.
Digest: Your dialogue is pretty youthful, too. You're always referring to Leonardo DiCaprio.
Marston: I don't do it. We use Brando or DeNiro.
Conn: And Marilyn Monroe instead of Gwyneth Paltrow.
Marston: Any one of my heroes we put in place of any of the teenybopper flavors of the month.
Jorgensen: But Jaime said it. Actually, I changed the line. I said, "Leonardo would never be me." That was me -- I ad-libbed that.
Marston: Well, that was beautiful.
Jorgensen: It was originally, "I want to be like Leonardo."
Marston: Do you?
Jorgensen (laughing): No!
Marston: I know you do.
Jorgensen: He's got my career. It's over for me.
Conn: We change it sometimes. They say, "If this isn't how you... 18-year olds talk ..."
Digest: "You kids."
Conn: Yeah, they call us kids.
Dudney: I love that, though. I will chase it forever. I think anything under 25 ... once you're 35, you're definitely an adult.
Blonde Ambition (Soap Opera Digest - August 3, 1999) One hundred guests joined As the World Turns' foremost diva, Eileen Fulton (Lisa) for a cocktail party in her New York City apartment to celebrate the release of her book, Soap Opera. Terri Conn made the scene with her (ex) steady. "As Steve and I left the party, we walked through [Fulton's] foyer, and it's lined with all these amazing photos from her life in the theater and on the film," Conn said. "I said, 'My new goal is to have a wall like this when I'm her age.' She's an amazing woman."
Soap Opera Digest On-Line Chat with Terri Conn & Jaime Dudney (July 1999)
SODhost: Welcome! Our special guests today are Terri Conn (Katie) and Jaime Dudney (Georgia). Jaime Dudney has arrived! 
Sierra_122 asks: Hi Jaime.
Jaime Dudney: Hi gang - sorry I was late! I'm computer illiterate, unlike you guys, and left my Internet on, and therefore didn't receive any phone calls for the last three hours! I just got my computer yesterday, so I guess I need to wake up to the wonderful world of 1999! :-)
ugetdown asks: Jaime -- how soon is Eddie going to find out who his dad is?
Dudney: I would say he is going to find out within the next few weeks, because Georgia gave Alec 30 days, and two weeks have gone by, so there are two left, and if he doesn't tell him, then I am going to. So I would say within the next two weeks, we are going to film it.
SODhost: Well folks... Terri is here. Please welcome Terri Conn!
Terri Conn: I'm sorry that I'm late but I am just finalizing a new apartment in Manhattan, which is not an easy thing to do -- and that's why I'm late!!! :-)
gradgirl2000 asks: To both: Who's the better kisser, Eddie or Chris?
Dudney: It's so hard to say. It depends on whoever ate bad food that day! Stinky food! :-)
Conn: I don't have an answer for that one!
mahal94 asks: Are you guys both close on and off the set? And who do you both want to work with more often and why?
Conn: Yes we're close on and off the set. The closest, for me.
Dudney: Yeah, me too. The person I would most want to work with, for me, is Lucinda.
Conn: Me too, but it's more feasible for her, because it's in her storyline. So I would like to work with Ellen (Dolan, Margo) more, because she pushes me. She's a great actress.
mamarose_10 asks: Jaime, many of us have been in the position of wishing a boy who is a friend would be a boyfriend. You played the part so well, have you ever been in that position in real life. And any hopes that mom might make a guest appearance on ATWT . Wouldn't that be fun!
Dudney: Most of my boyfriends were my best friends before they were boyfriends. And the chances of mom coming on ATWT are about 2%, but it would be fun! :-)
shonnaq asks: Terri Conn do you think that Katie is over Eddie and is ready to start a new relationship?
Conn: God, I hope so! I think that it was kind of like an infatuation thing for a while, and now that she's over that initial shock of being rejected, she'll be ready for more. Not more rejection, of course!
xenalk asks: Jaime I love your hair styles on the show. Do you have any input into them?
Dudney: Actually we do have input. We just got a new hair consultant. So I'm going more strawberry blond, and I'm going to have it trimmed.
polariscat21 asks: katie are you going to a cat fight with georgia?
Conn: I don't know! I would love to, though!
Dudney: We love having fights together!
Conn: It would be so fun to choreograph and we would love it, but we'd probably start laughing though!
