JoVan Message Board and Guest Book

Renee Elise Goldsberry:
Thanks everybody for logging on to chat with me!

Butterfly

hello renee! i think that you're a naturally gifted actress, and the proof is in the pudding. you have chemistry with everyone you interact with. i really like the 'edge' that evangeline has taken on - brings a lot to the character. are more layers of evangeline going to be revealed? (pro jovan by the way)

Renee Elise Goldsberry:
Thanks, hello Butterfly! I'm so glad that you're enjoying my character. The writers have really started to make an investment of uncovering layers of her. We just started shooting for the fall and we're uncovering more and more layers. It's been really fun.

Sabrina

I love more Evangeline on my screen! Any chance for RJ and Evangeline??

Renee Elise Goldsberry:
Thank you. I'm glad that you asked that because I love working with Timothy Stickney. I look forward to having more opportunities to work with him because I so enjoyed it when we worked together more often. But right now I'm having a wonderful time watching him on TV! He's fun to watch and he's different without Evangeline.

Debbie - JK #10

Renee - I absolutely adore you and was very honored to have the pleasure of meeting you twice. My question is: I've been missing Evangeline the month of September. Will you have more air time in October and is that when the football episode occurs? Thanks

Renee Elise Goldsberry:
How is it that you guys know so much more than I do?? Lol. It was wonderful to meet you, too, I've had the chance to meet some really awesome fans and that's the best part of this job. I get a lot of letters about where I am (on screen). The summer was slower for my character. Our show has a lot of great actors and a soap is at its best when we can show our whole ensemble. But, I can happily say we've been taping October and it's been amazing so far. The week of September 27 will make Jovan fans happy...we're going to have a good time.

Renee Elise Goldsberry:
I so appreciate the letters and emails I've received from people looking for me! It really means so much to me.

Dawn

Hi.Renee. I love watching your work with Michael Easton. Do you enjoy working with him and is there anyone else on the set you particularly enjoy having scenes with?

Renee Elise Goldsberry:
I absolutely love working with Michael Easton, it's like playing. And I love the fact that I'm working with Melissa Archer more. I'm looking forward to more of that because it's good soap opera fun. I also like working with Hillary Smith, our relationship is so real - with two working, competitive women.

IRis

Hi Renee,
Can you please tell me, what if any professional training did you have, before you got your first acting job?

Renee Elise Goldsberry:
That's a very good question. When I was little, my mom put me and my brother in theatre school over the summer. So we would spend our summers doing musicals and I just got the bug. Then I went to college for theatre and for grad school I went to music school. I did have a lot of training but it didn't feel like work.

Renee Elise Goldsberry:
What's great about a soap opera is that there's so much material that you just get better and better. It's like on the job training.

Sabrina

The ABC/SOAPNET Fall preview special said Evangeline would become Natalie's lawyer. Can you elaborate?

Renee Elise Goldsberry:
Actually we haven't gotten that far so I don't really know. But the rumor is that Natalie might end up needing a lawyer soon. The good thing, the best thing about my job at the moment is that I'm the only defense attorney in town! We haven't shot anything yet but it is the rumor that I've heard and I'm looking forward to it.

Tiffany

Hi Renee! I am a big fan of your work on OLTL! I would like to know where you would like to see the writers take Evangeline next .

Renee Elise Goldsberry:
What's been great about the writing for John/Van is that they've been showing a more vulnerable side to her. He's been the person who listens to her and talks to her about her family, and where she comes from in terms of who she is. I would love to know where Evangeline is and who she is when she's at home. I would love to have a family on the show, and a place to live.

Renee Elise Goldsberry:
But I think there's so much more you can do with characters before adding more - you can kind of crash them into each other, kind of like what the writers did with John/Van. I would love for them to do that more with other characters.

catherine

I love your hair, can you tell me what type of products you use

Renee Elise Goldsberry:
Don't be fooled! It's only when I'm on TV that it looks this good. I always have it up in a ponytail off set. I leave to get my hair done before scenes. My stylist uses really good products, I like Redken. I tend to end up using any deep conditioning products. I try not to do it myself because I like to give it a break. My stylist works here in NYC and he makes it his project to make my hair look good.

Renee Elise Goldsberry:
I'm sitting there with Kassie DePaiva and Bree Williamson with these bouncy heads of hair so I feel like I have to keep up! I appreciate that you asked that.

hawksamber74

Ms Goldsberry, I think you are doing a great job as Evangeline Williamson. Do you find that the fact that your character is such a strong one that she is a definite rolemodel for many young people who have self esteem issues in their lives?

