All The Days Of My Life (so Far). Alison Sweeney
you feel you don’t get anything, just ask.”).
It may seem silly, but when you’re a teenager and new to the show, you’re afraid of what you don’t know. On Days, however, there were always people to turn to for advice. And as far as Deidre goes, I’ve always loved acting in scenes with her, even when our characters were fighting. She has always made it easy.
A Juggling Act
When I joined the cast of Days, I found myself with more challenges than just adapting to the demands of playing Sami Brady. Along with this wonderful opportunity to chase my dream of an acting career, at age 16 I still needed to make school my first priority. Both goals were worth pursuing. My challenge was to create room for both school and acting in my life.
At the beginning, I figured that I’d work one day a week on Days, maybe less. My contract stipulated a commitment of at least half a day a week on the show, and I didn’t expect to be doing much more. After all, I had been a fan of Days, and I had noticed that the child actors weren’t on it very often, particularly during the school year. But the producers caught me by surprise. In no time, I learned that the scriptwriters had big plans for Sami. Almost from the start, she was a key player in the story lines of Days, requiring me to adapt to a three-day-a-week schedule. Fortunately, my schoolwork wasn’t a casualty of the increased demands on my time—and I loved the challenge of juggling the two.
I was so fortunate that my own high school—a private school in the L.A. area—couldn’t have been more accommodating. My teachers were thoroughly understanding and supportive of my career, and they made every effort to make sure I didn’t fall behind. If I needed help after school, the teachers were always there. If I had questions, they patiently answered every one of them.
On the set of Days, the producers were just as supportive of my academics. They provided me with a teacher (by law, they have to do so, allowing minors to spend at least three hours a day on schoolwork while on the set). They even hired a special tutor to help me with my chemistry homework because (yes, let’s face it) chemistry was not my strong suit.
At the time, the Days’ daily schedule was very demanding for both the actors and the crew. Although our timetable has changed since then, the entire cast arrived at the studio sometime between 6 and 8 A.M. (ugh!) to prepare for what’s called a “dry block” through the script, which I explained a little at the bottom of page 20. (“Blocking” is the physical movement in a scene—and when Sami decides to turn away from Lucas and move over to the table in the corner, that’s called a “cross” so in “dry blocking,” the director will tell me that on a specific line, I am supposed to “cross” stage left. Is this making sense?)
At 8 A.M., we’d “camera block” the entire show, which means that the actors act out the scenes one by one so the cameramen and the rest of the crew know exactly where we’ll be positioned during taping later in the day. The cameramen have to know where we’re standing, and on which spoken lines we’ll move, and the audio department needs to know where we’ll be standing when we speak, so they can be sure to hear us! This rehearsal or “run through” of the day’s entire show lasted until lunch-time.
After a meal break (which was also time to apply our makeup, touch up our hair, and change into our wardrobe), we’d move into a dress rehearsal of the show, and then wait for notes from the producers, which might include suggestions for script changes for the final taping. By 3 o’clock, the taping would begin, which might take three or more hours from beginning to end. It was a very long, very full day—but it was not over yet. I’d head home for an evening of homework—and learning my lines for the next show.
This schedule was so rigorous that it could wear you out if you didn’t pace yourself. Imagine being on the set from early morning ’til night, squeezing in at least three hours of academic work somewhere during the day, and then catching up on any remaining schoolwork at home. I don’t know how it all worked out, but it did. The studio teacher was always nearby, ready to work with me in-between rehearsals and during any other free moments during the day.
But as exhausting as my life may have seemed, I really think school itself had prepared me for it. Think back to your own middle school and high school years, when you’d attend classes for a full day and then spend hours doing homework at night. That kind of schedule can run you ragged, too, even without trying to squeeze in a day of acting. So it never really felt like an impossible transition from full-time student to full-time student/actor—except, that is, for one added source of anxiety that often disrupted my nighttime sleep. I began having nightmares—the kind of nightmares where you awaken startled and a bit panicky. The dream was always the same: I’d sleep through my alarm, wake up late, and rush to the studio, disheveled and scared to death that I had kept everyone else waiting. It was a terrifying dream, and ever since, I’ve always been petrified of being late to the set. The morning “calls” or reporting times were so early that oversleeping seemed like a real possibility (or in my case, perhaps a likelihood!). Even today, if I “sleep in” until 8 A.M. on a day off, I still wake up a bit stunned and disoriented, convinced that I’m late for work until I can figure out where I am and what day it is.
Except for minor inconveniences like that, my career on Days of Our Lives has been a wonderful part of my life, and the cast and crew have become very important to me. Even so, I knew that acting was “in my blood” for years before Sami Brady entered my life. In the next chapter, I’ll take you back to my earliest moments in front of the cameras.
Chapter 3
How long have I known that I wanted to be an actress?
Just about forever.
I think I might have been born with a passion for performing. I’m a native of Los Angeles, and I grew up in a musical household (my mom is a concert and studio musician who filled our home with classical music every day). I took the obligatory violin lessons and studied the violin seriously for eight years before I realized that my real love was acting—and I guess my mom realized it, too.
With my mother’s support, I auditioned for and landed roles in many TV commercials. The first one was for Kodak film when I was just four years old. But if you’re thinking that my talent was immediately recognizable to the world in that first acting experience—well, not exactly. I didn’t have any lines to memorize, and frankly, the weather didn’t exactly make it a magical experience. Although the ad depicted a winter scene, it was shot under a scorching 103-degree sun in L.A. But not to let sizzling weather interfere with the winter fun, the undaunted ad agency shipped in a truckload of snow to create a Hollywood version of a snow bank. Bundled up in a little red snowsuit, I climbed aboard a sled with my on-screen dad, and on the director’s command of “Action,” we rode down the slope while photos were being snapped of us (Kodak photos, I’m sure!). It was an all-day shoot, and as one take followed the next, the temperature became ever more blistering. But the show must go on, right? The prop guys worked overtime, frantically hauling in fresh snow to reinforce the man-made “mountain” that was melting under us. It was very hot, and the snowsuit sure didn’t help! In fact, I almost passed out from heat exhaustion!
Daddy’s Little Girl
Virtuoso in training!
Despite the boiling sun, despite the snowsuit, and despite what others might call a nightmare day, I do remember this: I really had fun. I absolutely loved making that commercial. I somehow knew even then that acting would be something I’d do for the rest of my life. There wasn’t a doubt. Some people are just lucky to be born knowing what they want and having the drive to pursue it. I guess I’m one of them.
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In the next few years, I took some commercial acting classes and went on a lot of auditions. By the time I was ten years old, I had appeared in about sixty TV ads. Some were as challenging as the hours on the snow slopes under a red-hot California sun; others were a breeze. Let me tell you about