Dudney: We always hug after we fight!
joedeelen asks: Terri and Jaime, were you surprised when TPTB made a switch and Katie became bad and Georgia became perfect?
Conn and Dudney: Yes! Very!
Dudney: I thought I was definitely going to be the bad girl.
Conn: And I'm glad I became the bad girl because I was gettin' bored!
ugetdown asks: Have you read Lisa's (Eileen Fulton's) book yet?
Conn: No, I can't wait too though!
Dudney: Me too, but not yet! We do a lot of reading on subways, and that's probably my next book. :-)
Conn: Eileen told me that if she was casting that as a movie, she would cast me as Amanda. And I don't know what that means because I haven't read it! But I can't wait to find out.
randitaj asks: Have you ever watched ATWT before you landed your roles?
Conn and Dudney: No.
Dudney: Terri was a Y&R fan, and I was a DAYS fan. But now we just love ATWT !
Conn: I actually found out I was going to be on it a few months before I started, so I started watching it then, so I would know what was going on!
shonnaq asks: Georgia how do you feel about the newcomers from Another World ?
Conn: I think it's great. I know I would be upset if my favorite people to watch were no longer on TV. So for those fans who get to see them a little bit more, I think it's nice.
Dudney: I got to work with Stephen Schnetzer, who plays Cass, and I thought he was absolutely wonderful, especially because he's a veteran actor as well, and every time you get to work with someone established, it's fabulous.
circus_elephant asks: What's it like being on ATWT ? Do you like the crew?
Dudney: The crew is great! I talk to the crew more than I talk to anyone else on the set. They definitely keep us entertained!
Conn: Definitely! :-)
BaPW asks: Will Katie try to get Tom and Margo back together?
Conn: Well, I think she has come to the understanding that she can't really make anything happen between those two. But she would love to see them back together, and I'm sure she'll encourage Margo, if that's the decision she wants to make.
randitaj asks: Terri, would you like to see Katie's mom return to the show? any word that Anne Sward might come back and reprise her role as Lyla Peretti?
Conn: I would love for her to come back, and actually, there has been a little bit of talk about it. She came to visit the set a couple months ago and said she would love to come back for a little run. So I hope that happens! I think it would put a lot of perspective on where Katie came from, and on Casey's death.
luvbabsnhal asks: Is Craig Lawlor, the guy who plays Adam, single?
Conn: I think he is! I'm pretty sure he is!
mamarose_10 asks: Terri, did you find it hard to join a cast where you play the sister of such an established family with such a long history? Was it hard to get up to speed?
Conn: Very hard, but my mom bought me the ATWT 40th anniversary book, so I've been studying up! :-) The difficult part is that since Katie left at the age of 3, no one has heard anything about her, or Lyla. So it's hard to fill in those gaps without knowing what the audience knows, or doesn't know.
shonnaq asks: Katie how do you fell about Georgia and Eddie being a couple as the character on the show?
Conn: As the character, I think Katie's ego is hurt! I don't really think that she was in love with Eddie; I think she thought she was, and to lose him to someone else is a blow to the ego. But Chris helped her get over that by having fun times and realizing that he's not all that, for her. As Terri, I think they're adorable together and they have so much chemistry, and I'm glad.
randitaj asks: Terri, do you miss the West Coast or do you like NY better?
Conn: I missed it a lot at first because my two very best friends are there, but I'm really getting into NY now. I love the energy, and there are so many fun, amazing things to do here. :-)
sha_lyn68 asks: Terri, how do you like how Katie has changed?
Conn: I think she's a little more exciting now, although the switch in my mind did happen a little quickly, and there wasn't much justification for it. So I hope that through the next couple months, and under Chris Goutman, he'll help to redefine Katie and why she is why she is.
lil_kim1999 asks: Terri, do you think Chris is the man for you?
Conn: Right now he's just helping Katie have fun and be more light about situations that involve love. I think she needs to chill out in that area right now, and he's the perfect person to teach her how to do that!
club_guy_99 asks: Terri, there's a Humphrey Bogart retrospective here in LA. Would you like to see Casablanca with me?
Conn: I don't live in L.A., but thank you -- it's my favorite movie! :-)
randitaj asks: Terri, you have a beautiful apartment, from the pics I saw in Soap Opera Digest. Why move? Did you ever think of interior decorating as a side?
