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| Tamara Braun portrays Dr. Kim Nero on “General Hospital,” airing weekdays on ABC.
Photo: ABC/Craig Sjodin) |
As “General Hospital” fans know, Tamara Braun’s return to the show last November created a lot of questions about her role on the show.
Having played Carly Corinthos for four years, a role now being played by Laura Wright, fans wondered who Braun would play. The answer turned out to be Dr. Kim Nero, an OB/GYN who has a former connection to Drew Cain (Billy Miller).
TVMusic Network caught up with the Emmy-winning actress (ex-Ava “Days of our Lives”) to discuss her role, creating a new character after establishing herself as another one previously and what she would like to see Kim tackle next.
Check out the interview below:
TVMusic Network: So good to have you back on “General Hospital.”
Tamara Braun: Oh, thank you so much.
TVMusic Network: Did it surprise you when the idea came up for you to come back? Did you think, “who am I gonna be, what’s gonna happen? How did that work?”
Tamara Braun: I was surprised. I’d been asked to come back over the years a few other times and it wasn’t right. I met [executive producer] Frank [Valentini] the night that I won my Emmy for “Days of our Lives” and he introduced himself. He said, “I love you, I think you’re wonderful and I want to work with you one day.”
TVMusic Network: That’s nice.
Tamara Braun: Yes. I would see him every once in a while over the years, he would say, “I want to work with you, I want to find something to do with you,” and so when he called, of course, I went in, you know? And we had the conversation and it seemed like it was the right time, so…
TVMusic Network: How do you differentiate Kim from Carly? Do you ever think, “oh, I’m not a Carly, I’m not in a Carly headspace?” How do you differentiate between Carly and Kim when you’re in a scene with Maurice [Bernard(Sonny)] or…?
Tamara Braun: Well, I’m not in scenes with Maurice. They have not put me in a scene with Maurice since day one and two, which we laugh about, Maurice and I. They’re keeping us away. I don’t know if it’s on purpose or they just haven’t, that our stories haven’t crossed paths. I’m sure we’ll work together at some point, it would be fun. I think it’d be fun for fans, too.
But Kim and Carly are so very different. They have such different backgrounds. We don’t know a ton about Kim’s background yet, but they come from very different histories. I think that just, I’ve said this before, Carly went to the school of hard knocks.
Kim was educated, you know? And so they carry themselves very differently in the world. So in that sense, it’s pretty easy.
TVMusic Network: Right. I think it’s great that you have a family and a relationship you have with your TV son, Oscar (Garren Stitt). It’s good that your character was brought into Port Charles with some roots to help establish your character already. Were you concerned about that coming in because it’s harder to play an isolated character?
Tamara Braun: It’s really important. I was glad I had a son and I had a connection to Drew (Billy Miller). I knew that. I knew that because if you don’t have that in soap, then it’s not an easy road. You’ve got to have a family, you got to have some kind of a connection that is strong and has roots, so it’s important and I was grateful for that.
TVMusic Network: Were you excited to play a doctor? I ask because a lot of times when watching “General Hospital,” it is hard for a new character to get integrated into storylines. You’re a doctor so you get to interact pretty much with everywhere.
Tamara Braun: It works in the title, yes. “General Hospital.” I get to work at the hospital. Yeah, I can interact with pretty much any and everyone on the campus at some point, through a Nurses Ball or something. I can pretty much interact with all the women.
TVMusic Network: That works out great.
Tamara Braun: They’re all gonna need me at some point. If it’s just for their annual exam.
TVMusic Network: Exactly.
Tamara Braun: It’s nice, you know, what’s interesting this time around, is Frank has the writers write the characters really interacting with a lot of different people. When I was on before, I worked with pretty much the same main characters.
TVMusic Network: You have a concentrated storyline.
Tamara Braun: It’s nice to get to work with other people that I wouldn’t have normally worked with, that’s fun.
TVMusic Network: Do you feel any different from when you were there the first time to being back now? Has production changed very much?
Tamara Braun: It has changed. Because of time constraints, we all move so fast. It’s not just for the actors that have to move fast, the writers and the directors, the cameramen, the props, the hair, and makeup [as well.]
Nobody has the kind of time that we all really should have, but it’s a business and if we want to stay, we need to adjust, so we do. And, you know, I hope that it’s not too apparent in the work. I’m sure sometimes you can tell and sometimes it’s like, “holy hell, how did we do that quickly?”
TVMusic Network: Soap fans are so passionate, on “General Hospital” especially, I don’t know what it is, but this particular soap has the most passionate fans.
Tamara Braun: Do you find that?
TVMusic Network: Yes, I do! How do you feel about social media? It wasn’t as prominent before when you played Carly. What’s it like for you?
Tamara Braun: Well, you know, I pretty much stayed away from social media for quite a while. I didn’t get it, I didn’t understand it, I felt like it’d be too much of an invasion of privacy.
TVMusic Network: It takes a lot of your time too, I’m sure.
Tamara Braun: I just, I didn’t get it. I still don’t quite get it. [laughs] I tried my best, and I try and connect with fans. I think soap is a great way for them to be able to feel like they have a voice that’s being heard and they don’t have to wait weeks and weeks for a reply from a writer, you know? So that’s a positive. I mean, I think it’s better for me to focus on the positives of social media than the negatives.
We all know what the negatives are, but the positives are the connections that can happen, and change and attention that can be brought to important issues quickly. So that I like that about it.
TVMusic Network: “General Hospital” has done really well this year with themed episodes. There was “Me Too,” a really good storyline going on and there’s the “Alzheimer’s” storyline as well. Is there any issue that you want the soap to explore that your character may a part of that hasn’t happened yet?
Tamara Braun: That’s a really good question, and I do think probably the issues that I’d want to explore are probably a little too deep for a soap opera right now. I’m not sure, just thinking about the fact that Kim is a gynecologist, an OB/GYN, and I did speak to Frank in the beginning of when he told me that’s the character I would play, I said, “is there a way that we could incorporate a charitable aspect into that, that we could bring some awareness to?”
And he said yes, so I’m sure that will happen at some point. But, you know, I think about women’s issues and being an OB/GYN, it’s a great opportunity to be able to bring some attention to that. I mean, it’d be wonderful just to do a PSA about gynecological exams or about breast exams. I think it’s really important for… it’d be really interesting if she went overseas and did work with Doctors Without Borders.
TVMusic Network: Right. That’s an issue touches so many of us directly and indirectly.
Tamara Braun: And people in third world countries who are having… people are dying here still in the United States at too high a rate from delivery. I don’t know if that’s something that they’d want to bring attention to or not, but I was shocked at how high the rates are for a first world advanced country.
So there are great ways I think we could educate people on women’s health and get the word out. When I played Reese on “All My Children,” it was a great opportunity and platform to deal with an issue in a way that people would be open to hearing that from. Hopefully, Kim will be able to do that on “General Hospital.”
TVMusic Network: Are there certain bits about every character that you played? Reese, Ava, Carly and now Kim, are there little bits of Tamara in any of those characters?
Tamara Braun: [There are] little bits of Tamara in every single one of those characters. I don’t know to act, especially in this medium, and not bring little bits and parts of myself. To me, that’s where the heart comes from and where the truth comes from in finding the similarities.
Catch Tamara as Kim Nero on “General Hospital,” airing weekdays on ABC.
