Soap Opera Digest – August 05, 2019

6 DAYS: Nicole

Marries Tony

And Gabi And

Stefan Wed

8 B&B:

Thomas’s

Plan Unravels

9 Y&R: Sharon

And Rey Split

12 New B&B

Role For

Vincent

Irizarry

14 DAYS: Jack

Dumps Eve

14 GH: Ava

Visits Ryan

J

en Ray is no stranger to

appearing on TV — for

nine seasons, she played

neighbor Nancy on the ABC

sitcom THE MIDDLE — but

having grown up watching

the ABC daytime lineup,

playing psychic Chelsea on

GH is a dream come true.

“For my mom, this is

totally surreal,” Ray begins.

“We’re fans. I took my moth-

er to Super Soap Weekend

when they used to have those.

We ran into Kelly Monaco

[Sam] in the bathroom and I

thought my mom was going

to have a heart attack! My

mom is like, ‘I can remem-

ber you as a kid doing your

homework on the edge

of the couch and watching

GENERAL HOSPITAL, and

now you’re in scenes with

these people!’ So this has just

been a really fun thing.”

The actress had never audi-

tioned for a soap before but

had her heart set on getting the

job. “I knew everybody that

was auditioning for the role,”

she reports. “I was like, ‘Okay,

if I don’t get this, at least one

of my friends will.’ But there

was a little part of me that was

like, ‘I don’t think any of these

people watch this soap. This

part should go to me because

it’s my soap!’ When I found

out I got the job, I was thrilled.”

Her excitement only

increased once she started

catching glimpses of the cast.

“When I went in for my cos-

tume fitting, they took me on

a little tour. Maurice [Benard,

Sonny] was working, so I

didn’t get to meet him, but

Steve Burton [Jason], I met

in the elevator, which was

super-fun. I was walking

down the hallway like, ‘Oh,

my God, there’s Carly. Oh,

my God, there’s Jax.’ And

MEET GH’S

JEN RAY

1

late-breaking

news

PAUL ARCHULETA/GETTY IMAGES

PHOTOS COURTESY OF JEN RAY

Dream Of Genie: A lifetime GH

fan, Ray says meeting Genie

Francis (Laura) was “a full-

circle moment for me. She is

so kind. It was wonderful!”