Conn: Wow, thank you! I love decorating, it's one of my favorite pastimes, but I needed a cheaper place, because as you have seen, I'm not working as much, so I'm not making as much money! ;-)
randitaj asks: What is it like working with Ellen Dolan (Margo)? Is she as fun as she seems?
Conn: So much fun. She's hilarious, and I don't understand how she can make such great jokes, and two minutes later be bawling in a scene!
lazy_daisy_13 asks: Terri, when did you finally know that you wanted to act?
Conn: I finally made the decision and commitment in the beginning of '97. That's when I made the move to L.A.
circus_elephant asks: Georgia and Katie what has it been like with working together?
Dudney: I am so glad Terri is on the show, thank you God! LOL! It's really good having someone who is your age and who moved from L.A. to be on the show before you.
Conn: We're very compatible and we're both learning a lot, so it's good to talk to someone who's at the same level, so we can grow together and talk about what we're learning, what we're experiencing.
Kellibean1970 asks: Jaime: What was the hardest thing to get used to in NYC?
Dudney: Not having a car!
Conn: Yes!
Dudney: And my cat can't run outside and play. :(
KRISmhrn asks: Hi Jaime and Terri. Who in your opinion has the hardest job at ATWT? Would it be a certain actor, the writers, the crew?
Dudney: The crew.
Conn: Yeah, the crew. They are there every day from the beginning of the day to the end of the day, working. We at least get breaks.
mahal94 asks: Jaime, why did you decide to change your name? Is there a particular reason?
Dudney: Actually, there is. Eventually, someday, I'm going to get married, and chances are instead of being Jaime Nicole Dudney Whoever, chances are when I take his name, I will be Jaime Dudney Whoever.
Q_Karone asks: both of you how did u find out about the audition for ATWT?
Dudney: Our agents.
Conn: Yep.
suse_wi asks: What do you do for fun on weekends?
Dudney: Lots of stuff! I go visit my boyfriend a lot in Long Island and get away from the city. And I just went to Woodstock! That was fun!
Conn: I go to a lot of movies and I have been making myself go to more plays, which has been great. I love just walking around the city and seeing everything. I mean, everything is new because it's so huge! Everywhere you walk, there is something new to see!
Honeycombear asks: Do you like to sign autographs or is it annoying when people ask you for one?
Dudney: It's nice! I think people in the entertainment industry, that's what they work for, for people to come up to them and tell you they enjoy your work, and an autograph is the least you can do!
Conn: I agree! I was actually at a concert last night -- we both were, together -- and we went backstage and we were watching the band members sign autographs, and you can see how much it means to people, and for people to tell them how much they have touched their lives... It was neat to see, because when you are doing it, you don't really watch as much. But as long as we can touch people and know that we do, it's so fulfilling. So much more than the money you make or the magazines you're in. To know that you touch people - that's why we do it.
Turtle113 asks: What is the most tragic thing that has ever happened to you because my dog just died I need advice!
Dudney: My cat of 17 years is just about to pass away, and the only advice I can give you is, God says in the Bible that animals go to heaven as well, so all I do is just know that someday I will see her again. And God doesn't put any more on you than you can handle, and that's Scripture.
Conn: Yes.
KRISmhrn asks: Jaime, I remember seeing you on The Barbara Mandrell show as a little one. Was that your first start in show business? And Terri, how old were you at your first job?
Conn: Let me just tell you that Jaime showed me that episode the other day, and I could not get over it -- it was so cute!!! It was adorable!
Dudney: Oh how things change. I was a little brat! But thank you. :-)
Conn: I did plays when I was about 7 or 9. Then I stopped for a while.
guardstar9 asks: Jaime and Terri: what were your high school lives like?
Dudney: I had huge laws in high school. We didn't have a prom because my high school didn't believe in dancing. There was no holding hands in the hall! We couldn't wear flip-flops...
Conn: My high school life was very different. It started out that I was kind of a dork, or was seen as a dork through the quote unquote cool people's eyes, and then I became a cheerleader. Consequently, I moved up on the cool people's ladder, but what was important to me was to remember how it felt to be a dork, and I always made it a point to be nice to everyone, and not make anyone feel that anyone's better than anyone else. That was the greatest lesson I learned in high school, obviously.
sha_lyn68 asks: terri is it true that you auditioned for Georgia , and they created the part of Katie for you
Conn: Yes. And I'm so glad because I can't see myself as Georgia at all, but I love being on the show and I'm glad that it brought me to NY!
randitaj asks: Terri, would you prefer to be Georgia or are you glad that you were passed over and given the role of katie?
