All The Days Of My Life (so Far). Alison Sweeney
and Matt LeBlanc. During my first day on the set, we rehearsed the entire script. It was the first time I had met Jennifer, and she asked me, “Do you work with my dad?” (Her father, John Aniston, has been on Days for many years.) I told her, “Yes, in fact, we play bitter enemies. He’s tried to kill me several times on the show!” Both of us laughed until we got back to the serious business of rehearsing.
On Friday of that week, we rehearsed the show again until the director and producers were completely happy with everything and ready to put the show on tape. The actual taping took place on Friday night.
Friends is taped before a live audience, a setting that was mostly new and enjoyable for me, but also the source of anxiety. After all, you’re not only trying to be funny, but with an audience, you know right away whether you’ve succeeded. As an actor, you definitely feel a powerful energy from the audience, and since they’re on your side, it’s an energy that can drive you to perform even better. At the same time, even though I had been on Days for many years, it was a little jarring when I realized that a live audience would be out there, watching my every move. It had been so long since I had performed in front of an audience, and I did have a brief moment of freaking out a little, thinking, “Oh, oh, I’m not prepared for this!”
I remember standing backstage with Matt LeBlanc, waiting to make our entrance, and I half-jokingly whispered to him, “My gosh, what do I do differently here? Got any advice?”
Matt was so nice. “You’ll be fine,” he said. “It’s just the same as what you’ve always done. Just wait for the laugh.”
A Days Debut
Now for some Days trivia: Do you remember what character I played before Sami on Days? At the age of six, I played a character named Adrienne Johnson Kiriakis as a child, portraying her in a flashback scene when she was abused by her father. The adult Adrienne was played by Judi Evans for about five years (she later moved on to Another World, and as is only possible on soaps, she’s now back on Days playing an entirely different character, Bonnie). When Adrienne reflected back on what had happened to her as a young girl, I played her in those childhood flashback scenes. Judi and I had scenes together just recently and I reminded her of how we’d worked together before. She had no idea that little girl was me!
Judi (Bonnie) told me when she played Paulina on Another World she was a Days fan, and that Sami was one of her favorite characters! I was so flattered—but it was definitely a “mutual admiration society” I told her that when she came back to the show, I had to remind myself that her real name was Judi—in fact, “Adrienne” (her first Days character) kept popping into my head!
My Days debut as a young Adrienne was very exciting, even though it lasted just two days. At the time, Days was being shot at the Sunset-Gower Studios in Hollywood, several miles from where we tape the show today. I auditioned for the part along with a roomful of other kids, and when I was fortunate enough to get the job, one of my older cousins became more excited about it than I was (geez, I was only six!). She was a huge fan of Days, and so as a family favor, I got members of the cast (none of whom I had heard of at the time) to sign my script for her.
When I gave my cousin the heavily autographed script, she almost died! I gotta admit, she absolutely loved it!
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