Haywood Griffin Alexander (’01 AB) and
Jennifer Barton Maupin (’05 AB) of
Raleigh. Jeffrey James Rice (’01, 03 AB)
and Allison Marie Jackson (’03 AB) of
Cary. Brownley Elizabeth Senn (’01
ABJM) and William Augustus Oden III
(’01 AB) of New Bern.
■ family additions
Dr. William Leo Fangman (’01 MD) and
All in a Day’s Soap
Any given morning finds Melissa Claire
Egan ’03 marching up the West Side of
Manhattan like most New Yorkers on their way
to work, Styrofoam cup of coffee in hand, hair
still wet from the shower and pulled back with
a drugstore clip. But any given afternoon could
find her sobbing in the arms of a steely-eyed
hunk or preparing to throw down in a take-no-prisoners catfight.
Secret alliances, broken hearts, custody battles and sweeping disasters — any and all await
when Egan clocks in for the day as Annie
McDermott, the plucky single mom she plays
on ABC’s All My Children.
“I’ve been on the show almost a year as of
now, and I’ve already been in the hospital three
times,” the actress says with a good-natured
eye roll over coffee in Hell’s Kitchen, the midtown neighborhood she calls home. “I’ve
already shot somebody accidentally. I’ve
already had my baby taken away from me
three and a half times. I’ve spent three months
of that time crying every day because something upset me. I wanted my husband to die,
and now I’m already engaged to my new man.
…” she trails off, trying to remember if she’s forgotten anything, then grins widely. “And I’ve
made love in the stables!”
Surreal? Sure. Welcome to daytime television, the world Egan joined last spring when
she landed a role on the long-running sudser
best known for its iconic star, Susan Lucci. The
job was a welcome one; though Egan had shot
guest spots on prime-time dramas, including
Dawson’s Creek and One Tree Hill, the three
years she spent in Los Angeles after college
were heavy on waitressing shifts and auditions
but light on sustainable acting work. Still, “I
think it would’ve been at least 10 years before I
started going, ‘All right, maybe this isn’t working out,’ because I knew it was what I wanted
to do,” she says. “People always say to you, if
you can see yourself doing something else,
don’t get in the business. And I knew I couldn’t
see myself doing something else.”
Dr. Shanda Threatt Fangman (’ 96 BSBIO,
’00 DDS) of Durham; a daughter, Katherine
Christine Fangman, on Oct. 24, 2006. Jill
Marie Forcina Hill (’01 BSN) and James
Joseph Hill III of Branford, Conn.; a daughter, Isabel Christina Hill, on Sept. 12, 2006.
Margaret Shaw Suddarth (’01 AB) and
Thomas Henry Suddarth III (’00 AB) of
Wilmington; a daughter, Caroline Shaw
Suddarth, on Feb. 28, 2007. Latoia
Johnson Valentine (’01 AB) and Brian
Andrew Valentine Sr. of Roxboro; a son,
Brian Andrew Valentine Jr., on Feb. 14, 2007.
SAVE THE DATE, NOV. 2-3
Class of ’02
Homecoming 2007, 5th Reunion
alumni.unc.edu/homecoming
’02 Jeffrey Philip Blythe (’02 AB)
of Statesboro, Ga., has been
named assistant athletics director
in charge of business operations at Georgia
That kind of dedication likely served Egan boot camp for actors.”
well throughout AMC’s casting process, notes Cameron Mathison, the Julie Fishell ’ 98 (MFA), an associate adjunct fireplace-brush victim profile
professor at UNC who taught the young drama whose character has since
major at Chapel Hill. “It doesn’t just happen become Annie’s second husband (and was
overnight,” Fishell says. “No doubt, for that kind revealed as her daughter’s biological father —
of contract [role], she had to rise to the top of a don’t ask), says few leading ladies blend into a
very, very, very long list.” Fishell recalls taking cast as easily as Egan did. “I’ve gotta tell you,
notice when Egan played a cancer patient in a it’s just remarkable, the chemistry that devel-
student production of Marvin’s Room. “I really oped,” Mathison says. “It’s not something you
did sit up and say, can work at, it’s not
‘OK, she’s really something you can try
grown into this really to do. She’s just an
open and capable and incredible person. I’d
competitive talent.’” like to say that I’m the
AMC casting only one connected to
apparently agreed, her around here, but
seeing in Egan’s everyone in this place
sunny, laid-back per- loves her.”
sonality the ability to And if her AMC gig
breathe life into a feels like coming
world-wary, on-the- home, maybe it’s
lam divorced mom. because it was the set-
Her first day on set, ting for one of Egan’s
Egan had to brandish first-ever acting jobs; at
a fireplace brush and 13, she was an extra
threaten a man Annie who sat in the stands
mistakenly thought at a baseball game
was a burglar. “I and gave spirited reac-
remember thinking, A drama major at UNC, Melissa Egan ’03 landed her tions to off-screen
‘What the hell am I dream job about a year ago. She plays Annie McDermott goings-on. The scene
on the daytime drama All My Children.
doing?’ ” Egan says lasted a few minutes,
with a laugh. “A week but the excitement of
ago, I was screen-testing, and now I’m here.” acting in front of millions never wore off. Even
A little perspective for those lacking soap now, the fact that fans recognize her on the
savvy: Prime-time dramas such as Grey’s street and fill the message boards on melis-
Anatomy or Law & Order shoot an episode a saclaireegan.com seems just as fantastic as
week. In contrast, daytime dramas put an anything that comes Annie’s way. “It’s so
episode — or more — in the can every day. weird,” Egan says, shaking her head, “because
Actors often must memorize 50 or 60 pages of I remember being in the green room with my
dialogue in preparation for a quick run through mom, just looking around, and now my dress-and blocking rehearsal before the cameras roll. ing room is right across the hall from the green
“With us, it’s like boom, boom, boom,” Egan room. It’s so funny how things really come full
says, smacking a palm against the table. “It’s circle.”
exciting, but it’s definitely a challenge. It’s like a
ABC/LOU ROCCO