Conn: I am so glad that I was given the role of Katie! I think that the role has a lot of potential, and Jaime is just so perfect for Georgia, I just don't think I could have done it justice the way she has. But I'm excited to find out more about Katie.
GroovyMango asks: So what is your new apartment like, Terri? Can we come over?
Conn: Well, I may not get it because they're closing right now! But it has a pool, which I'm so excited about!
guardstar9 asks: Terri: are you and chris going to get together in the near future or is that just a fling?
Conn: I have no idea what's going to happen! I would like us to get together for a while. But I don't think there's a real big future there.
breeanna76 asks: terri: do you still keep up on the Y&R plots?
Conn: Yes! I'm very loyal to CBS. I have also gotten into B&B now, because it's in between Y&R and ATWT ! :-)
Tootsie_Linz asks: I just moved to a whole different country and I left all my friends back there. I need advice to cope.
Conn: I grew up as a military brat, so before the age of nine I'd lived in five different places. And the opportunity to travel and meet new people is a gift, and I know it's hard to leave your friends behind, but you will always have them. Now you have the opportunity to learn more about other people and other cultures, and also yourself! So be excited! Congratulations!
Sierra_122 asks: what was it like terri to play a snob on Breaker High and then portray a school girl on ATWT ?
Conn: It was a difficult jump, but I was excited to play a nice girl after being a snob! I guess I'm just destined to play snobs though, because Katie's turning into one too! LOL!
crystal_fuel asks: Umm I watch your show & Katie is awesome.
Conn: Oh, thank you!
dusty16_us asks: What is your favorite show?
Conn: That's a tough one. Well, I love Inside the Actors' Studio. It's so great because you get to learn about people that you aspire to be like, and what they went through on their road to success. It's encouraging!
Green_Eyez_Desirae asks: "How did it feel to get the part of Katie?"
Conn: It felt amazing because I was disappointed at not getting the role of Georgia, so to find out I would still be getting to work on such a wonderful show was relieving and exciting.
dusty16_us asks: Terri do you think there is a chance of Eddie and Katie getting back together?
Conn: There's always a chance, but I don't think it would be the best thing for either of them.
led321 asks: terri and jamie if you had one wish that you could and it would come true what would it be and why?
Dudney: Mine would be a selfish wish, besides a cure for AIDS or cancer, would be to sing like Whitney Houston, for obvious reasons!
Conn: Mine would be the power and money to produce whatever I wanted, because I have some great ideas with some very positive messages to send to a lot of people, and I would like to be able to do it on my own terms!
Sunset Beach Without the Tan (Soap Opera Weekly - July 6, 1999) Terri Conn [at the British Airways on Broadway benefit for the Leukemia Society and the related Jane Elissa-Charlotte Meyers Fund], with whom I caught up in the ladies' room (my office away from home), told me she was just back from a romantic Jamaican getaway with her [ex] boyfriend and had the beach-braided hair to prove it, though not much of a tan. "I applied a 30 sunblock every two hours. When we first walking into the hotel" - the Sunset Beach Spa in Montego Bay ("You can headline: 'Terri Conn moves from ATWT to Sunset Beach'") I saw these two people with the worst burns I've ever seen in my life, and it scared me to death; also, they warn us at the studio to not get tan because it looks bad on-camera."
Car and Driver (CBS Soaps in Depth - May 25, 1999) Now that Terri Conn (Katie) is living and working in New York, there are certain things she misses about California, the state in which she went to college and started her acting career. "I miss being able to drive!" sighs Conn, lamenting her separation from her trusty Honda Accord. "In California, your car is like your best friend, because you're in it all day long, and people don't really see you when you're in it - they just pass you by." As a result, Conn continues, "I would have all my really crazy emotions in my car. I would cry; I could go crazy and sing and be really goofy. I miss that." Luckily, Conn does know where to find her four-wheeled friend if she needs it: Her parents are keeping it for her at their home in Albuquerque, N.M. "It's nice to have when I go there," Conn says, "or else I'd have to drive my mom's old Cadillac, which is like a boat."
Take Five (Soap Opera Digest - May 18, 1999)
If you could appear on any television show, what show would you choose? Terri: "Gilligan's Island - I used to have a huge crush on Gilligan and would have loved to do a love scene with him!"
