Right Up Her Ally

Laura Sisk might be a better actress than any of us ever imagined.
When I was on my way to meet LOVING's Ally Rescott, I didn't expect to be as charmed, humored and as privy to the eye-opening insights of a 22-year-old woman from Maryland as I was. Which is not to say that the phrase "ditsy blonde" danced in my head, but considering the fact that she's playing a spunky and sometimes ditsy character, it was hard to imagine that she'd be far removed from what she embodies on a daily basis - particularly since before this ABC soap, her professional experience was non-existent. But she is!
And when our hour long lunch ended, I couldn't help but tell Laura of my findings. She seemed a tad perturbed that a case of stereotyping almost made its way past her again, but was clear-cut about the perception that people who don't know her have of her. After all, she's used to being at the forefront of speculation and rumors. Although she is not dating anyone as you read this, an alleged recent romance with actor Ryan Phillippe (Billy, OLTL) was nothing more than a close friendship.
"Stereotyping is really bad," she confirms, "but it happens. What bothers me is that I think that people think that I'm stupid. I'm not like a lot of people that I have met. People know tons of things about art. They watch all of these old movies and they know tons of things about these old movie actors. And they've tried all of these different Indian foods.
"I come from a small town, having grown up with two wonderful, supportive parents and a great brother and sister. I am definitely a meat and potatoes girl. I didn't even know what chicken parmesan was until I moved to New York City. I hang around people now who enjoy going to certain restaurants where they have all these kinds of foods that I don't like or I don't even want to try because I know that I won't like them. That I have to get over.
"I've had tons of people who have met me and have said, 'You're so different than what I thought that you would be.' It doesn't bother me... because I don't really care. Because if they got to know me, they'd know what and who I am. I'm a very silly person, and I might give that impression that I'm a really ditsy blonde. I'm not going to make that much of an effort to try and sound smarter or to try and dress right and nicer or to try to be that much nicer to those people who I think that I'm not who I am. I wouldn't be myself. I would be someone that I'm not."
And that sort of sums up who Laura Sisk is. Sure of herself and sure of what she wants. Was she pulling the wool over my eyes? Possibly. But she'd just be fooling herself - a facet of life which is not part of her being. She knows that she's extremely lucky to have a frontburner role on a daytime soap, albeit a low-rated one. She admits that she was hardly the most talented auditionee at the Ally Rescott screentests. She looks back on her early scenes and cringes at how awful she considered herself. And she'll be the first to tell you that as quickly as all of the fame lands in your lap; it's that quickly that it can be taken away. And she owes a lot of her beliefs to ex-co-star Eric Woodall (Matt).
"Eric Woodall, who got fired, as far as I'm concerned is one of the most talented, gifted, dedicated actors that I've worked with," the attractive blonde says as if defying ABC's decision to let him go. "Talent doesn't matter. Talent in this business isn't everything. It's having the right look or having the one little thing that they might like about you.
"It's a business, but of course actors take it seriously. One day it's going to come when either I'm not going to want to do it anymore or they're not going to want me anymore (or the show gets cancelled, which doesn't seem like it's going to be happening at all because ABC is really behind us 100%), and I'm going to deal with it. I'll move on. And I know this is so terrible to say... It's really a bad thing to say because there are so many starving and struggling actors out there, but I will not starve to be an actress. I won't. I refuse to. 1 wanted to act ever since I was in eighth grade, and 1 said all through high school with every play 1 did and every play 1 directed and every award I won, 'I want to be an actress,' but I won't starve for it. I will not wait tables to be an actress. Only because I need the security."
Well if there was any question about Laura's security on LOVING due to her always working but hardly ever having a storyline to call her own, that worry has ended. You see, Ally - the virgin - is pregnant. Most actresses would sit back and enjoy the limelight and take whatever the writers have to offer, but this actress - this outspoken actress has her own ideas in mind as to how this particular plot should be treated.
My big thing was, 'Hey, take a chance with LOVING. What the hell do we have to lose?'" Laura admits. "But you can't offend people. Not everybody thinks alike. I am definitely pro-choice. I come from a small town where middle class 19-year-old girls have abortions. That is what happens. And some people feel very strongly against it. I thought that it would have been very interesting to have Ally have an abortion, to play the hell that she could possibly go through. And then to walk by women with kids or see Trisha and Trucker with Christopher, knowing that she had terminated her pregnancy.. .that's hell! No matter how old you, its hell! But the network is totally against it."
---- Another option...
"I had heard that Ally was going to lose the baby. And 1 thought, 'Okay, that'll be good, but it's a letdown. Then why even have her pregnant at all?' Because that only causes problems for a couple of months. Because if I have this baby, that causes problems for years. They could have Ally give it up for adoption and then five years from now want it back. Anything is possible with this kind of story line. I personally don't think that they should have Ally keep it. If she has the baby, I think that she should give it up for adoption because she's a kid herself. There's no way that she could possibly raise this child. You also take the kid out of Ally if she keeps the baby. The character wouldn't be fun anymore."
Laura admits that without fun, there's no Ally. Sort of the adage for Laura Sisk as well. And after all was said and done, Laura spilled the beans about the future of Ally's baby... mainly because she thought that I knew. I said that I'd keep it a secret. She trusted me. Just as I have to trust that Laura is a down-to-earth new New Yorker with more smarts than you'd expect!

Back to 1992 thru 1995 Articles
Back to Article Links Page