Francesca James

Last updated

Francesca James (born January 23, 1949) is an American actress, writer, singer, composer, director and producer.

Contents

Biography

She grew up in Michigan, where she began her professional career in the theater at the age of 16.

After studying theater at Carnegie-Mellon University, she moved to New York City, where she worked in theater, and for several years, in daytime dramas, including The Secret Storm , As the World Turns , One Life to Live and All My Children (for which she was awarded a Best Supporting Actress Emmy in 1980). [1]

James made an impression playing the character of Marcy Wade on One Life to Live from 1970 to 1972, and was afterward asked to join the cast of All My Children as Kitty Shea, a dancer searching for her birth mother. She initially departed that program around its expansion to a full hour to become a singer. She later met Agnes Nixon, the show's creator, and expressed an interest to rejoin the show. Her character Kitty had died, but Nixon created the character of Kelly Cole, an addicted nightclub performer who was also Kitty's long-lost twin sister. She was given a chance to sing and even composed the song "Colored Lights" when another character, Tad Martin, was suffering from addiction.[ citation needed ]

James was written off All My Children in 1980 and then pursued a career in directing. Her directing credits include All My Children and Loving . She then moved to Los Angeles as a producer, where she worked on General Hospital , Santa Barbara and Days of Our Lives . While she was producing General Hospital in 1994–1995, the show was twice awarded the Daytime Emmy as Outstanding Drama Series. [2] [3] In 1995, James returned to New York and All My Children, which earned its second Outstanding Daytime Drama with her as producer. [4]

In 1998, James left the production team of All My Children, but stayed with ABC Daytime in a consulting position and as the head of its writer development program for the next year.[ citation needed ]

Awards and nominations

Daytime Emmy Awards

Related Research Articles

<i>All My Children</i> American television soap opera

All My Children is an American television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 5, 1970, to September 23, 2011, and on The Online Network (TOLN) from April 29 to September 2, 2013, via Hulu, Hulu Plus, and iTunes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erika Slezak</span> American actress

Erika Alma Hermina Slezak is an American actress, best known for her role as Victoria "Viki" Lord on the American daytime soap opera One Life to Live from 1971 through the television finale in 2012 and again in the online revival in 2013. She is one of the longest-serving serial actors in American media. For her portrayal of Viki, she has won six Daytime Emmy Awards, the most of any daytime drama actress.

<i>One Life to Live</i> American television series

One Life to Live is an American soap opera broadcast on the ABC television network for more than 43 years, from July 15, 1968, to January 13, 2012, and then on the internet as a web series on Hulu and iTunes via Prospect Park from April 29 to August 19, 2013. Created by Agnes Nixon, the series was the first daytime drama to primarily feature ethnically and socioeconomically diverse characters and consistently emphasize social issues. One Life to Live was expanded from 30 minutes to 45 minutes on July 26, 1976, and then to an hour on January 16, 1978.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susan Lucci</span> American actress (born 1946)

Susan Victoria Lucci is an American actress, television host, author and entrepreneur, best known for portraying Erica Kane on the ABC daytime drama All My Children during that show's entire network run from 1970 to 2011. The character is considered an icon, and Lucci was called "Daytime's Leading Lady" by TV Guide, with The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times citing her as the highest-paid actor in daytime television. As early as 1991, her salary had been reported as over $1 million a year. During her run on All My Children, she was nominated 21 times for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. She won only once, in 1999, after the 19th nomination; beginning in the late 1980s her status as a perpetual nominee for the award attracted significant media attention.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agnes Nixon</span> American soap opera screenwriter

Agnes Nixon was an American television writer and producer, and the creator of the ABC soap operas One Life to Live, All My Children, as well as Loving and its spin-off The City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crystal Chappell</span> American actress (b. 1965)

Crystal Elizabeth Chappell is an American actress who played Carly Manning on Days of Our Lives from 1990 to 1993, Maggie Carpenter on One Life to Live from 1995–97 and Olivia Spencer on Guiding Light from 1999 to 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heather Tom</span> Actress

Heather Marie Tom is an American actress and television director. She is best known for her acting work on various soap operas. Her best known roles are Victoria Newman on The Young and the Restless, Kelly Cramer on One Life to Live and All My Children, and since 2007, Katie Logan on The Bold and the Beautiful. On The Bold and the Beautiful, she has earned a record-tying six Daytime Emmy Awards, the most for a soap actress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Finola Hughes</span> English actress

Finola Hughes is an English dancer and actress, best known for her role as Anna Devane on the ABC soap operas General Hospital and All My Children, and her portrayal of Laura in the 1983 film Staying Alive, the sequel to Saturday Night Fever.