What is something that you once forgot but will never forget again? Terri: "How important it is to let the people you love know how very much you care about them every chance you get."
What is your motto? Terri: "'Do unto others as you would have done unto you' - I borrowed that one from God. Somehow I don't think He'll mind."
What item do you wish you had? Terri: "A dog."
What is the most exciting event you have ever witnessed? Terri: "On the island of Capri, Italy, there is a place where the land meets the water in a small cave - because of the way the light comes in, the cave glows a brilliant blue. The only way to get to the cave is on a crowded tourist boat. But some friends and I got up at dawn one morning, hiked to this place and jumped into the bone-chilling water. We swam right into this miraculous wonder of the world with no one around. It was dangerous and thrilling and beautiful."
A Year Abroad (CBS Soaps in Depth - May 11, 1999) Terri Conn may play a hometown gal on ATWT, but she's a world traveler in real life. Back when she was attending the University of San Diego, the actress spent a year abroad in Italy. "It was an amazing experience," says Conn, who can claim roots in the country. "My great-grandparents were from this tiny town called Pietra Patosa," she tells us. "[While I was in Italy], my parents came over to visit me, and we drove down there." Being a tourist was quite an experience in Pietra Patosa, as it turns out. "No one spoke a word of English. They had one place in the whole town, a restaurant, that rented two rooms," Conn says. Meanwhile, it turns out that she and her parents were tourist attractions themselves. "In two hours, it had passed through the town that these Americans were there, and soon the whole town was crowded in this tiny restaurant!"
Charmed (Soap Opera Weekly - April 27, 1999) Envying Terri Conn is easy. The beautiful 24-year old actress landed the role of As the World Turns' Katie Peretti and met the love her life all within a week. Call it chance or a lucky twist of fate -- either way, Conn feels like she has the world in the palm of her hand. Conn is the first to admit she lives a charmed life, thanks in large part to her parents. "When I first started in this business, my mom said, 'You don't have anything devastating in your life like all these people; they all have drug problems or their family was killed when they were young. You hear stories of megastars who had huge problems and that's probably what they draw from when they are acting,'" she recalls. "I thought: She's right. I am just going to have to pretend because I am so lucky. I have such a wonderful family who is supportive."
The Albuquerque native can also thank her mother for planting the soap opera acting seed. "When I first moved to L.A., being on a soap is what I wanted to do. My mom and I used to watch The Young and the Restless as I was growing up. I always thought: I could do that. What a great life those women have. They get to be on TV and have these great stories and exciting things happen to them. I think I put it in my head a long time ago," Conn says. While acting may have been in the back of her mind, Conn took a more practical route and majored in business and communications at the University of San Diego. It was during a semester abroad in Italy that she finally decided to follow her heart. "Italians love life and live in the moment, which is what every actor tries to do," she says. "That is what really made me want to act -- it's like being a child again, when you are just so free and love everything that this is happening right now and you aren't really thinking about the future. I felt like that again, and I rediscovered those childhood dreams of acting." Conn returned to California, completed her junior year, then moved to L.A. to pursue those dreams. She did appear on Y&R, as a day player, but her big foray into acting was playing the snotty Ashley Dupree on the short-lived UPN children's series Breaker High. "It was a Saved by the Bell-type show about eight high school kids from all around the country that go to school on a cruise ship. Every week we would go to another country and it was like a new adventure." When Breaker High was abruptly canceled, Conn had a tough time saying goodbye to her feisty alter ego. "For some reason, I knew that it needed to happen," she says. "The only thing I said to myself as I was sitting there silent, was 'I am going to miss Ashley.' It was the first time that the character became another person that I created. I made this other person who was like an imaginary friend. She was a part of my life for nine months, then I realized she wasn't going to be there anymore." Hitting the audition circuit back in L.A. was a rude awakening. "It's such a scary feeling because you think: Was that just a one-time thing? I had so much confidence coming off of Breaker High. I was really proud of what we had done and of my character. My character was so different from me and I really felt that after the beginning stages, where I was terrified of acting, that I finally conquered that and made her a person."