Renee Elise Goldsberry:
I hope so. I feel like they're doing a good job of writing her so that she could be a role model. I would feel more confident in saying that if I was writing her myself. On a soap you always have characters who make mistakes so you may not want to emulate everything in their lives. But there is a confidence to Evangeline and a sense of right and wrong. She has a certain sense of entitlement when she walks into a room that I think most young women should have. But I hope that people are discerning enough to take the right things from her.

Jayla H.

Renee, I am thoroughly enjoying the John and Evangeline relationship!!! In some ways, interracial romance is still considered taboo, especially a black woman with a white man. How do you feel about the John/Evangeline romance and the way it's being portrayed?

Renee Elise Goldsberry:
What I liked the most about it initially was the fact that there was no build up to it. It was two people with a gut level response to each other. That was surprising and exciting. I think it was a good thing that the writers dealt with it as two people who were attracted to each other and are trying to work it out. As a Black actress it's sometimes a frustration for me because people feel like they have to write a certain way for me. I would just like a good story and a good actor will tell it.

Renee Elise Goldsberry:
I don't think this relationship would have worked if the writers had set out to make some kind of a statement with the romance. That's real, and that's the way they should write stories. But we do live in the world so at some point the racial issue may come up. We have a responsibility to not ignore that, but we have to start from the honest place of who are these two people and how do they fit together? They have differences but the most obvious difference between them isn't their color.

Roz

When will we ever see where Evangeline lives?

Renee Elise Goldsberry:
That's a great question! This last summer for my character has just set a group of fans on fire and they've been wonderful advocates for my character and my story. Just them asking that question has paid off wonderfully for me. There's two major things that I've always wanted: the first one when the costume designer handed me a pair of jeans. I was never so happy as when I got to wear those jeans.

Renee Elise Goldsberry:
And the second thing was when I read a script the other day and it said, "Evangeline's house!" I almost threw the script into the air with happiness because I am getting a place to live. Thank you to all the fans for helping with that.

MEcandy

I really enjoy your watching your character. Is she going to have her own place ever? I like her with John but the meetings in the Roach motel have got to end!

Renee Elise Goldsberry:
Evangeline surprised even me with that! She must really want that man to have spent so many nights on that little twin bed!

Renee Elise Goldsberry:
In the first scenes I had with John, I went to this prison cell to represent him and when he told me where he lived the first thing I said was, 'You have to move!'

SweetLuvzJoVan

Hello Renee,

You are an incredible actress and I SO enjoy watching you as Evangeline Williamson on OLTL. I have many questions but one in particular. Will the writers involve Evangeline more with John and RJ by inventing a triangle? The three of you together would make for a more compelling story.

Also, when are they giving Vangie a home with furniture and family members? You spoke of your mother with RJ a while ago but we have not seen her or heard you mention her recently. There are just so many facets to Evangeline worth exploring and I hope the writers begin to fully develop your character.

I have enjoyed how JoVan has already established an emotional bond as well as physical.

Great meeting you in PA.

Adrienne

Renee Elise Goldsberry:
Thanks so much for coming to PA, Adrienne. It was wonderful to meet you, too. I know that the writers are interested in triangles, but I haven't seen anything in the scripts with Van/John/RJ. But the scenes were on fire between Michael and Timothy, they're such great actors who can do so much with so little. I would love to have a mother onscreen and I know amazing women who could play her. So hopefully one day they'll hire someone.

Melissa

Hey Renee,

I love you on One life to live! Was it intimidating when you first came to the show??

Renee Elise Goldsberry:
I used to watch OLTL when I was young. I've had a great career so far. I've done Ally McBeal and I did a really great feature film, and I did The Lion King on Broadway. But doing the soap was a totally different thing. I have such a huge respect for the show and the actors on the show. I was intimidated a little bit, but spiritually I believe that if God gives you an opportunity he will give you the ability to pull it off. That's pretty much what's happened so far. And fortunately, I was under the radar long enough to figure out what I was doing! And now I really feel like I know what I'm doing and I get a lot of love from everyone on the show. That kind of welcome makes me feel better about what I'm doing.

Kay

For you, what 's the best thing about working with Michael Easton?

Renee Elise Goldsberry:
I really like him as a person, I have a lot of respect for him. He's not only a great actor he's a great writer. He's really nice and very funny. The more you work with someone the more time you spend with them and I enjoy spending time with him. I like what they write for us. It's so fun to play the scenes and Michael is so good at it. It's really easy when I work with him to be my best. And it's easy to look at him, too! I The more they give us to do, the more I look forward to going in to work.

Layla

Hi Renee, I love Van and Todd together, they're like brother and sister. Will the relationship be explored more?

