All the Wright Moves

by Tom Stacy - Soap Opera Digest - February 16, 2006

"It was an adjustment," sighs Laura Wrigh. No, she's not talking about taking over the high-profile role of Carly on ABC's top soap, GENERAL HOSPITAL. This interveiw is taking place four days before Christmas and "It's freakin' 89 degrees!" moans Wright, who grew up in Maryland. "Christmas is supposed to be cold. I went to Benihana on Thanksgiving because it was just way too warm to be Thanksgiving for me."

Happily, climate has been the only down side when it comes to her headline-making leap from GUIDING LIGHT's Cassie to Carly, a role she believes, "I was born to play. This part was made for Laura Wright. But", she's quick to add, I had to work with Kim Zimmer (Reva), Robert Newman (Josh), Bradley Cole (Jeffrey). You need to have chops to play this role, and I only have them now because I worked on that show."

Wright's move actually begain a year-and-a-half ago, when she bumped into ABC Daytime Head Brian Frons at an Emmy party. "I had a couple of drinks," the actress laughs. "And I said something like, 'You need a happy blonde on ALL MY CHILDREN.' " But Wright was still under contract to GL, so that's as far as it went--until last year, when she was up for negotiations. "I said to my agent, 'I don't want to play games with GUIDING LIGHT. I don't want a bidding war. But can you call ABC, and see if they're interested?' So he called Brian and said, 'Should we go into renegotiations or do you have a reason why we shouldn't?' and he said,'Don't. I'll call you back.'"

Frons did phone. Within 24 hours, Wright put together a reel and overnighted it to LA. Then a kink emerged. "The next day, I had just said to my husband, 'Oh, my God, I didn't specify East Coast or West Coast,' and before I could pick up the phone, it rang and my agent said, 'It's GENERAL HOSPITAL and I think it's Carly.' I didn't know what to do. My husband said, 'How can you turn down the opportunity of a lifetime?' So I came out here to meet with Brian, Maurice [Benard, Sonny], the writers and Jill [Farren Phelps, EP]. But I said, 'No. There's no way I'm moving my family out here. I hated Los Angeles. [Real estate] is outrageous, and there are no yards. Where am I putting my three dogs, my four cats, my bunny rabbit, the fish, my two kids and the nanny?' I had no idea how to make it work."

At that point, Wright had decided to stay put, until "I got a call from Jill, who said, 'I'm calling to show the love. You made the decision. If you sign a contract, in two years when it's up, you still have a job here because everyone loved you so much from our meeting. Even if the part of Carly isn't available, they want to create a role for you.' That call sold it. Then came the hardest call I ever had to make."

She admits there were tears on her part when she told GL EP Ellen Wheeler that she was leaving. "But people don't become an actor to play the same role for the rest of their life," she says. "[Leaving] had nothing to do with budget cuts. I was the actress who said, 'I'll take the 15 percent [pay cut].' I couldn't care less. I could totally understand why other actors didn't want to. We all have separate contracts and different salary levels that are no one else's business, but we have one shot at this life, and I'll stay here until there's a shift in my world or they ask me to leave. [laughs]." There certainly has been a shift in Wright's performances with her new character. "I made the choice to be tougher with Carly than weepy like Cassie could be," she explains. "I've been telling the producers to pull me back if it's something they don't like. It's my instinct to go out there like mama bear protecting her cubs, and it's not always pretty to see. I watched yesterday's air show and even I was like, 'Shut up, Carly!' But that's Carly."

Wright seems to have won over fans, as well. "I'm extremely happy by the response," she smiles. "Not everyone's going to love you. Some people on the Web boards call me 'Snaggletooth', but that's okay," she laughs regarding her pearly but slightly askew smile. "I'd like to see their teeth. Everyone says it's character, but no, it's crooked. I know certain camera shots look worse than others. People talk about my moles, too, but I happen to like [my] 'beauty marks'. Even my mother one day said, 'Wow, I had no idea how many moles you have on your face.' I'm like, 'You've looked at me every day!' So I'm sorry to anyone who's wondering who this crazy person is who came on to be Carly. I'm still new playing this character. I'm not always going to get it right. But you can bet anything I did was the best I could at that time, and I'm always looking to do it even better."

Just like Carly.
Just the facts

Birthday: September 11
Official Web Site: www.lauraaddicts.com
Previous Soap Roles: Cassie, GL, 1997-2005; Ally, Loving/The City, 1991-97 Meet the Family: Married to husband John since 1995; daughter Lauren is 7; son John is 5. On her 1998 SOD Award for Favorite New Character: "Possibly the most exciting night of my life."
What She Misses Most about Life Back East: "I have a great group of women in Glen Ridge, NJ, who I miss desperately.
GH's Little Women: "I'm like a giant on the show. When I'm in a scene with Kelly (Monaco, Sam) and Kimberly McCullough (Robin), I look like Amazon woman."
Future World: "I have a dream to work on the production end of television because I don't always want to worry about wrinkles or the size of my ass for the rest of my life."

Charge of the Light Brigade

Budget cuts, exiting stars and disappointing ratings have made GUIDING LIGHT the target of cancellation rumors, but Wright says recent doomsday predictions didn't make her bolt. "GUIDING LIGHT was tagged as a sinking ship long before I jumped off of it," she says. "I was offered a role, and I think that I made a really good business move. I can't think of anyone, including the person who's running GUIDING LIGHT, who would say, 'Well, that was stupid of you, Laura [laughs]. But I miss it terribly. I can't even tell you how much I miss working on that show."

Did You Know?

--Wright sold pretzels at RFK Stadium in Washington, DC to watch Redskins games?
---John proposed at Strawberry Fields in NYC's Central ParK during a memorial for The Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia?

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