It’s always fun to chat with soap alum and founder of Westmore Beauty, McKenzie Westmore!
She has spent most of her life surrounded by the entertainment business. So, one would think that she always wanted to be an actress but she shared that notion wasn’t always true. “As a little girl I actually really wanted to be a veterinarian or a geologist. Then after I did Raging Bull, I became very shy and instead of putting me in therapy, my parents put me in acting classes. That’s when I fell in love with the craft of acting and it became more about theatre. I started to sing opera and dance ballet. That’s when it sort of dawned on me that this was a passion for me and Broadway was then my ultimate goal.”
Growing up McKenzie learned many valuable lessons from her father, the great Michael Westmore. From the normalcy of their home life to the ins and outs of the business, but there is one that stands out to her as the most important. “Being on set with my dad and watching him behind the camera I learned everybody is the same. Treat everyone as your equal. No one is above or beneath. Just because someone is an Executive Producer or someone is a janitor…it doesn’t put them on different playing fields. That was something I loved about watching my dad at work. I always respected and admired it and I’ve taken it to my adulthood.”
Recently, she has been using social media to make waves and connect with fans! She started the McKenzie Makeup Challenge, which gives artists around the world the opportunity to have their work admired…and of course the chance at some cool prizes at the hands of her sponsor Relxacare! The idea came about after a conversation with her friend and former Face Off stylist, Darshan Gress. “She said, “Why don’t you do something Face Off-ish?” I thought it would be fun to bring back the show a little bit. I also started to think as artists, even myself, tend to go to a deeper darker place when things are awry. And with the state of the world we’re in right now this could be a good outlet for artists and that was my driving force. To bring something to artists that would be a mental outlet for them and to have their artistry be seen.”
She is also giving fans an inside look at her life with her “McKenzie Monday” series. It’s becoming a bird’s eye view into my life, what my day is like, and just a way of connecting with the fans. I’ll do makeup tutorials, happy hours, and some days it’ll just be chit chat. A little bit of everything,” she explained. “McKenzie also teased that exciting things are happening with Westmore Beauty! “Something very big is coming! I just can’t say yet.”
We, of course, had to ask McKenzie about her time in daytime. “On All My Children, I loved every moment with that! Michael Knight…getting to do scenes with him. Susan Lucci taking me under her wing and showing me around. I just made so many great friends. I had nothing but the best time on that show.” The actress has also been open about some of the difficult times she faced while portraying Sheridan Crane on Passions but shared that “Even with some of the rough things I dealt with through Passions, overall I don’t regret anything. I had some wonderful memories.”
Passions was a fan favorite because of the incredibly memorable storylines…with McKenzie at the helm of some of the best. Westmore shared that her favorites included the past lives plots. “Those were always so much fun. Alice in Wonderland was probably one of my favorites and, of course, the first Tango scene with Sheridan and Luis because that was really a moment where I knew that this was something big.”
Photo: NBC
It has been more than a decade since the soap ended but fans are still hurt by the fact that the beloved coupling didn’t get their happy ending…and McKenzie shared with us her feelings on the decision. “I always say that I was as much a fan of Sheridan and Luis as the fans. When I got the script I was just so angry. I was so mad and I don’t know if it shows in those last couple of episodes. I tried to hide it,” she laughed. “To this day I’m still upset. I don’t know what the point of that ending was. I think it was a big slap in the face to the fans.”
While McKenzie is always busy with fun and exciting projects including a dive into producing, she shared she would love to step back into the daytime world. “It’s funny because I’ve been told a couple of times by people who think I just want the leading role. I’m not like that. I’m not a diva. If a lead role came up that would be cool, but to be honest with you I would almost prefer something of a smaller role. I’m open to anything. It would just be so fun.”
We know that we would love to see her back! Thank you for the lovely chat, McKenzie! We are excited for what’s to come.
Tori
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