Conn proved to be anything but a one-hit wonder. Her first audition for ATWT was for Georgia. "I thought I wouldn't get the role. I had been auditioning for six months and hadn't gotten anything," she explains. "But I worked hard on it and there was something there that they saw. The next weekend I tested again and it was between Jaime (Nicole Dudney) and me. The whole time I had a feeling that I would get it, but I also felt that I wasn't for that character." Dudney won the part, but it wasn't over for Conn. ATWT wanted her for another role, which was undecided then. Conn ran into Dudney after hearing the news and congratulated her. "We had been kind of close, as close as you can get being in competition. I told her that we may be working together because they might write a role for me, and she was like, 'Oh, that would be cool, maybe we'll hate each other.' And I was like, 'Yeah, that would be fun.' We hugged and went out separate ways. She had given me her number, so [after I got the role of Katie] I called her to find out what the show was like, if she liked it, what her character was like and see if she could find anything out about mine. I am so glad she's here." Dudney and Conn have gotten their wish: Georgia and Katie are competing for Eddie, with the sweet Katie now becoming the manipulative force in the Katie/Eddie/Georgia/Chris quadrangle. "I don't even think the writers know who is going to be with Eddie, and who is going to be with Chris, or if Katie and Georgia will be together," she says. "Just kidding. That is what Jaime and I were thinking: Maybe it's going to be us; that will up the ratings a bit!" Conn is excited that Katie's darker colors are coming to the surface. She admits that even she grew tired of Katie's sunny disposition in the beginning, noting that people on the set jokingly called her Malibu Skipper. "That kind of gave me a hint," she says with a laugh. "They said I was too California in the beginning. And I've realized that actors really have the freedom to make what happens with their character, their personality and how that person grows and what they become, because the writers wait to see what you can do and what you are comfortable with. I didn't realize that at first, so I was just doing what they wrote and not really planning it out as much as I should have been. then I was watching it, going: Katie is boring. She's way too nice, nobody is like that. I've got to throw something into it. It was upsetting me because if I don't believe this, nobody else is going to." Conn starting working with an acting coach, who helped her delve into Katie's fragile psyche. "We've tried to figure out why Katie tries to please people, because there are a lot of people like that," she says. "In fact, I am like that. We looked at Katie's past, being in pageants, not having a dad, her mom wasn't around a lot -- she was scared and lonely. She's scared to be alone. She thinks: I will be sweet, I will do whatever you want. I need family; I need love. It's sad."
While Katie searches for love, Conn's own love story could rival those found on most soaps. Shortly before Cupid struck, Conn had grown disillusioned with the L.A. dating scene. "I had made up my mind: I don't need anyone, I am going to totally, fully focus on my career." Days after securing her ATWT role, Conn met Steve Moseley at a friend's wedding; she was the maid of honor and he was the best man. "My girlfriend had been telling me about him for a year. I thought: Who cares? What's going to happen? I live in L.A., he lives in Virginia. I don't even want a boyfriend right now. "I found out that I got the show two days before the wedding, so I thought: I am moving to New York. This is exciting. I have two months to prepare. I was thinking about what was coming up next," Conn continues. "Then I walked into the church for rehearsal and I saw him an I just knew who he was right away. They introduced us, we shook hands and looked into each other's eyes and I was like: Oh, here we go. We had an incredible weekend." The couple now live together in New York, and Conn is concentrating on both loves -- Moseley and acting. "Prior to finding true love, all I cared about was being a star. Acting is still an important thing to me. I'll always act and it will always be an important part of who I am and what I want to do. I want to evoke emotion and thought and maybe change people's minds about something. But the most important thing in life is relationships, family, having someone to turn to and trust and be yourself around. I learned that when I met Steve. He's the most important thing in my life, and my parents, too." Now that Conn has found happiness in her career and in love, her goal is to balance both. "If you're not fully satisfied independently with life and feeling like you are contributing to the world, or not fulfilling your dreams or passions, then you can't have a relationship. You need both and you can't neglect one for the other; I just hope I can remember that."
Growing by Leaps & Bounds (CBS Soaps in Depth - April 6, 1999) Terri Conn crams all of her life lessons into Katie's adult education
It's funny to think that Terri Conn originally auditioned for the role of Georgia. The 24-year old just seems to fit her part of Katie so well. However, she maintains that the opposite is true - that it's Katie who fits her so well. "They didn't really have a plan for Katie in the beginning," says the actress. "They created her, thinking she'd fit well with Georgia, Eddie and Chris. But I don't think they even knew what was going to happen, so it was difficult to play. I was waiting to see how they wanted her to be played, and they were waiting to see how I would play her."
