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When On-Air On-Soaps last sat down with All My Children’s Alicia Minshew (Kendall Hart Slater) it was back in August of last year shortly after she returned to the set of the soap after her maternity leave, and her move to the west coast to be with the newly transplanted series.  Several months later, things have changed drastically for one of daytime’s most fiery and prominent young actresses.  First, Thorsten Kaye (Zach) who had decided he was not going to make a permanent move to L.A. was written off the show when the powers-that-be “killed” Zach in a plane crash.  That major plot development spelled the end for Zendall, and thrust Minshew into endless storyline possibilities.

Then came word that heartthrob Jordi Vilasuso was cast in the role of Dr. Griffin Castillo, and that he was being brought in for a relationship to develop on-screen with Kendall.  Now during February Sweeps, devastating and cataclysmic events bring Griffin and Kendall into each other’s orbit through medical crisis after crisis.  You see, Kendall’s heart is giving her a whole heap of trouble again, and at the same time she is remembering something she truly blocked out of her mind!  What is that you ask?  She shot David Hayward, the man she believes is responsible for her late husband’s death!

So, as All My Children is about to kick off a two week story arc which puts the life of Kendall in grave danger, Minshew sat down with us on the set of AMC to give us some insight and inside scoop on what we can expect, plus we discuss her Emmy-worthy performance for the scenes in which she found out Zach had died.  We also get the skinny on working with all her new co-stars, and her thoughts on missing her beloved scene-partner, Thorsten.  Here’s our follow-up with one of our favorites… Alicia Minshew!

MICHAEL:

Kendall never used to have so many health problems as she has had in recent years. What gives?

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ALICIA:

I think ever since her heart transplant that is what is going on, and then Zack died.  So between the heart and the husband, she is screwed.

MICHAEL:

During our last interview when you had just moved to L.A. and returned to All My Children, we talked about if Zach were no longer in the picture (since Thorsten Kaye was not planning on staying with the show) and if there would be a new man in Kendall’s life. You had said, “I hope they don’t push Kendall in another romantic relationship too fast.” That being said, how do you think the pacing is going with Jordi Vilasuso as Griffin, who seems set to be set to be your next on-screen flame?

ALICIA:

I think they are doing a really good job so far of not pushing anything.  Obviously, the fans know where it may go, but it is still a long ways away and they are still having Kendall mourn Zach.  Her relationship with Griffin is progressing naturally.  I mean, he does save her life.  So obviously, that boosts him up to a better place in her eyes.  So I think she is going to see him in a different way, and really respect him and care about him as a person. They are not pushing them together, though, which I like.

MICHAEL:

Kendall is not going to go around and have rebound-sex with Griffin or other men, is she?  Because previously, we talked about whether Kendall would go on a toot in her grief over Zach?

ALICIA:

No, now that the love of her life is really gone, she is in a whole other place.  Sex is the last thing on her mind, really and truly.  I think if she were going to rebound she would have done that already.  She has met all these cute people, such as Reverend Ricky and Griffin, but no, sex is so not on her radar right now.  And that is what I like, that they haven’t pushed it at all. They are having it gradually happen, so let’s see how this all happens and plays out.

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MICHAEL:

Did you see that I named you the On-Air On-Soaps Power Performance of the Week for your performances when you found out Zach had died?

ALICIA:

No, that is so sweet!  Oh my God!  Was there something specific that you liked, or sort of the whole ensemble of it?

MICHAEL:

I liked the denial when Erica and Ryan first told you, and then later when you are standing alone in the hallway of the house and trying to process it, and Bianca comes to comfort Kendall.  It was just all about the different layers you played in it that I think were brilliant.

ALICIA:

It was written beautifully. I had great people to do the scenes with; such as Susan Lucci (Erica) and Christina Bennett Lind (Bianca), and Cameron Mathison (Ryan) and Rebecca Budig (Greenlee).  It was sad.  I am still sad.  I am sad for my character, and I was sad for me for missing Thorsten, and it was all part of the process.  But, it was a rough few weeks.

MICHAEL:

How did you get through the scenes when Zach died?  Here it signaled that Thorsten was gone.  Do you ever watch back your work? Have you watched those scenes?

