Brown University
“Sarah returns to GH as a new character–and a new woman.”
- by Tom Stacy
Sarah Brown (Claudia, General Hospital) isn’t plain and, standing at 5-foot-5 (”and three quarters!”), she’s not all that tall. But one thing’s for sure–Brown is, was, and always will be a force to be reckoned with. It’s been 12 years since Hurricane Carly first blew into Port Charles, leaving havoc in her wake. Her work garnered 3 Emmys before Brown left in 2001 to seek greener pastures, which she found. She scored stints on MONK, THE CLOSER, COLD CASE, among others, graced the silver-screen in Big Momma’s House 2, and even dabbled in daytime again, portraying AS THE WORLD TURNS’ Julia from 2004-05. Then in 2008 came the incredible news: Brown was returning to GH–but not as Carly, now played by Laura Wright. She’d signed on for one year as a new character, mob princess Claudia Zacchara.
Striding back onto the GH soundstage was an older, wiser Brown. “My daughter is a decade,” Brown marvels of Jordan, born in July 1998. “I can’t believe it, how is it possible? Actually it’s possible because I had her very, very, very young [laughs]. Certainly very young for my generation. I did it like my parents did it. I’m usually the youngest mom at school functions. Being a single moms is hard, fun, rewarding, challenging. It’s easier for children when there’s more than one person in their life giving them attention, and in that regard I am lucky because Jordan is very involved with her father [composer Shuki Levi], who has joint custody. She’s grown into a wonderful young person.”
Happily, Jordan’s a far cry from her mother’s latest incarnation, damaged goods Claudia. Some fans were initially shocked at Brown’s dark turn, complaining that the character was too textbook evil. She debuted in January, during the height of the writers’ strike, and a lack of a definitive point of view certainly didn’t help. “Bob [Guza, head writer] was doing Claudia anyway,” Brown shares. “But with the strike approaching, there was a question of what would happen to this character with just a little bit of [backstory] set up, then somebody else would come in with a little bit of [backstory]. Bob had pitched me ideas he’d thought about in detail for her, some of which didn’t necessarily come to fruition because somebody else took over the reins and did what made sense to them before I ever hit the ground. Everybody had different ideas where the story was going. It was not an optimal time to come in. And that’s nothing against [Interim head writer] Garin Wolf, who I think is wonderful and he did a great job of guiding the show. That’s just what happens whenever there’s a changing of the guard.”
Since the strike dust has settled, Brown says she’s pleased that hellcat Claudia has revealed a softer side. “I’m listening to Bob, and he’s listening to me,” Brown notes. “And I don’t mean we’re talking. He’s watching my work, and I’m watching his. And we’re agreeing on things without speaking.”
One factor softening Claudia’s sharp edges is the surprising possibility of a romantic pairing with Tyler Christopher’s grieving Cassadine prince, Nikolas, which set internet message boards abuzz. “I had to wash up on his island just to do a scene with him,” Brown chuckles. “Story-wise, it’s complicated, but they made it work and I honestly didn’t think it would. When I came into this job that I had done many years ago, I worked with Steve [Burton, Jason] and Maurice [Bernard, Sonny]. That was all I knew. When they said, ‘Let’s do this,’ I said, ‘What are you talking about? That’s not going to work.’ I’m the first person to admit when I’m wrong, and I was wrong, thinking something that wouldn’t work seven years ago wouldn’t work now.”
Now at her halfway mark, not all the surprises along the way have been pleasant. Brown was heartsick learning that Claudia would be responsible for the shooting of Michael, the boy that Carly had bore over a decade ago. “The baby that I gave birth to is the one that I’m committed to kill off? That was hard,” Brown sighs. “I thought they were going too far. Had I stayed and watched Dylan [Cash, ex-Michael] grow up, it would have been totally devastating to me. But I had no right to say anything I had to show up and say what they told me. That’s my job. I’m not a writer. It was really ironic though. Maybe that was their point?” Brown wonders, adding, “I love the ‘opera’ of the soap opera.”
Also in the Article
Just the Facts
Birthday: February 18
Good Girls Don’t: Why doesn’t Brown ever play the good girl? “I moved 15 times before I graduated high school–I’m not the girl next door because I didn’t live next door to anybody!”
Tress Stress: “My natural hair is really light brown, and it gets blond in the summer. But it’s not spectacular for my features. I have big features, I can live with that, but with dark hair, you’re allowed to get away with more.”
Parental Guidance: “I see my mother and father almost every day. My dad and I have an organic garden in my backyard. We grow together and he waters it every day. My parents divorced when I was 4, but they’re very good friends. We spend every other Sunday together at my house and we all pitch in. He brings the food, so he harvests, she cleans it, and I cook it.”
The Man in her Life: “I’m hoping [musician] John Mayer will come to his senses and if he doesn’t, maybe [AMERICAN IDOL winner] David Cook will.”
Did You Know?
- The self-professed music nerd trained at the Los Angeles County High School For the Performing Arts and The Hamilton Academy of Music.
- When Brown was pregnant with Jordan, on-screen mom Jackie Zeman (Bobbie) threw her a baby shower. Prior to that, Brown gave the baby shower for Nancy Lee Grahn (Alexis).
- She’s officially credited as Sarah Joy Brown because “there is a woman in the SAG [Screen Actors Guild] union and she sent me a letter saying, ‘I will sue you if you continue using the name Sarah Brown.’ I had been on GH three, four years and I was like, ‘Who was this woman?’ I don’t think she’d worked in 15 years. The name is mine, but technically it’s not. I was born with it. I am Sarah Brown. I wanted my name, but she got there first.
Gluten for Punishment
Think Brown looks different? You’re right. After years of unknowingly living with an autoimmune digestive disorder, Brown was diagnosed with celiac disease. According to the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness, one out of every 133 Americans has celiac disease, but 97% remain undiagnosed. The affliction damages the small intestine and interferes with absorption of nutrients from food.
“When people with celiac disease eat foods with gluten, the body is unable to absorb nutrients, which leads to all sorts of health issues,” explains Brown. “Gluten is a protein in wheat, rye, barley, and in some cases oats. I would get really sick, and I didn’t know what was going on. I went on a trip down the dark side for about three years. It started before ATWT. I had some episodes in my life that didn’t make any sense, that came out of nowhere. I had to go to the hospital. My face would swell. Imagine being that way for many years and not knowing that you’re destroying your intestines? And gluten is so prevalent [in foods]. You wouldn’t realize the same thing that’s in bread is in ice cream. Any time I’d eat pizza, my face swelled. My eyelids would swell so much it would look like I didn’t have any eyelids. Now when I go out to eat, I ask a lot of questions. Whenever people ask me about my body, I want to make it clear I don’t have an eating disorder. I love food. And I still love bread, but I haven’t had it in three years. I may be a size 0, but it’s not because I starve myself. I’m very conscious of what I put in my mouth and I advocate eating well for everybody. I learned the hard way. You’ve got to know what you’re putting in your body.”
For more information on celiac disease, check out celiaccentral.org.
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Source: Soap Opera Digest, August 12, 2008.
