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Meet the New Carly!!

Soaps In Depth
November 22, 2005

There's something to be said about a comfort zone, whether that means a favorite old T-shirt or the sanctuary of your bedroom. But up until August, Laura Wright's comfort zone was playing GUIDING LIGHT's Cassie Winslow, the stripper-turned-princess-turned-first lady-turned-hotelier/stay-at-home-mom character she'd taken on eight years earlier. However, with her CBS contract nearing its end, Wright wondered if the time had come to shake up her life a bit.

"I'd bumped into ABC Daytime president Brian Frons a few times in the past," says Wright, recalling her start down a path that led her to become GENERAL HOSPITAL's new Carly. "I kept joking with him that they needed someone like me on ALL MY CHILDREN. This was before Babe, when they had so many brunettes.

"So a few months ago, my agent called Brian and said, "Laura's contract is up in October. Would you be interested? Or we're just going to continue where we are,'" she continues. "Brian said they were very interested and asked me to send a reel of my work."

An Unexpected Twist
It was only after sending off a tape of her best Cassie moments that Wright realized she'd never specified wanting to stay at a Manhattan-based show. "I never thought it would be for the West Coast," she laughs. "Never. An hour later, my agent called and said they wanted to meet me for a role on GENERAL HOSPITAL."

Although Wright hadn't been told what character ABC had in mind, her camp had a hunch. "Everyone said if it was the character we were thinking, Carly, then it would be worth the move to Los Angeles. So that's when my husband and I started talking about moving."

The Deciding Factor
Shortly after her meeting with Frons, Maurice Benard (Sonny) and GH's writers, Wright was offered the role of Carly Corinthos. And then she turned it down. "California is very different than Glen Ridge, NJ," she states. "I was nervous about moving. And I was scared to walk away from GL. But I needed to go, and I thank God that the offer continued to be there."

A phone call from GH executive producer Jill Farren Phelps partially sealed the deal. "When I answered, she said, 'I'm calling to send love,'" Wright recalls. "I could not have had a more wonderful conversation with her. She told me whatever I decided to do would be right for me. And that made me feel good."

The actress adds that it was husband John who finally helped her make up her mind. "He said, 'I don't know why you turned it down.' I thought we'd decided & And he said, 'We didn't decide anything, you did. What the hell? Let's go on vacation for four years on the West Coast. If we like it, we stay. If not, we come back.' The decision to leave has pulled me out of all my comfort zones!"

No Looking Back
With her GH future shining brightly ahead of her, Wright ponders how she'll put her own mark on a popular character played by three actresses before her. "That's a hard question to answer, because you don't want to tick off the fans that are going to go, 'Are you trying to say that the others didn't have that?'" she professes with a laugh. "I want to bring me, all the things that I do special. My reaction is going to be far different that the actresses who have played Carly in the past because I'm a different person. I requested not to see tapes of anybody because I don't want to mimic anyone. Then I wouldn't be able to be me, and I've got to be the actress that I am in this role, how I interpret who Carly is."

Comparing the dramatic lives of Cassie and Carly - both of whom rose from poverty to privilege - Wright can't help but chuckle. "Being on a soap opera is like being a kid in a candy store. There's nothing you can't do! You can die and come back. You can be a stripper or a princess. You can be the ex-wife of a mobster& I love that!"

---Michelle Ann Moro FYI

Birthday: September 11
Hometown: Clinton, MD
Love Connection: Mr. and Mrs. Wright were high school sweethearts who dated "more off than on" for 10 years before tying the knot. "He was my first boyfriend," she recalls. "We kept in touch for most of the 10 years. Then I called him after not talking for over two years, and we were engaged three weeks later." The couple celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary last month.
Ink Marks The Spot: The actress has two tattoos: "A butterfly on my lower back and a daisy on my bikini line. Neither one you can see unless I really want you to. Basically, John's the only one seeing them!"

& ON PAST CARLYS: A self-professed soap fan, Wright has seen all of her predecessors in action. "I don't know why, but more so with Sarah Brown," she says of Carly No. 1. "I watched very little with Tamara Braun, only because it must have been at a time where I was working a lot of had one of my babies."

&ON LEAVING GL: Leaving the sudser after eight years was not an easy decision for the actress. "I'm going to miss my friends, my co-workers," confesses Wright. "But I needed to go and do something else as an actor."

& ON RETURNING TO ABC: The actress began her acting career 14 years ago as Ally on LOVING and THE CITY. Wright was reunited with LOVING hubby Paul Anthony Stewart (Casey) on GL, and now she's back with THE CITY beau Ted King (Danny) on GH (where he plays Alcazar). "I can't wait to work with him again. It's two different characters, but it will be interesting."

& ON MOVING HER CLAN ACROSS THE COUNTRY: Wright's family includes husband John, daughter Lauren, 7, and son John, 5. "My husband's an architect and contractor, so he's moving his business. The kids are young, so they're fine with the move. They have their rats and bunnies!"

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