Happily, it's all worked out to everyone's advantage. ATWT's writers have crafted an intriguing story of a girl who just found out that her half-sister was instrumental in her father's death, and now must battle naughty inclinations, disgust and hatred, trying to understand why life has wronged her as it has. Conn is thrilled by the chance to not only invent but to reinvent her character. "Katie's changing," she says. "I've been waiting for this."
Of course, even as originally conceived, Katie was a change of pace for Conn. When she was on the series BREAKER HIGH, she played Ashley, a bitchy Southerner. "When I got Katie," she explains, "I was excited to finally get to be the nice girl. But then it got really boring. I felt stuck." But Conn's patience has paid off. "These new changes that are coming up are great," she teases. "I think I'll have the same challenges I had with [Ashley]. I want to make Katie the girl you love to hate. The transition from a super-sugar-sweet girl into a strong woman who stands up for herself is great to see."
Overcome with Emotion
Conn knows all about coming of age. When she was a kid, her father was in the Air Force, so she moved around a lot. "I lived in Bloomfield, Ind., Dayton, Ohio., Montgomery, Ala., Abilene, Texas, and then finally Albuquerque, which is where we got to stay because my father retired." Moving around a lot wasn't a bad experience for her, though. In fact, she attributes her outgoing personality to her years in transit. "I'm an only child, so I think it forced me to go out and meet people instead of clinging to a [sibling]." Still, Conn was glad when she was able to plant roots at age 9. "My mom basically raised me until then," she says. "But then she went to work as real estate agent, and my dad stayed home with me, so I got to know him." This led to Conn having a close relationship with both parents, which came in handy when she gave up her communications studies at the University of San Diego. "I didn't finish. I told my parents, 'Give me a summer in L.A. I'll get an agent and take acting lessons.'" Her summer went better than she dared hope it would. Preparing to enroll in the theater program at UCLA, she landed Breaker High. "We did 44 episodes in eight months, so I got good soap training." However, after that, Conn didn't work for six months, aside from a 7th Heaven guest spot. "I was so scared," she says. "My confidence started dwindling because all my friends were working. I kept thinking maybe I wasn't meant for this business. But something kept me going."
Little Girl Blue
Lucky for ATWT viewers, Conn did keep going, all the way to Oakdale. She brings to her role a refreshing innocence that befits Katie, a girl who never has been hurt or really experienced life. Until now. As Conn hinted, her character is about to undergo some major changes, the catalyst being her finding out that Margo euthanized her father at his request. "When I started, they gave me tapes of Casey and Margo," she says. "I cried because they were moving scenes. Then, just a couple of weeks ago, I showed the tapes to Jaime [Nicole Dudney (Georgia)]. It was so different ... it was like watching my dad die. The story's been happening for so long that now it's real to me." Confronting this revelation through her craft if not going to be easy for Conn. But she is ready to experience Katie's feelings, as painful as they may be, for the sake of her performance. "It's good when that happens," she suggests, "because then you're having a natural, true reaction. It comes from an honest place." Ditto Katie's anguish over Eddie. "This is the first guy she ever really gave her heart to without that people-pleasing persona," observes Conn. "A combination of [that and learning about her dad's death] at the same time lends itself to a character changing."
Hairy Situation (Soap Opera Digest - March 23, 1999) "I did this myself," said Terri Conn, of the line of silver rhinestones running down the part in her hair. "They're stuck on with eyelash glue. When I practiced it a couple of days ago, I had to go to work after. I was worried that they wouldn't come off, and I ended up using peanut butter to get the glue out of my hair!"
Conn Artist (Soap Opera Digest - February 9, 1999) Forget sleight of hand - Terri Conn's Success was written in the stars.
Terri Conn (Katie, As the World Turns) knows all about realizing goals - not just in the grand scheme of things, but in those spine-tingling epiphanies when you just know where you're headed. The first time she felt that inner compass kick in, it was while studying abroad in Florence, Italy, during her junior year of college. "Being that far away - halfway across the world looking back on my life - made me realize, 'I'm about to graduate, I have no idea what I want to do, I really want to act and I'm not doing anything about it. So when I got home, that's what I'm gonna do,'" recalls Conns, who had forsaken drama for cheerleading in high school and her parents' hopes for a "real" degree in college. "I wanted to study theater, but my parents didn't want me to, so I put it in the back of my mind and just studied communications." But when she got back from Italy, the actress made a deal with Mom, a real estate agent, and Dad, a retired Air Force officer. "I said, 'I'll move up for the summer, start taking acting classes, see what it's about and then I'll go back to San Diego to finish my senior year.' I told them how passionate I was about acting. They said, 'Go do it. We know you have a have a good head on your shoulders and if it's not working out, you'll go back to school,'" says Conn. "And it went really well right off the bat."
