Soap Opera Digest: What has been your favorite project besides PASSIONS?
Kelli McCarty: I hosted a pilot for the Golf Channel. I love golf, and we had a great time. It’s called TRAVEL AROUND. It’s still being sent out to different people, but hopefully it will still [air]. I was basically going to a different golf course every weekend and not only talking about the golf course, but also talking about the city itself and things that the person who is not golfing could do. It was a lot of fun. That was one of my favorites.Digest: Will we see you on SUMMERLAND again? (McCarty portrayed Courtney on the episode “Life in the Fishbowl,” which originally aired on 8/3/04.)
McCarty: I hope so. It was a lot of fun to work on. It was all week out in Malibu on the beach, so I couldn’t complain.Digest: Why do you like to act?
McCarty: For me, ever since I was little, I knew that it is what I wanted to do. I love getting into different characters, or if I’m the same character, trying to find fun and creative things to bring to that character. There isn’t anything else you can do as a profession and forget your whole self while you’re working and become somebody else. Plus, I get to work with an orangutan, and that is like heaven for me.Digest: What other talents do you have?
McCarty: I taught swim lessons growing up. My mom had a swimming school for almost 30 years, so I grew up doing that.Digest: What is your nationality?
McCarty: I’m a big mix. German and French are the prominent ones, some Irish and Native American.Digest: Who was your first friend on PASSIONS?
McCarty: Galen (Gering, Luis). My first scenes were with him, and we just hit it off and had a lot of fun and still do.Digest: What were you like in high school?
McCarty: I was a jock and a cheerleader, and I think, despite what a lot of people thought about me, I was actually pretty shy. But if I was up onstage or performing, that’s when my personality came out more so. I don’t think I was as open and outgoing as I got to be later on.Digest: What is your favorite food?
McCarty: French fries.Digest: Have you been in any commercials?
McCarty: Yeah, my first job when I moved to Los Angeles was for the All-In-One Tool. It was the first audition I had ever gone on, and it was unbelievable that I even booked it because usually when you go into an audition and you’re reading the script, you stand there and read it into the camera. But I didn’t know. The script was, the girl is fixing a pipe under the sink. I started acting it all out. The producer and director were there, and they were dying laughing and I didn’t know why. I just left. And they called and I had it. I think it was just because I was so green and didn’t know. I also did a Reebok commercial.Digest: Which celebrity to do admire?
McCarty: I love Catherine O’Hara. She is unbelievably talented and cracks me up. Even when she’s not doing a comedy, I just love watching her.Digest: Where do you want to vacation next?
McCarty: I would love to go to Costa Rica; I haven’t been.Digest: Did you vote?
McCarty: Of course.Digest: What’s your motto?
McCarty: Don’t wait for your ship to come in, swim out to it.Digest: What color are your eyes?
McCarty: Green. Everyone thinks they’re blue. I think what I wear makes a difference.Digest: How often do you go home to Kansas?
McCarty: A couple of times a year. I’m planning a trip to Kansas to see a lot of friends and family there.Digest: What is your favorite color?
McCarty: Blue.Digest: How do you feel about reality TV?
McCarty: I’m over it.Digest: If you weren’t an actress, you’d be …
McCarty: Something with animals, maybe even an animal trainer. After working with BamBam [who plays Precious, the orangutan] for so long now, I just really love that side of it. Anything to do with animals, I would be happy.Digest: What is your guilty pleasure?
McCarty: French fries.Digest: Do you read your horoscope?
McCarty: Sometimes, I do. I do believe in astrology, but I don’t make it a daily habit.