ALICIA:

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These days I don’t get to watch the show because I am a mom, and I work all day and come home to my baby.  If there are scenes I worked really hard on, I want to watch.  In this case, I got to watch most of them, but it’s so hard to see yourself.  But, I remember that day and I remember how I felt.  I always pick myself apart, but there were moments in watching it again where I cry.  (Laughs)  I cry, because I remember what I was feeling that day.  It was a painful day for me and I was so very sad.  I could not stop crying that day, as again, it was a really hard day for me.  It was very easy for me to go there and step right into that zone.

MICHAEL:

Would you submit those shows for an Emmy reel?  You 100% should!

ALICIA:

I don’t know!  That is always so hard to talk about.  If I had to choose something, maybe I would choose something from that, but it’s so hard when it’s your work.  It is horrible for me to have to do that.  I would have to help my producers help me, which I have done in the past. Because you really do pick yourself apart, it’s so tough! It was beautiful material overall, and there is always something I would have changed about my performance.  I always think, “I could have done that better.”  I think I am always going to be that way.  I am just one of those people.

MICHAEL:

Now with this new beat of the story for February Sweeps, Kendall is obviously having heart problems for the umpteenth time, and you get in this ambulance accident.  Can you kind of set the stage for me, what leads up to this?

ALICIA:

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Yes, ultimately Kendall remembers that she is the one who shot David Hayward.  She is in the hospital because of her heart and she is stressed, because she went to visit David in jail for some reason and she collapses again.  She ends up in the hospital again and she realizes she shot him, and so she has to go tell her mother, Erica.  She has to tell her, “Mom, I know you have been covering to protect me.  I know I am the one who shot David, not you, and so you have to stop protecting me.”  So she busts out of the hospital and she is drugged up, about to have surgery on her heart, looking for her mother, to tell her she is the one who shot David.  But then, her heart gives out and she collapses in the snow, because she just could not take it.  Griffin finds her.  He calls Jake and Cara to bring her back to the hospital to quickly do this surgery.  And of course, to make matters worse, the ambulance crashes.  So now, she is slowly declining and then they say, “OK, well now we are going to have to operate on her right here in the ambulance.”  High Drama!

MICHAEL:

Do you have many lines in all this, or are you just lying there muttering through it all? (Laughs)

ALICIA:

(Laughs) I am muttering through it all.  However, we had a day where I had 17 scenes where I had to lay down a lot, and they made my face all white, but I did have some big emotional moments that I think the fans will love. At one point I think she is sort of knocked out and trying to figure out what is going on, and she is scared.  But who also gets involved to try and save her makes this whole story more interesting!

MICHAEL:

Of course, we all have our thoughts on that one! So, what do you really think of Jordi?

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ALICIA:

I love Jordi.  He is very different than Thorsten. Thorsten is a very special kind of actor, and a very special man to me.  I still talk to him and he is a good friend of mine, and I will always stay in touch with him.  Thorsten has a very special place in my heart that nobody can replace.  Now as far as working with somebody new, first of all, Jordi is gorgeous, and not hard to look at.  He is really, really handsome.  Jordi is such a hard worker and he takes his job really seriously.  He is a great actor, and now that we are sort of finding our way with each other, we are having a lot of fun together, and it’s a whole different thing and different animal.  It’s apples and oranges and something new for me.  I am always open to working with new people, that is the fun of this whole business, and that is to work with new people.  Jordi brings something completely different.  I can’t even say, “Well, he is kind of like Thorsten.”  He is not… he is his own person.

MICHAEL:

Is there an issue brewing between Reverend Ricky (Eddie Matos) and Griffin over Kendall?

ALICIA:

The Reverend has really been comforting Kendall since the loss of Zach, and she leans on him.  He is the Reverend that did preside over Zach’s memorial.  Ultimately, I think she gets closer to him.  I don’t know how close, but I think it seems she is drawn to these two men for different reasons, and they don’t seem to like each other.  So, somewhere along the way they seem to be jealous of each other, or they don’t trust each other.  But I think ultimately, she might have to choose between the two of them.  I think that might be a ways off.  But hey, not bad to have to choose between two brooding handsome men.