Conn met her manager through a friend of a friend, then found an agent by asking while doing extra work. Within a month, she had an under-five part on The Young and the Restless, and was getting guest-starring roles, as well. "I was on a roll and I felt like I would lose it if I went back to school," she remembers. So the actress applied for a transfer to the UCLA School of Theater, still hoping to get that degree. Two days after her acceptance to UCLA, Conn landed a part on Breaker High, a show about students doing a semester at sea, which taped in Vancouver, Canada. Conn decided to follow her heart again. "I wanted to finish my education, but I just had this feeling that I had to do it," says the actress. She shot 44 episodes of the show in eight months before it was canceled, then returned to L.A., looking for work. But for almost a year, nothing. A nervous Conn started bugging her agents for auditions. "And one day, they said, 'They actually called about you today for a soap opera,'" relates Conn. Though her manager insisted that soaps were out of the question if she was interested in being a film actress, Conn - enticed by the three-year contract and the opportunity to move away from the industry-obsessed L.A. - jumped. In New York, ATWT auditions went down to the wire ... for the part of Georgia. "I never felt I was right about the character, but I still felt good about the audition," smiles Conn. "I knew that I was going to get it." Of course, she didn't - Jaime Nicole Dudney was awarded the role the night before Georgia's scenes were to begin taping. Conn's agent called with good news and bad news: "My heart just dropped when he said I didn't get it because I was so sure. But the good news was really good news." Indeed - ATWT had arranged for an unusual holding deal to keep Conn available while they created a part for her.
While waiting (skeptically) for that to happen, destiny took over again. Standing up as maid of honor at a friend's wedding, Conn fell head-over-heels in love-at-first-sight with the best man, Steve. "[The bride] had been telling me about him for the past year, and I was like, 'I live in L.A.; he lives in Virginia. It doesn't mater if we're perfect for each other, it's really not going to work.'" laughs Conn. "And that's when I was in that mindset: 'This is my career, and I'm not letting anyone get in my way.' But the minute I met him, it was just ... you know how people say, 'You just know?' I never understood what that meant, but I do now. Because it was just love. It sounds crazy, but that's what it was like," she gushes. They've been together ever since and Steve moved to New York around the time Margo's half-sister, Katie, hit Oakdale. This time, Conn thinks the role is a perfect fit. "It worked out great, because Jaime is Georgia," she says about her former rival and new good friend. "And that's why I had the feeling that I was going to get it because it was just in the stars that I was supposed to do something on this show." Not that she was too surprised. "My parents always told me, if you have a dream, and if you think positively and try everything, you'll do it," she says. "And I've always done that. My whole life, anything I've set my mind to I've pretty much done."
Just the Facts...
Born: January 28 in Bloomington, IN
Raised: Dayton, OH; Montgomery, AL: Abilene, TX and Albuquerque, NM. "But I lived in Albuquerque from the age of 9, so that's basically where I grew up."
Education Incentive: On a college tour, "I loved the University of San Diego. It was a beautiful campus. And when we were driving through, I saw this guy walking up to his dorm with a surfboard and long, blonde hair. So I was like, 'Okay, this is the school I want to go to!'"
On Breaker High: "Everyone was my age, so it was like being in school."
Following the Stars: Terri Conn has no patience for those who turn up their nose at daytime. "Look at how many amazing actors came out of soaps, particularly As the World Turns," she points out. "My favorites, Meg Ryan [ex-Betsy] and Julianne Moore [ex-Frannie/Sabrina], Marisa Tomei [ex-Marcy], Parker Posey [ex-Tess] ..." One such ATWT Hollywood success story in the making is Jordana Brewster (ex-Nikki, who starred in the feature film The Faculty), whose dressing room Conn now occupies. "I still have her posters on my wall," grins Conn, who wouldn't dream of redecorating, thanks to one nasty superstition: "I've heard that you shouldn't because everyone who does gets fired!"