ESPRIT LIBRE // Press Archive

The Best of Both Worlds (Soaps In Depth 8/15/06)
For Bree Williamson (Jessica/Tess), doing double duty has been twice as much fun!

FYI
Birthday: December 28.
Birthplace: Toronto.
Barefoot In The Sand: The actress married Josh Evans this past December in Costa Rica, where the two had first met while surfing. "We had a great time," says Williamson of her seaside ceremony, "and everything worked out perfectly!" The time of year will now determine where the two will be staying. "Now we're in Costa Rica's rainy season," she points out, "so Josh and I are in New York most of the time. The dry season starts again in December, so that's when he'll be heading back, and I'll be going back and forth."

Since early 2005, One Life to Live's Bree Williamson has gotten a chance to play both nice Jessica and naughty Tess numerous times. So, right off the bat, we want to know, who is she more like? "Neither," she laughs. "They're both very extreme. Jessica is very responsible and takes on other people's problems a lot of the time; she's very smart and driven, anad Tess is the exact opposite. So I think that everybody has a bit of both of Jess and Tess in them!"

Who Are You?
In the future, Williamson's role looks like it's going to have a bit of both of them in her if Jess and Tess' personalities are merged as planned. "It looks like the integration is going to happen," she acknowledges. "And it's going to be interesting to see who the final character ends up being -- not even what her name is but how are they going to write her and what's going to happen?"

If she could, which of the two personalities would she like to see survive in the end? "You know what," she laughs, "I'm biased because I walked into the role of Jessica; she had been on the show forever. Tess will always have a special place with me because she was all mine -- from the beginning till, you know, whatever!"

Award-Worthy
Before the integration process could even befing, the secret that Tess held for 20 years from Jessica (and from us for more than one) first had to make its way out. So, how did Williamson feel about the big reveal from earlier this year, that Jess' sexual abuse created the need for a Tess? "I thought it was totally satisfying," she says, "and I think it accomplished many things, [including] adding another level to the relationship between Jessica and Viki and putting a little twist in the relationship between Tess and Viki."

That mother/daughter relationship proved to be crucial a short time later when Viki convinced Tess to let Jessica be present for Brennan's birth. "They were really hard," she recalls of the split-screen scenes. "When I was taping it, they had the stunt double lying in the bed as Tess was giving birth, and I was Jessica standing beside her. And you have to keep your emotions [going] through the whole thing."

Secenes like that could lead to an Emmy nod for the actress next year. But shockingly, she was left off the list of nominees earlier this year in the category of Outstanding Younger Actress. Williamson, though, prefers to take it all in stride. "I think that people must have a limit to how many good things can happen to them in a year," she offers. "I think I hit mine and that's why I didn't get nominated. Or all the other girls were just better than me!"

The Rest Is Still Unwritten
One question that remains is which man will be better for a newly integrated Jess/Tess. Does Williamson have a preference? "Uh, both would be great," she chuckles. "I think both men have proven to love Jessica and Tess more than anything, so it's an interesting situation. I don't know what they're going to do.

"Everything has been great from beginning to end," she continues, "and it still hasn't ended. It's pretty amazing to keep a storyline this interesting for this amoutn fo time. Kudos to the writers -- they wrote me a great story!"

And how does Williamson see her own story continuing: Will she be sticking around the show in the future, or is it onto the next chapter in her life? "I don't know," she admits. "I take things one day at a time. I'm just trying to get through this week -- that's about it!" -- Frank Scalise

...On her relationship with Kamar de los Reyes (Antonio): "There's a huge comfort level between us," Williamson points out. "We've worked together a lot in the last couple of years, and he's awesome!"

...On Jerry verDorn's (Clint) assimilation into the OLTL family: "I can't even imagine not having him here," she enthuses. "He's very funny and just a rock-solid actor and person in general."

...On working wth Forbes March (Nash): "Forbes is great," Williamson says, "and it's partly due to him that this storyline has worked out so well. And he's Canadian, which is neat!"

...On Erika Slezak's portrayals of Viki and Niki: "It's amazing how she can keep both characters so separate like that," she offers. "When she says a word, there's absolutely no doubt about who's speaking."