MICHAEL:

When they were going to be bringing in another man for Kendall, I was kind of worried, like, “how was this going to work?”  But once I knew they brought Jordi in, I thought, “OK, this could work.”

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ALICIA:

He brings a whole different element.  It’s somebody new and somebody fresh and different, and he is reserved.  Griffin keeps a lot of things in, which is one thing Kendall is used to doing, but now she is the emotional erratic one and he is the one who sort of keeps everything in.  I think it will be interesting for her.

MICHAEL:

And we find out that Annie, of all people, is the one who hit the ambulance Kendall was in!

ALICIA:

The audience will know that Annie hit the ambulance, but we as the characters, don’t know.  And when we find out that Annie of all people, hit the ambulance carrying me, its yet another thing.  Annie could have killed her. So again, it’s somebody she has had past issues with.

MICHAEL:

Is it hard to play sick, or “medically challenged”?

ALICIA:

You know, it’s exhausting.  So, I say to myself as I am going to work, “Today is the day I have to be drained, tired, and sickly.”  And it’s exhausting!  It is less lines, though, and when Kendall is sick I get to lie around and be less glamorous.  I can get ready in a half and hour, like when I had to lay in the gurney.  I just moved and cried a bit and had some tubes in my nose and called it a day. (Laughs)  But Jordi had all this medical dialog, and really impressed me talking about the valve and the aorta, and I thought, “Better him than me.”

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MICHAEL:

Now that you are back in the swing of things and settled in L.A., how does it feel from our initial conversation a few months back, moving from the East Coast?

ALICIA:

We are settled and I really like it, and I like L.A more than I thought. The distance to things is OK and I feel at home here.  I told my husband, “I think I am adaptable.”  As long as my husband and my baby are with me, and I have a job that I love, I could go anywhere.  I really do feel that way.

MICHAEL:

What should we tell the fans of Alicia Minshew for February Sweeps?  Do we need to hold on to our socks while Kendall is in the hospital, again?

ALICIA:

I think what to look out for is; what happens to Kendall and who saves her, and who works on keeping her alive.  She has had trust issues her whole life with people.  One of the things that Griffin says to her is, “Do you trust me?”  And she says, “Yes, I do.”  And that is huge for her.  She really means it, and that is always a big issue for Kendall.

MICHAEL:

So what is the turning point?

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ALICIA:

In the hospital, Griffin reveals a secret about himself, and the way he got her to trust him was by saying, “OK, you don’t trust me?  Well, I am going to tell you something about myself and I am trusting you and only you with this.”  So he tells her this huge secret that could ruin his life, and she is shocked.  And so Griffin says, “I am trusting you with my life, can you now trust me with yours?”  And she takes a moment and she says, “Yes.” And I think that is huge for her. There is this man she feels a connection to and she does not really know where it’s going, but she trusts him somehow and that is interesting, too.

MICHAEL:

Let’s talk about Christina Bennett Lind as Bianca for a minute.  I know you missed Eden Riegel when you first came back to AMC, but I think Christina is doing a very good job.  I actually think she was wonderful in the scenes with you when Zach died, as a sister trying to console her other sibling.

ALICIA:

You know that Eden and Christina became e-mail buddies, and so the three of us have been trying to get together, me and my “Bianca girls”.  But I think Christina has integrated herself beautifully into the show.  In those big emotional scenes when Zach died, she stepped up and then some. That day, all I had to do was look Christina in the eyes and I sobbed.  I fell into her arms, and it was Bianca to me.  I was in her arms crying and I just connected with her.  I also feel I connect with Christina as a person, so we are lucky.  She is a great actress, and I want her to have more stuff.

MICHAEL:

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Yes! The fans write to me all the time hoping that Christina and Bianca will have their own storyline soon, and that we will also see more of the relationship between Bianca and Kendall.

ALICIA:

She eventually will have her own storyline and I know she will kick-ass.  I look forward to more stuff, and every time I see her I go, “When are we going to have more meaty stuff together, with you going through something for a change?”  It would be great having me comforting her this time, instead of her comforting me all the time, which I am sure will happen.  She rocked it and was so there for me, and it was great!  I feel like all of my scene partners, including the great Susan Lucci, all helped me get to where I needed to be for sure in those important episodes.