THE TAMING OF THE SHEW
By Julie Globus

Marriage and motherhood have mellowed her AMC character -- how long before Alicia Minshew's real life follows suit?

All My Children's Kendall had her life turned upside down when her best friend kidnapped her son and got into a car accident, leaving him deaf. Alicia Minshew's real life isn't quite as dramatic, but she does have to work hard to balance her long hours on the set with time for herself. Here, she tells us how.

WEEKLY: You've been taping these emotionally draining scenes. How are you holding up?
Alicia Minshew: I'm great now, because the hardest part was the scenes that have been airing over the past month and a half. It was one catastrophe after another and I was at the heightened emotional state. That was exhausting because I would be at work, crying, in a really weird space and then have to go home and look over my lines for the next day, so I never really left that place. Then I sat down to have dinner with my boyfriend [Richie], and he reminded me to laugh and to let it all go. This has been the most difficult storyline I've ever done.

WEEKLY: It must have been hard to produce all those tears.
Minshew: I am naturally an extremely emotional person, which is why I think I'm an actor. I have a lot of expressing to do. Now that I've been playing Kendall for so long I'm very tapped into how she feels and I love her. My character is a mother whose two children almost died. It wasn't too hard for me to cry.

WEEKLY: Do you think you would be able to forgive Greenlee if you were in Kendall's shoes?
Minshew: At teh present time, no. However, they say time heals all wounds, so I think once her children are okay, if she remembers that Greenlee was once her best friend, in time I would be able to forgive. But that's a long way off.

WEEKLY: Does your close friendship with Rebecca Budig (ex-Greenlee) make it harder to work with Sabine Singh (Greenlee)?
Minshew: Obviously I know Rebecca better, she's one of my best friends. I really love Sabine, and am getting to be great friends with her. I connected with her from the day she screen-tested. I knew she was the right person to play Greenlee. She has the edge that Greenlee needs, but she has that vulnerable side, as well. She's a great actress. The first time we had emotional scenes and we cried together, it was effortless for both of us. After the scene, we gave each other a hug. I said, "Thank you," and she said, "No, thank you."

WEEKLY: Fans are probably worried about Kendall's relationship with Zach, now that Hannah has returned.
Minshew: It's obviously to stir things up, because that's what soaps do.

WEEKLY: Kendall has changed so much in just the last year -- she's not the devious plotter she was when she first came to Pine Valley. Are you enjoying the change?
Minshew: She's really focused on her family, which has softened her and made her a more honest woman. It's a more mature side, which I enjoy playing. It's important that she evolves. She still has that manipulative side. It's always there, it's just hidden. But every now and then it comes out.

WEEKLY: There were a few weeks where Kendall seemed completely and utterly lost.
Minshew: One thing Kendall has always been is strong, but during this thing with her kids in critical condition, she lost a bit of strength.

WEEKLY: Which side of Kendall do you find easier to portray?
Minshew: Devious is easy because it's fun. Playing her soft, that's very easy for me -- I am a much softer person than Kendall is. It's playing her beaten down and in turmoil that's probably the hardest, because it's traumatizing to me. My body goes through that.

WEEKLY: As if these long hours weren't enough, you've taken on a little side job?
Minshew: I have a trainer, Louis Coraggio -- he works with PumpOne. They do digital workout videos, and they developed something for the iPod. Louis approached me and said, "PumpOne is really interested in doing a workout series with you." I said, "Hell, yeah!" They have a Web site (www.pumpone.com/alicia) and you can buy the workout programs. If you have the video iPod (or the nano, iPhone, or any kind of PDA) you can download it and have your own personal trainer workout.

WEEKLY: Are these the actual workouts you do?
Minshew: Oh, yeah. I got together with my trainer and we put together a whole series of workouts. The shoot was eight hours, and I did -- they counted -- about 820 different exercises.

WEEKLY: Is all this work affecting your personal life at all?
Minshew: The tiniest bit. I still see my friends but I'm not as social as I used to be, because I cherish the time I have alone and with my boyfriend. I like a good party, and I like to dance and act like a fool, but I really cherish the quiet time that I have.

WEEKLY: How did you and Richie meet?
Minshew: When Thorsten (Kaye, Zach) started working on the show we hit it off right away and he said, "Man, I have a good buddy of mine, he's supercool -- you want to meet him?" Then on Emmy night, after the ceremony we went to Richie's bar, Prohibition. As soon as I met Richie we hit it off. It was as if no one else was around us -- we laughed our asses off and flirted. That's when love happens -- when you're not looking for it. Three years later we are together and I know we're going to get married, and I know he's going to be the father of my children. We know all of these things. When the time is right it will happen.

WEEKLY: Is it weird to be playing the wife of your boyfriend's good friend on TV?
Minshew: You'd think it would be, but it's fun. It's like an ongoing joke between the three of us. Richie's like, "You're going to go to work and kiss Thorsten," and Thorsten's like, "Did you just kiss Richie? Do I have to clean my mouth?" It's hilarious. They both know I'm kissing th other one, and quite differently. I have the most secure boyfriend. He's glad that his girlfriend is happy and working.

WEEKLY: Does he watch the show?
Minshew: We'll TiVo it. If there's a show I've been working really hard on he watches it. He does not watch my kissing scenes. If Thorsten pops on the screen and we're about to get busy, he'll say, "Okay, that's my cue to go get a drink."

WEEKLY: Do you find time to keep in touch with Eden Riegel (ex-Bianca)?
Minshew: Oh, yeah! I don't talk to her as much as I like to, but she's getting married [this month], and Richie and I will be flying out there (to Los Angeles). Susan Lucci (Erica) is going, and Rebecca and Bob (Guiney) are going, so it'll be a nice group.

WEEKLY: You've been playing Erica's daughter for almost six years now. Do you see yourself emulating Lucci's career?
Minshew: I've had a lot of fans say that to me: "You are the next generation of Kane women and you're going to follow in Susan's footsteps." Wow, that's an absolute honor. I don't know. I feel like I could never say goodbye to Kendall. She's such a part of me. But the actor/artist side of me is craving to do other thing projects and play other characters and try new things. I have to see where I am when it's contract-renewal time. I'm open to anything.