Emily on the Red Carpet at the 2008 Daytime Emmy Awards
Emily chats with CBS.com's Tina Rosener on the red carpet at the 2008 Daytime Emmy Awards. She was nominated for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series.
Emily O'Brien on the red carpet at the 2008 Daytime Emmy Awards
How I got the role of Jana Hawkes
When I first auditioned for "The Young and the Restless," I wasn't right for the role they were casting. But three months later I went up for the role of "Jade." After my audition, the casting director asked me to go and wait in the hall for five minutes and come back and try it differently. As I was waiting, she came out and pulled me aside with my resume in hand and said, "You're British?" I said I was and when I came back in and read for her with the British dialect, she said, "That's it! Read for the producers like that at 3 o'clock." And so I did, and a few hours later I received the call from my manager that I had the job!
After we had established the character as being British, the writers changed her name to "Jana." It was only supposed to be a recurring character, just a few days of work, but I got lucky. Greg [Rikaart, who plays "Kevin"] and I really developed a solid chemistry, so they soon offered me a contract!
Why I love playing Jana
Jana is wonderful! She is so complex and spontaneous - you never know what she will do or say! She has lived in so many different parts of the world and had over five dozen different jobs. There is an edge and sense of adventure in her that I sometimes wish I possessed. She'd drop anything at a moments notice and go to India, or suddenly decide she wants to be a photographer. She doesn't like to be conservative in the way that she lives, dresses or speaks. The extraordinary and the strange excite her and I think that her character brings a different feel to the show. She is absolutely lovely to play.
She's considered "bad," but she is sincere and truly tries to make good with people, and she's extremely curious, which is probably what we most have in common. We're both eager to learn and experience new things, but she definitely has more of an edge and mysterious personality than I do. And of course Jana and I share the characteristics of someone who is British - the mannerisms, slang, and traditions are different than those of an American.
The brain tumor storyline has been a challenge, but it was certainly interesting for me to play. I made sure to do my research on brain tumors and the causes, side effects, personality disorders and so forth. I spoke to a nurse and watched videos of real seizures, and read articles and books. I wanted to make it as realistic as possible and was careful to not insult anybody who really knows what the experience of a tumor is like.
In the future, I see Jana being forgiven by Genoa City but still carrying a secret. She wouldn't be any fun if she weren't hiding anything, which is expected of the character of Jana anyway. And playing Bad Jana is much more fun than playing Good Jana! But I think she will grow and learn from her mistakes, although she'll never become reserved enough to be considered normal.
Life on the Y & R set
We all are laughing every day. A typical day begins with sitting in hair and make-up for about an hour where everybody is listening to music and chatting. My hair-stylist plays something funky and fun like Amy Winehouse to give him inspiration. That's what explains all of the Jana `do's! Then I run lines with the dialogue coach, have lunch, and then meet on set for rehearsal before we shoot.
Working on a soap really keeps you on your toes. I have never seen anybody work so fast, and I commend the writers, producers, cast and crew for being able to put together an entire episode in one day. Fast memorization is truly a skill that takes practice, and I can memorize at the speed of light now. I have also learned that my character and storyline can change in a snap - for example, I had no idea that I murdered Carmen until a week or two before we shot the scene. That is the nature of soaps; the writers can tweak or completely re-write a script at any time and the character can move in so many different directions.
But it's fun, and we hang out a lot off set too. The entire Baldwin-Fisher family has had several dinner parties together, and Greg and I get together often for dinner or go to his house for some wine with friends.
