It’s a short walk from Young and the Restless‘s stage to the one on The Bold and the Beautiful. However, Heather Tom had to travel a bit further to go from playing Victoria on Y&R to her current role as Katie on B&B.
Heather Tom: From Genoa City to Llanview to L.A.
Tom left her Daytime Emmy-winning role as Victoria on Y&R in 2003 and joined B&B in 2007. In between, the actress spent a few years in New York playing Kelly Cramer on One Life to Live. It was portraying that part — and being nominated for a Daytime Emmy for it — that led to her joining B&B.
The actress recently appeared on The Locher Room, the YouTube talk show hosted by Alan Locher, to chat about her lengthy career, and she explained how running into B&B showrunner Brad Bell played a role in her being cast as the youngest Logan sister.
B&B: Fortuitous Encounter
“I had been nominated for playing Kelly [in 2007],” shared Tom, who received a nod in the Outstanding Supporting Actress category. (Tom was one of the first folks in the auditorium on her feet, applauding, that night when the winner was announced as Genie Francis for playing Laura on General Hospital.) “My part on the show was ending.” The Daytime Emmys were now being held in Hollywood, and Tom returned to her dark-haired tresses after being blonde for so long. “[Brad] said, ‘We should talk,'” Tom recollects. “I said, ‘We should!’ I’ve known him since I was 15.”
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After the festivities, Tom attended the ABC after-party, where she had a mini-epiphany. “You know what? I’m going to blow this clambake and go to the CBS party!” Tom chuckled. About a month later, Tom received a call from Bell asking her if she wanted to come to B&B and play Katie.
Heather Tom: Break Out to Make Up
“Sure!” Tom responded as she wondered to herself, “Who’s Katie?” Then, she recalled just who her new character was. “When I first started on Y&R in 1990, I wanted to wear makeup so badly,” Tom says of her early days as Victoria. However, the edict from Bill Bell, the show’s creator, senior executive producer, and head writer, was the teen Victoria shouldn’t grow up too fast.
“I didn’t even get to wear mascara!” Tom says. “My makeup artist said, ‘Don’t complain. There [was] a girl across the hall [Katie, who had an acne storyline] who has to have fake zits put on her every day!'”
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