Howard Wise/jpistudios.com
Identity Crisis: After Seth (Brian Gaskill) figured out who “Isabelle” really was, Jordan (Colleen Zenk) went to extremes to ensure his silence.
The last time we spoke, Colleen, it was just before Nikki and Jordan’s showdown in that rickety cabin. You mentioned that it was “must-see TV” — and you were right on target with that. “That was quite an episode and [Melody Thomas Scott, Nikki] and I just had a great time. It was a lot of work — and a lot of words — and little Hayley Erin [Claire] just killed it at the end after I brought her out. But Mel and I had so much fun. We really did. There’s a lot coming up and it’s just fabulous. They’ve just given me so much to work with. I’m not terrified like I was when we last spoke! I’m a little more settled in and I just feel a little more comfortable with everything and it’s just been wonderful.”
You’re working with a great group of people there. “I am, I really am. And they’ve all been kind and I feel very accepted, which was one thing I was very concerned about. But I feel very accepted by this company.”
You worked a lot with soap vet Brian Gaskill (ex-Seth). How was that? “He’s so sweet. He was on AS THE WORLD TURNS [as B.J.] for a little bit but I don’t even think we ever had a conversation. The minute he spotted me at the [Y&R] studio, he was talking to me like I knew him, and I said, ‘I’m sorry, I don’t know your name.’ He was like, ‘Brian Gaskill’ and I went ‘Brian Gaskill!’ I hadn’t seen him in so long. I remembered the blond-haired kid, but he looked great. He’s aged beautifully. He’s very thoughtful. He’s introverted in a way and he’s a real thinker when it comes to a scene. He has a different kind of work style than a lot of other actors have, but I enjoyed it. I thought that our scenes went really well.”
Jordan is quite the sociopath. She torched a prison and killed people in the ensuing fire, plus slayed poor Seth. But you’ve been so much fun to watch throughout! “Well, that’s lovely to hear because you don’t know how far you can actually push a character like this before it tips into either comedy or parody or a clownish kind of criminal, which is the last thing I want her to be. I want Jordan to be absolutely terrifying and dangerous. As an actor, if you push a character too far and you cross that line, you lose all credibility for not only the character but for the storyline. Everybody involved is so invested in the storyline that it makes it work. And if I push Jordan too far into that parody territory, it will not work, and making her a cartoon villain has been my fear all along. If the fans are buying it, I’m okay.”
Let’s talk about Jordan’s wigs, which have become like another character in the story. “The first wig, the blonde one, was from the studio. The red wig is mine from when I did Looped and played Tallulah Bankhead. I did the regional premiere on the East Coast after Valerie Harper did the Broadway production, but she couldn’t do the tour because she got ill. Stefanie Powers went out on the tour in it and then I did the regional. This was about 10 years ago. It’s a lovely wig but I felt that they overstyled it a little bit [on the soap], so it was too much volume for my little face. When I wore it as Tallulah, it wasn’t quite as bouffant-y.”
How would you sum up your Y&R experience so far? “Exhausting! But I’m having such a great time. I’m a happy camper!”
Devin Owens
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