Tina Sloan, a very well known and
popular American actress who is best known for originating and playing the
role of Lillian Raines on ‘Guiding Light’ had a very fun chat with us here at
Soap Opera Intel (Soap Opera News). Fans will remember Sloan playing the role
of Lillian, a noble woman whose troubled past made her stronger and kept her
morally grounded from 1983 until the show came to an end in 2009, of which she
recalls as an awful time. Sloan is also known for roles as; Kate Thornton
Cannell on Somerset, Mary Stuart’s daughter, Patty Whiting on Search for Tomorrow and Dr.
Olivia Delaney on ‘Another World’. Her list of acting credits also includes
primetime appearances of which we also spoke about and much more.
It’s been
8 years since the cancellation on ‘GL’, so what has she been up to? Sloan
noted, “If you mean
where I’ve been since 2009 since GL went off the air, I have been happily busy.
I wrote a book called CHANGING SHOES in 2009 published by Penguin and
just did an audio book of it which came out a few weeks ago with me reading it.
It has a lot of GL in it and fans loved it. I wrote in 2009 a play
of the same name and did it (one woman show) all over America where I met so
many GL fans in Atlanta and Pittsburg and Cincinnati Pres. GW Bush was
in the front row in Houston. It opened in New York and was sold out.
I more or less stopped doing it a few years ago but did it in London too.
Now I give talks still all over (doing next one near Richmond in
October). I’ve also done some movies starting with BLACK
SWAN and then HAPPY NEW YEAR and am in POST which comes out this December
22 with Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks and was directed
by Stephen Spielberg. TINY PART but great fun as you can imagine.” Sloan made mention of a number of her
former soap co-stars by further adding, “I did a play last year written by
Michael O’Leary and directed by Grant Alexander and my daughter playing the
part in NYC was Beth Chamberlain and when we did it on the Eastern shore of
Maryland, Cynthia Watros played my daughter and Grant also acted in it.
It was great fun to all be together again as you can imagine – the play
got great reviews and was called BREATHING UNDER DIRT. Also I have been
doing VENICE for the past 5 years with Crystal (Olivia) and Jessica (Natalia) and Judi
Evans (Beth) and Jordan Clark (Billy) and Robert Newman (Josh) and Liz Kiefer
(Blake). I’ve been so blessed to be with all GL friends who are so
creative and wonderful.”
8 years since the cancellation on ‘GL’, so what has she been up to? Sloan
noted, “If you mean
where I’ve been since 2009 since GL went off the air, I have been happily busy.
I wrote a book called CHANGING SHOES in 2009 published by Penguin and
just did an audio book of it which came out a few weeks ago with me reading it.
It has a lot of GL in it and fans loved it. I wrote in 2009 a play
of the same name and did it (one woman show) all over America where I met so
many GL fans in Atlanta and Pittsburg and Cincinnati Pres. GW Bush was
in the front row in Houston. It opened in New York and was sold out.
I more or less stopped doing it a few years ago but did it in London too.
Now I give talks still all over (doing next one near Richmond in
October). I’ve also done some movies starting with BLACK
SWAN and then HAPPY NEW YEAR and am in POST which comes out this December
22 with Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks and was directed
by Stephen Spielberg. TINY PART but great fun as you can imagine.” Sloan made mention of a number of her
former soap co-stars by further adding, “I did a play last year written by
Michael O’Leary and directed by Grant Alexander and my daughter playing the
part in NYC was Beth Chamberlain and when we did it on the Eastern shore of
Maryland, Cynthia Watros played my daughter and Grant also acted in it.
It was great fun to all be together again as you can imagine – the play
got great reviews and was called BREATHING UNDER DIRT. Also I have been
doing VENICE for the past 5 years with Crystal (Olivia) and Jessica (Natalia) and Judi
Evans (Beth) and Jordan Clark (Billy) and Robert Newman (Josh) and Liz Kiefer
(Blake). I’ve been so blessed to be with all GL friends who are so
creative and wonderful.”
While
she’s still working in a different form we couldn’t help but wonder if a
daytime fan favorite such as herself would ever return to soaps and possibly
play a sister or relative of Nikki Nemman (Melody Thomas Scott) on ‘The Young
and the Restless. “No
I won’t do a soap as they are all in LA and I am very much on the East Coast. But,
would love a small part for a few months or something. It would be
wonderful as I LOVE SOAPS,” she
shared on the subject.
she’s still working in a different form we couldn’t help but wonder if a
daytime fan favorite such as herself would ever return to soaps and possibly
play a sister or relative of Nikki Nemman (Melody Thomas Scott) on ‘The Young
and the Restless. “No
I won’t do a soap as they are all in LA and I am very much on the East Coast. But,
would love a small part for a few months or something. It would be
wonderful as I LOVE SOAPS,” she
shared on the subject.
