Kim Zimmer

Actress

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation Presents

02:26

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About

About this interview

In her two-hour Archive interview, actress Kim Zimmer describes her talents and experience as a singer and dancer, her schooling, and her approach to acting. She talks about starting out as an actress in soap operas starting with One Life To Live for several months in 1978, and continuing with The Doctors, and returning (as a different character) to One Life to Live in 1983. She speaks in great detail about her long tenure as the incomparable "Reva Shayne" on Guiding Light, describing her co-stars, her attention-grabbing story lines, and the overall personality traits of Reva. She also describes her guest appearances on such series as Models Inc. and on Seinfeld, where she speaks enthusiastically about the experience of being a guest star on an established series. Karen Herman conducted the interview in New York, NY on September 19, 2006.

"Be real. It's so easy to go over-the-top and and they like you to go over-the-top. But if you don't know who you are and what you're doing, and you go over-the-top it's bad. If you know who you are and you know what you're doing, it's brilliant. There's a very fine line between bad and brilliant and it can all happen on a soap opera, because it happens so fast, the work is so fast, and you don't have the time to absorb."

People Talking About ...

Kim Zimmer

Highlights

Kim Zimmer on watching Guiding Light as a child and how her mother's dream for her was for her to star on Guiding Light

Kim Zimmer on her first TV role on One Life to Live, where she played a character based on Patty Hearst (who was in the news at that time)

Kim Zimmer on the origin of Guiding Light's title and its original premise

Kim Zimmer on playing Reva on Guiding Light; on leaving the series in 1990

Kim Zimmer on her Daytime Emmy Award wins

Full Interview

Chapter 1

Introduction

On her early years, interest in acting (and participating in pageants), and education; on her early acting career

On her first work in television on One Life to Live

On replacing Kathleen Turner on The Doctors in 1979

Chapter 2

On working on The Doctors (as Nola); on joining One Life to Live (as another character); on wanting to leave soap operas and on the contracts used for actors; on joining Guiding Light

Chapter 3

On her role as Reva on Guiding Light; on her co-stars; on some of the storylines; on the production process

Chapter 4

On playing Reva; on leaving Guiding Light in 1990; on some of her guest roles (including Seinfeld); on returning to Guiding Light after five years; on her favorite storyline; on the infamous Guiding Light "fountain scene"

On advice to aspiring actors; on daytime drama writers; on the soap opera genre; on her Emmy wins; on her son Jake who has followed in her footsteps

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