On the fence about attending Super Soap Weekend at Disney-MGM Studios? Would a little Dancing With the Stars make a difference? We now know that Cameron Mathison, pulling double duty on All My Children and surviving thus far on DWTS, will perform with his professional partner Edyta Sliwinska during the evening "street jam" on Saturday. The stars' motorcade begins at 7:15 p.m., with the jam afterwards.
Another street jam note: Expect "Cell Block Tango" but with an ABC Daytime twist.
Friday I talked with several ABC actresses about Super Soap Weekend experiences and daytime dramas in general. These are their stories. Quick! Who was allegedly named for a Magic Kingdom attraction? (After the jump: One Life to Live's Erika Slezak plus Laura Wright and Rebecca Herbst from General Hospital.)(Also: For Super Soap preview interview with Alicia Minshew of All My Children, click here.)
Tika Sumpter, Layla on One Life to Life. It’s her first Super Soap.
On her SSW debut: I’m ready for all the fans. "It’s times 100 here than at normal fan events. The fans are excited to see us, so why shouldn’t we be excited to see them? David Fumero, who plays Cristian Vega on the show, and Melissa Gallo, who plays Adriana Cramer, gave me a little heads up. They’re like ‘Pace yourself, have fun, enjoy it, it may be overwhelming at times but just breathe and enjoy it. And try not to smile way too much because it makes your mouth hurt.’ "
On coming to Disney at age 12: "Disney World was my most favorite place to go. I just remember "it’s a small world and all these different place and I want to go back. It’s so different when you’re older. It’s like oh, OK. It’s not so HUGE."
On her first two years on OLTL: "Everyone has treated me, from day one, like family."
On her hopes for high-soap drama: "I need a stalker, give me an extra boyfriend, an old boyfriend. Maybe a kid that I had a long time ago. yeah, I would love just some more drama, more craziness, more back story to let the fans know where she’s coming from. Why is she so feisty? Why is she so hard?"
On the name Tika: "I supposedly got the name here when I was at Disney World, when I was way younger. I came here as a baby. Somehow I was crying, I saw a Tiki bird, my grandmother gave me that name. That’s the family legend. (Her mom disagrees though). I’ve had the name forever."