Now, reflecting on ‘GL’ and its
coming to an end, Sloan shared, “It was rather awful for it to end.
I cried for a long time, like I had lost my entire family. And in
many ways I did. Hair makeup costumers stage managers directors producers
writers actors all gone BOOM but while I was on for 26 straight years I was
happy everyday, EVERYDAY!! What a great thing to be able to say about
work. I talk about this a lot in my book that I wrote at the time CHANGING SHOES. And the play has
lots of GL clips. I could hear fans crying as they saw those clips and I
did too.”
coming to an end, Sloan shared, “It was rather awful for it to end.
I cried for a long time, like I had lost my entire family. And in
many ways I did. Hair makeup costumers stage managers directors producers
writers actors all gone BOOM but while I was on for 26 straight years I was
happy everyday, EVERYDAY!! What a great thing to be able to say about
work. I talk about this a lot in my book that I wrote at the time CHANGING SHOES. And the play has
lots of GL clips. I could hear fans crying as they saw those clips and I
did too.”
Sloan
still keeps in touch with her former ‘GL’ co-stars and they have a great
connection. Sloan highlighted, “As you can see from the plays and
Venice I have been in touch with them a lot. Every year at Christmas,
Grant Alekander (Philip) has a party with Peter Simon (Dr. Bauer) and Beth
Chamberlain (Beth) and Justin Deas (Buzz) Michael O’Leary (Rick) so I see them
for party time as well. Jill Lorie Hurst and Danielle Paige I stay very
much in touch with too. And love it when I catch up with Alex Johnson
too.”
still keeps in touch with her former ‘GL’ co-stars and they have a great
connection. Sloan highlighted, “As you can see from the plays and
Venice I have been in touch with them a lot. Every year at Christmas,
Grant Alekander (Philip) has a party with Peter Simon (Dr. Bauer) and Beth
Chamberlain (Beth) and Justin Deas (Buzz) Michael O’Leary (Rick) so I see them
for party time as well. Jill Lorie Hurst and Danielle Paige I stay very
much in touch with too. And love it when I catch up with Alex Johnson
too.”
Would she
return or do more primetime gigs or series? “Sure would love that but
really enjoying doing film and writing now,” She tells us adding,
“I was just in
season 5 of Venice and Crystal has some other things in mind which I would so
enjoy being part of”.
return or do more primetime gigs or series? “Sure would love that but
really enjoying doing film and writing now,” She tells us adding,
“I was just in
season 5 of Venice and Crystal has some other things in mind which I would so
enjoy being part of”.
Sloan is having fun being a grandmother. She also told us of her upcoming projects and what keeps her busy these days highlighting,
“Well as I said I
published CHANGING SHOES in 2009 and it is selling well still and audio book is
also doing well. (you can get it on AMAZON audio books) But I just
finished last night a new book which is a novel taking a romantic story and
putting a terror twist on it. ENDGAME is the title though I also think it
might be called CLEOPATRAS CAT. I would love to have fans vote on which
title would be most appealing to them. But it has lots of soap opera
twists and turns of course. Hopefully they [Fans] will go see the movie POST
when it comes out in December and best of all, my son is having his second
child a son this time so they can look forward to lots of photos on Twitter and
Facebook and Instagram. Becoming a grandmother in REAL LIFE not just on
GL has been so wonderful and fun for me. My husband and I also live in
the winter in Florida the past 10 years so I get lots of sun in my life.
Of course Irma is heading straight for us at the moment. Hoping it
goes elsewhere like out to the Atlantic. My new book will hopefully be
published soon and new movies and plays and web series will continue.”
“Well as I said I
published CHANGING SHOES in 2009 and it is selling well still and audio book is
also doing well. (you can get it on AMAZON audio books) But I just
finished last night a new book which is a novel taking a romantic story and
putting a terror twist on it. ENDGAME is the title though I also think it
might be called CLEOPATRAS CAT. I would love to have fans vote on which
title would be most appealing to them. But it has lots of soap opera
twists and turns of course. Hopefully they [Fans] will go see the movie POST
when it comes out in December and best of all, my son is having his second
child a son this time so they can look forward to lots of photos on Twitter and
Facebook and Instagram. Becoming a grandmother in REAL LIFE not just on
GL has been so wonderful and fun for me. My husband and I also live in
the winter in Florida the past 10 years so I get lots of sun in my life.
Of course Irma is heading straight for us at the moment. Hoping it
goes elsewhere like out to the Atlantic. My new book will hopefully be
published soon and new movies and plays and web series will continue.”
So fans,
do you miss Sloan on your screens? What soap would you love to her do a short
gig on? A possible relative of Nikki on Y&R?
do you miss Sloan on your screens? What soap would you love to her do a short
gig on? A possible relative of Nikki on Y&R?
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