Actress Alicia Minshew. Photo Credit: Maryann Bates.

Actress Alicia Minshew. Photo Credit: Maryann Bates.

If you ask actress Alicia Minshew what she’s most excited about, her knee-jerk reaction is to inform you that her four-and-a-half-year-old daughter is starting kindergarten. But her excitement over new beginnings does not stop there.

After almost a solid decade of playing Kendall Hart on All My Children (1970-2011), the Daytime Emmy–nominated actress is in the midst of a whirlwind of different roles, among them the upcoming dramedy, Surviving Sam.

“For me, it’s exciting because it’s a comedy, which I rarely get to do,” says Minshew about the upcoming show in an exclusive interview with GALO. “I play Sam, the high-maintenance ex-wife — I’m forced to live under the same roof as my ex-husband and our two children.”

Minshew’s role on Surviving Sam, which is set to premiere this fall and will be streamed online on TVtibi (a new Internet TV network that is currently in beta test), follows close on the heels of her other Web series-based work: Beacon Hill and Tainted Dreams, the latter of which focuses on the behind-the-scenes machinations of fictional soap-opera Painted Dreams, and coincidentally is also the brainchild of director and producer Sonia Blangiardo, who has worked on popular daytime shows like All My Children and General Hospital. Minshew plays Angelica Caruso, the show’s senior producer who has to manage everyone’s drama. Tainted Dreams’ first episode is available online for free.

“The Web is the future now. I feel like it is actually great for us — it gives you so many chances to do other things,” explains Minshew.

Though Minshew’s alma mater of sorts, All My Children, was canceled, the show was briefly revived online in 2013, with avid-fans of the show making its Web premiere the most downloaded TV season that day. Minshew briefly appeared in one of the webisodes, though the experience was bittersweet.

“It was different, I will admit. It was nice to see everyone — it was fun for a day,” she says of the experience.

The online version of the show has since been canceled, but with mediums like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon resurrecting shows and creating new ones, Minshew says to “never say never. It could always come back!”

However, Minshew’s resume is not exclusive to television. The actress first took to her craft on the stage, after being inspired by her grandfather’s vaudeville performances at their local theater.

“There’s nothing like being on stage in front of a live audience,” says Minshew. “Anything can happen. But I have to say, I’m very at home in front of the camera — whether it’s daytime or primetime or film.”

In fact, Minshew’s first role after All My Children was a film called Desires of the Heart, in which she played a mysterious artist in Savannah, GA. Her character, Madeline, falls in love with a psychiatrist from India who is called away by his family for an arranged marriage. The brown-haired, blue-eyed South Floridian — who looks nothing short of a Greek goddess and is a philanthropist and healthy food advocate on the side — is up to any challenge that’s thrown her way in the acting arena, and has been happily enjoying more screen time in the last few years. Suffice it to say, it should then come as no surprise that after wrapping up Surviving Sam, the prolific actress will be off to shoot indie film Good Clean Fun in New Hampshire, a crime-comedy about a wife who breaks bad after discovering her husband’s philandering ways.

In light of her past and recent successes, Minshew stresses the impact of her fans that have been with her since the beginning.

“I just want to point out that the fans I got from being on All My Children are probably the most loyal fans ever,” she says.” They supported me no matter what was happening with my storyline and now that I’ve left the show, they keep in touch with what I do. They follow me on Twitter, saying things like ‘I can’t wait for Surviving Sam’ or ‘I went to the film festival to see Desires of the Heart.’ I just want to say that I think they’re a rare breed of fan that will support you wherever you go, and I think that’s pretty special.”


Video courtesy of PlinMar Productions LLC.