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A round-up of answers to the usual questions from one of As the
World Turns' newest cast members. Cady McClain plays Carly's
half-sister, Rosanna Cabot.
Childhood's End:
I was tired on All My Children. I'd been playing Dixie for
a really long time. I knew I wanted a change, I just wasn't really
sure what change was going to come my way. I gave my notice last
year, and I added six weeks at the producer's request at the start
of this year. After I finished the contract, a few days later I
got a call from As the World Turns. I wasn't particularly
scouting the show, and the show wasn't trying to steal me away.
It was just something that worked out, timing wise, for me and for
them. And I'm a big fan of ATWT. I think it's a great show. I think
there are great actors here, and I think it's very well written.
So I took some time to consider it; I didn't want to burn any bridges.
But it was an opportunity that just came around.
Turn Around:
Coming to another show is a step sideways, career-wise. But it's
certainly not a step down. I like working on daytime. I'm really
happy I made this choice, though I understand that in the course
of a career there are a lot of people judging the choices that you
make. People judging you comes with being an actor and having any
kind of career where the public is involved -- like a politician
or anything where your audience is an integral part of what you
do. I think it's foolish to negate your audience's influences, but
of course you can't make your choices based on what other people
think about you. Ultimately, I'm happy with the choice I made, and
I feel that it's a positive one for me. And I think it's going to
be very good for my career. Playing a different part like this and
working with a new group of people. I think people will see another
side to me that they didn't know existed.
Rosanna Rocks:
I don't think she's the anti-Dixie, oddly enough. I think there's
a tendency to go that way, but it's much more complex than that.
I think the character of Dixie was set with what she would or would
not do, like any character. Their jumping off point, like for any
human being, is their moral standpoint. And that doesn't tend to
change. Rosanna has a lot of qualities that are very different from
Dixie. She's much more mature a character than Dixie was. And it's
funny, since I grew up in that role and with that role, and this
woman is like another aspect of myself that I don't think people
have seen. It's really, really a challenge. I really, really like
it.
Hunt(ing) and Gathering:
The writing is great here, and they've put me in some great situations.
I think it's going to be really intriguing to watch. We have a lot
of really interesting stuff with Hunt Block (Craig). He was on All
My Children, too, but we didn't work together. He's great to
work with; I feel really lucky to be working with him. I love to
work with people with strong personalities. It forces you to hold
your own, and I feel like it's something that I do particularly
well, because I'm a good catcher. I'm a good straight-man. They're
the pitchers, I'm the catcher but I can throw the ball back, too.
Back to the Beginning:
I started tap-dancing at age seven. I was in the Guinness Book
of Records. It was with 500 other tap-dancers. We had the most
tap-dancers in a football stadium dancing the same routine for the
longest amount of time -- a couple of hours. It was a marathon thing.
I was one of the youngest, so I was in the front row. I saw myself
on TV, and I thought, "Now, that's a good job! That's what
I want to do; I want to be on TV!" And I loved commercials.
I thought they were great, everyone seemed to be having fun, so
I started acting when I was nine. My very, very first job ever was
a Band-Aid commercial. I'm singing, "I'm stuck on Band-Aids."
I loved doing commercials. I got to eat things and smile and get
paid. It was great. And my mom was always very supportive of whatever
my sister and I wanted to do. She was a great mom. She really stuck
it out with us. She was a tremendous source of encouragement.
Golden Girl:
Winning the Emmy (ed. note: Cady won the Emmy for Outstanding
Younger Actress in 1990) when you're as young as I was is like
a Catch-22. You wonder -- what do I do from here? But there's lots
to do from there. The worst is when people say, "Oh, you've
won one already, you don't need another one." And I'm like,
"I was just a kid!" You do learn though, very, very soon,
that just like people who make a lot of money, money and awards
can't buy happiness. Winning a bunch of awards is really nice and
great, but you have to keep working, become better at what you do,
become a better craft-person. I think acting is like an illness.
You can never get well again. It's hard to stop doing it. Believe
me, I've tried! 
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