Casting Director Renee Godbout remembers the excitement of finally meeting General Hospital's Vanessa Marcil
By Renee Godbout
When I interned at General Hospital and the spin-off Port Charles, I had every intention of pursuing a career in soap operas. The first soaps I had ever watched were Santa Barbara and Another World and I had fallen in love with the genre.
In high school I discovered General Hospital and with it the amazing talent of Vanessa Marcil. She played spitfire Brenda Barrett and had a presence on the screen that really drew you in. I wasn’t star struck by many daytime actors, but she was the one I wanted to meet more than any other.
Unfortunately she had just left General Hospital less than a week before I started interning. I was so disappointed, but also pleased to hear she would be joining my favorite primetime soap, Beverly Hills 90210.
As part of my internship, I was responsible for getting scripts and headshots signed for charities. I would walk to the first floor where all of the dressing rooms were and go door to door with a small stack of scripts, asking actors to sign them. It was a good excuse to meet the actors without over stepping any boundaries or coming off as the fan I really was. It also gave me the opportunity to get the signature of my soap idol, even with her no longer on the show!
At the time, Vanessa Marcil was engaged to Tyler Christopher, another actor on General Hospital. One of the publicists’ requested that I go to him to have a headshot of Vanessa signed for a VIP they were working with. It was the perfect opportunity for me to include a headshot for myself!
I was a little nervous at first approaching Tyler about his fiancé, but he was a genuinely nice person and had no problem with the request, which now included two headshots instead of one. A few days later the signed headshots were sitting in the mailbox on his door, waiting for me to pick them up. I was on cloud nine - and thrilled that my status of an undercover fan had not been compromised!
Click here to read Soap Opera Idol: Part II!
Renee Godbout - Freelance Casting Director. Renee Godbout recently worked on the first season of The CW's popular teen show Gossip Girl at Grant Wilfey Casting. Some past projects include 2 seasons of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, the pilot for Dirty Sexy Money, and the Jonathan Demme-directed Rachel Getting Married.
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