DAYTIME DIVA

Destrehan’s Shelley Hennig is making a name for herself in the world of daytime drama as Stephanie Johnson on Days of Our Lives

Destrehan native Shelley Hennig first found herself in the spotlight when she was crowned as Miss Teen USA in 2004, but it’s her role on NBC’s Days of Our Lives that’s quickly making the soap-opera starlette a household name.

Hennig, 21, says she didn’t go looking for a role on the daytime serial, but after a meet and greet with the show’s producers turned into test shoot, she was cast as the vivacious race-car driver Stephanie Johnson.

After nearing a two-year course of study at New York’s School for Film and Television – a scholarship prize for winning Miss Teen USA 2004 – Hennig traveled to the west coast for spring break.

“I wanted to relax and kick back with some friends,” said Hennig. “But before I left for California, my school’s artistic director Joan See said that it was time to start meeting people.”

Hennig met up with Roy Steinberg, supervising producer of Days and a meeting was arranged.

“I got there on a Monday, and I had a voice mail from him,” Hennig said. “He told me that he needed me in the studio in 30 minutes because a part had opened up and they were going to start screen tests.”

After an $80 cab ride, Hennig cold-read a scene and was told that she probably wasn’t right for the part, but was asked to screen-test the next day anyway.

“Every other actress at the call had red hair and I finally knew why the part wasn’t for me,” she said. “They were obviously casting a redhead.”

Naturally, Hennig was nervous and excited all at the same time, and although she had spent the entire night before rehearsing the script she was asked to read, it wasn’t going to be easy.

“I bombed the rehearsal and nearly had a nervous breakdown,” Hennig said. “But then I got to do the screen test with Mary Beth Evans, Stephanie’s on-screen mom, Kayla.”

When the test shoot was over, Evans told Hennig, “You’re beautiful inside and out. You’re going to be great.”

That next afternoon, Hennig got the call that was going to change her life and move her from coast to coast. She got the part.

“Next thing I knew, I was shooting scenes and reading pages and pages of script. I couldn’t believe it, I was on a soap opera,” she said.

And that’s the way Hennig has spent the majority of her days for the last year – evolving both herself and her character through long hours and rehearsals.

“The funny thing about it all is that when I first started acting school, I really didn’t do all that well. But at the end of the first year I had a breakthrough,” said Hennig. “The instructors have to break you down as much as they can, but it’s for good reason. It all makes you a better actor in the end.”

Hennig says that while her time at New York’s School for Film and Television taught her how to act, it was her childhood dance instructor Duanne Cazalot of Dance Unlimited of the River Parishes who showed her what it meant to have confidence on stage.

“I’ve been dancing since I was 2 years old,” said Hennig. “And it’s something that I love to do. I always wanted to perform and I loved competing.”

But playing Stephanie on Days has taken Hennig to places deep within herself that she’s never been before.

Within the first year, Hennig’s character has been committed to a mental institution, kidnapped and raped – just to name a few.

“The hardest part of acting are the hours and the emotion that goes into it,” she said. “During the rape storyline, I used my imagination to take me where I needed to be to get the scenes done.”

“I didn’t necessarily think about being raped or about anything bad that’s happened to me. I totally made up imaginary scenarios to help me be as emotional as I needed to be to get the job done.”

But on the other hand Hennig points out that enjoying the perks of being a daytime star and living in Los Angeles is the easiest part.

“I just love waking up in the morning and eating oatmeal on the balcony of my apartment,” she said. “And then driving to work to get my hair and makeup done. Plus I get to wear great clothes.”

Hennig says that sometimes it feels as though she and her character have become one and that it’s sometimes hard to separate who’s picked up whose traits.

“Stephanie and I both like to have fun,” said Hennig. “But when I watch myself on TV, I can see where my annoying and bratty traits come through. But we’re different, too. I’m more of an independent person than Stephanie.”

While her time on Days has been a great learning experience, Hennig says that she’d like to eventually move on to primetime television or film roles with in the next few years.

“I want to experience all mediums of film and television,” said Hennig. “Each one is different from the other in so many ways.”

When asked what is the one thing she brought with her from Louisiana to California, Hennig said “the spirit of New Orleans and my appetite.”

“I love to eat, especially delicious home-cooked food from the south,” she said. “People in L.A. don’t think about food as much, but for me, the first I think about when I wake up is breakfast.”

Catch Hennig on Days of Our Lives weekdays at 1 p.m. on NBC.