Catching Up With GH’s Sarah Brown

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ABC has been good to Sarah Brown. First the actress got her big break on General Hospital originating the role of Carly in 1996. Now she’s popping up all over the network’s prime-time lineup, recurring as a hooker named Astrid on 10-8, and guest-starring on Karen Sisco and L.A. Dragnet.

If you think her portrayal of a prostitute is daring, wait till you see her upcoming role on Dragnet. “She’s an Internet chat hostess for a porn site,” previews Brown. “She calls herself ‘Fantasy Girl 2003.’ I had courtroom scenes where I’m dressed up in a suit, and I have scenes where I’m in full dominatrix gear doing my Internet porn–which is rated G for television, of course. It does come on after The Wonderful World of Disney. It was an opportunity to go to a very dark place that I’ve never gone to on television, even with Carly.”

Brown has gone dark in another place, too: her hair. “I went in for so many things and I got so close to so many projects, and at the end of the day I wouldn’t get the job,” confides the naturally blonde Brown. “I aired my first episode as a brunette on 10-8 and from that moment on, everything picked up for me.” (Brown also had a guest-starring role on NBC’s Lyon’s Den this fall.)

Her new hair color has another benefit, too. “In a lot of ways your best asset as an actor is being invisible because then you can watch people,” Brown shares. After five years on the high-profile soap, Brown found that difficult to do. “I got to the point where I would dress down and have dirty hair and tennis shoes because I didn’t want to be looked at — I wanted to look. So I found this wonderful world of anonymity when I changed my hair color: few people recognize me.”

That’s not to say Brown is hiding from her fans. “I have a Web site that I keep up-to-date (www.sarahbrown.net). I have a very active fan base and I keep in touch.” And though time is tight between shooting, auditions and raising her 5-year-old daughter, Jordan Alexandra, she tries to keep up with her former cast mates, too. “I keep in touch with Maurice (Benard, Sonny) and his wife, not on a regular basis but every couple of months we talk or bump into each other,” she reveals. “Recently I went to a charity event (for the Desi Geestman Foundation), which gave me the opportunity to actually see eight out of 10 people that I worked with when I was there.” Brown is also now close with Tyler Christopher (Nikolas, GH) through his wife, Eva Longoria (ex-Isabella, The Young and the Restless). “She’s also on Dragnet, which was wonderful,” she beams. “We bumped into each other at an audition many moons ago, hit it off and became great friends.”

However, Brown refrains from tuning in to GH. “That’s not going to do anything for me,” she says with a laugh. “I’m not a big soap fan; I never was. Unless I’m on or a friend of mine is on a show, I don’t watch anything on network television besides the occasional Without a Trace [on which she also guest-starred].”

Though Brown is proud of her work on GH, she doesn’t foresee a return to daytime. “I’m hoping that I can make a mark for myself beyond daytime and stay in prime time, move into film and have a lasting impression on the world–not because I want to be famous or rich but because I want to do something that sticks around. That’s my goal in life: to do films about important issues and to take on incredible, challenging, fascinating roles of complex and different kinds of people.”

But wherever she goes, Brown will bring a little bit of Carly with her. “I was so blessed to have that group of writers create that character for me and take her in the direction that they did,” she reflects. “I love that girl, and I definitely use aspects of her personality when it suits other roles. I miss her…but not too much.”