Ellen Jayne Wheeler is an American actress, director and producer. Her work, both on screen and in production, has been primarily in American daytime drama.

Kimberly Anne McCullough is an American actress and television director. She is best known for her role as Robin Scorpio on the soap opera General Hospital, a role which she originated at age seven, playing the character on and off from 1985 to 2001 with a stint in 2004. McCullough later returned to the show in 2005 as a doctor and departed in 2012. She has made sporadic guest appearances since July 2012. She returned to the show in August 2013, but went off-contract in 2018 and has subsequently retired from acting to focus on a directing career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jane Elliot</span> American actress

Jane Elliot is an American actress, best known for her role as Tracy Quartermaine in the ABC daytime soap opera, General Hospital.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laura Wright</span> American actress

Laura Wright is an American actress. She is perhaps best known for her roles as Ally Rescott on Loving (1991–1995) and The City (1995–1997), Cassie Layne Winslow on Guiding Light (1997–2005) and Carly Corinthos on General Hospital (2005–present); the latter garnered her the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 2011.

Sarah Joy Brown, sometimes credited simply as Sarah Brown, is an American actress. She is perhaps best known for originating the role of Carly Corinthos on the American daytime drama General Hospital from 1996 to 2001. For the role, she won three Daytime Emmy Awards. In 2008, she returned to General Hospital in a different role, Claudia Zacchara. She exited General Hospital once again in 2009 and began appearing on The Bold and the Beautiful in the newly created role of Aggie Jones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julia Barr</span> American actress (b. 1949)

Julia Barr is an American actress. Barr is most famous for her role on the soap opera All My Children, playing the character of Brooke English. She played the role from 1976 to 1981 and from 1982 to December 20, 2006 and Barr made a special appearance as Brooke on January 5, 2010 as part of the series' 40th anniversary, and returned on February 23, 2010 for a three-month stint until April 23, 2010.

Kristen DeAnn Alderson is an American actress and singer, best known for her 15-year portrayal of Starr Manning on the ABC daytime drama One Life to Live, and for originating the role of Kiki Jerome on General Hospital.

Alicia Minshew is an American actress. She is best known for portraying Kendall Hart on the daytime drama All My Children.

Megan McTavish is American television actress and soap opera writer. McTavish is best known for several head writing stints on All My Children.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Fickett</span> American actress (1928–2011)

Mary Fickett was an American actress with roles in the American television dramas The Nurses, The Edge of Night as Sally Smith (1961) and Dr. Katherine Lovell (1967–68), and as Ruth Parker Brent Martin #1 on All My Children.

Jean Passanante is an American television screenwriter, best known for her work in daytime soap operas. Passanante got her start as an actress doing bit parts in the 1980s, including John Sayles's Return of the Secaucus 7 and Lianna. She later became a soap opera writer.

Donna Swajeski is an American writer known for her work on television soap operas. She has been a head writer, a co-head writer and a breakdown writer on award-winning daytime dramas for NBC Daytime, ABC Daytime and CBS Daytime. Before beginning her writing career on daytime dramas, she was Director of the East Coast Daytime Programs for NBC.

References

  1. "The Seventh Annual Daytime Emmy Awards". Daytime Emmy Archives. SoapCentral.com. Retrieved February 23, 2012.
  2. "The Twenty-Second Annual Daytime Emmy Awards". Daytime Emmy Archives. SoapCentral.com. Retrieved February 23, 2012.
  3. "The Twenty-Third Annual Daytime Emmy Awards". Daytime Emmy archives. SoapCentral.com. Retrieved February 23, 2012.
  4. "The Twenty-Fifth Annual Daytime Emmy Awards". Daytime Emmy Archives. SoapCentral.com. Retrieved February 23, 2012.
Preceded by Executive Producer of All My Children
April 1996-April 1998
Succeeded by