Renee Elise Goldsberry:
I hope so. I love Evangeline's relationship with Tood because he lets so few people into his inner circle. Because of whatever rapport they seem to have, she has his back but she'll also put him in his place. I think he respects her and he is very discriminating about who he gives the time of day to. It's a wonderful thing that he respects my character and needs me sometimes.

Renee Elise Goldsberry:
Another thing about Trevor himself is that he's a wonderful person. We play music together and he plays this little drum called a cajon. I think the times that we've played music together has really helped our characters developed. And I have to say there is nothing more difficult than working in a scene with Todd/Blair because they make me so laugh so hard. They have to cut away from me sometimes because I am always laughing.

Amy

I'm sure people always ask about the steamy basement scene you did with Michael Easton! What was it like filming such a sexy and memorable scene?

Renee Elise Goldsberry:
Most love scenes that you shoot on soap operas can be sterile and clinical and technical that you can't believe when it's cut together that it looks so good! That particular scene was very unique in that we shot it in real time. We choreographed the whole thing, and we rehearsed it like a dance and then we were like, ready, set, go! That compounded with the fact that we had never really worked like that together before, made it more real. I think it translated for that reason. It was explosive at the time. It was only the second love scene I'd ever done on a soap.

Renee Elise Goldsberry:
I remember I hadn't seen it and some of the other cast members saw it and they were like, what??! And these were people who've been doing love scenes for years. But the response I got from the cast and when I saw it, I realized it was a pretty special scene and that makes me happy. I'm glad it worked for people.

Gina

I saw you singing on SoapTalk and you were wonderful. What is your favorite type of music to sing?

Renee Elise Goldsberry:
I write my own music so I like to sing the songs that I write and that is a real blessing to me. I love to sing praise music and anything that's uplifting.

Kendra

I was able to see the movie All ABout You and enjoyed your performance. Do you have any plans for doing more movies?

Renee Elise Goldsberry:
I'd love to do more films. When I'm not completely consumed with OLTL I'm trying to write a script myself. I've fallen in love with film and with daytime so I would love to do more of both.

Geri

What, if anything would you like to see your character do or achieve in the next year as part of your storyline?

Renee Elise Goldsberry:
I think I'd like to see Evangeline continue on the path that she's on. When you're on a soap you want the writers to dream for your character and I would hope that they would continue to do that. It means the world to me that there is a Black woman on daytime who is invested in and considered. I think that it's crucial that the story of a career woman is told, and the story of a Black woman is told. Whether I'm the actress or not, I think it's important that the medium addresses African-American characters. I feel a huge responsibility in that way.

Roz

How Evangeline is portrayed by you and writen by the writers makes me proud that Evangeline is positve image of a strong African American woman .There are so few of those on daytime I want to thank all involved with this character,and it starts with you thank you.

Renee Elise Goldsberry:
I do feel a responsibility and I hear from so many people, Black and White, who are just so happy that I'm on the show and they're writing for me. I hear from so many people how frustrated they've been by the lack of minorities. The only power I have is to take it seriously and do the best that I can. But since I don't write the show, I have to continue to pray that they will write for her. A huge portion of our audience is African-American and their stories need to be told, too. But even women that aren't Black still respond to Van and they respond to things with other women.

Renee Elise Goldsberry:
I pray that they continue to do it because I think they have to. I think the audience deserves it and that's what's best for the show. And that's not personally about me, but about this kind of character being necessary.

Sabrina

How did your husband deal with your sexy scenes with Michae Easton and Tim Stickney? I've always found that part of a married actor's job fascinating.

Renee Elise Goldsberry:
Surprisingly, and really it's a shocker to me, but my husband is so great about it. He helps me with my lines and he supports me in everything that I'm doing. He does everything in his power to help me succeed and one of those things is that he doesn't get threatened by it. He also knows the other actors really well and we're all friends so he knows we're not going to bed and dreaming of each other! He knows the main things we feel for each other is mutual respect. I'm really fortunate because it would make my job harder if he wasn't that way. I doubt I'd be able to be as good about it as he is. There's a reason I didn't marry an actor!

IRis

Renee,
Can you give us any clues on what direction John and Evangeline's romance is going to be headed?

Renee Elise Goldsberry:
As far as I can tell, there are July fireworks in October! I think there's a lot for Jovan fans to be excited about coming up.

Renee Elise Goldsberry:
There were so many great questions I wish I had the opportunity to answer more. Thank you so much for caring about my character and the show, and thank you for spending a little of your time with me. I am going to Super Soap Weekend and I have a feeling that the fans I should thank for me going (and the support for my character) have been in this chat. I hope you guys can all come down to SSW! I'm probably going to sing something and I'll be singing it to you!