Cynthia Watros as Nina Reeves on ABC’s “General Hospital”  Photo: ABC

Check out Monday, June 17th’s episode of “General Hospital.” Daytime Emmy winner Cynthia Watros takes over the role of Nina Reeves Cassadine, last played by Michelle Stafford.  

Watros is no stranger to Daytime audiences, having roles on “Guiding Light,” and “The Young and the Restless” and she will definitely be right in the thick of things. Nina’s marriage to Valentin (James Patrick Stuart) is rocky, to say the least, stepdaughter Charlotte is having problems at school and Sasha (Sofia Mattson), the daughter she thought was dead is very much alive. Nina’s work life is even more complicated these days as Jax (Ingo Rademacher) recently became 50% owner of Aurora Media, giving him control of all print publications – including Crimson Magazine, where Nina is Editor-In-Chief. 

TVMusic Network and other reporters chatted with Watros at ABC’s Summer Press Day early this month. Check out what she had to say below about returning to Daytime.   

How did you happen to return to Daytime and land this role on “General Hospital?”

Cynthia Watros: “It sounds not very dramatic, but I got a phone call. Just a phone call asking, ‘Would you be interested?’ “Guiding Light” will always be in my heart because I had such a good time doing Annie, and I was on “Young and the Restless” and “Another World” for half of a second. So, daytime has always been in my life and in my world. My last show was in Atlanta, and my daughters were in high school in LA, and it’s hard to go back and forth for them, for me, and for my life as a mom. So, I kind of took my acting and said, ‘Well, I’m going to slow it all down until they graduate high school.’ They graduate high school on June 2nd and I start GH June 3rd. So, it just seemed like it just made sense.”

Are you surprised at how much Daytime has changed?

Cynthia Watros: “Yeah, I mean it, it is surprising. I asked around like, ‘how do you guys shoot these days?’ And it is faster paced and, uh, and there’s, there’s a sense of, you know, I think we do more material during the day. Uh, other than that, there’s a lot of similarities from when I was on “Guiding Light” and just know your material. Know your character and make choices before you get on set.  

Michelle Stafford created the character of Nina. Did you get a chance to talk to her about taking over the role?    

Cynthia Watros: “I did.  We had lunch together, and I have to say, Michelle is an amazing, lovely, giving woman.  Just to be able to sit across from her and talk about Nina and to talk about the show, I was just in awe of her generosity.  I will always be a fan of Michelle’s.  She actually reached out to me and said, ‘If you ever want to call or text…’ and I said, ‘Let’s have lunch!’  So, we found an afternoon and spent like three hours just talking about it.”

From talking to Michelle, how did she describe Nina? and what did you learn about Nina who is such a complicated character?

Cynthia Watros: “She didn’t really, she just kind of gave me a lot of backstory. That’s because there’s a lot… I’m just like, ‘so how long was she there?’ And a lot of stuff that I couldn’t necessarily research on my own. I also talked to the editor on the show, which is amazingly helpful. Nina has all of this stuff that I can’t wait to play.  She’s got stuff that she hasn’t explored for a long time because her life is going pretty well right now.  What happens though when your life doesn’t go really well?  You start exploring those things that you thought were sleeping a little bit, you know, that weren’t necessarily bubbling up to the surface.  So, I like it all,  when a character’s life is going well and when a character’s life is not going well. Because I’m playing Nina now, it’s going to be different.  It’s going to be challenging.  It’s the first time I’ve ever taken over a role that someone else has played.  I don’t want to totally go off, so people go, “Wow.  Nina’s totally different,” but of course, I want to make it my own.  Again, I’m an actor who likes to use all of the tools.  I like it all … the funny, the not so funny, the playful, and the crazy.”

Is there anyone that you’ve worked with before in the “General Hospital cast or behind the scenes?

Cynthia Watros: Laura [Wright (Carly)], which I’m really excited about. I went to school with Maura [West (Ava)]. I went to Boston University with her and Billy Miller (Drew) for half of a second when I worked at ‘Y & R.’ I get to work with Billy again. That’ll be nice. I think my first day I get to work with Billy and then I’d love to have some scenes with Maura and I’d love to have some scenes with Laura.

What can you tease about Nina’s first few days with you playing her? 

Cynthia Watros:  “I can tease that I get to play with [Ingo Rademacher] a lot, and Nina is trying to find a stronger role in the magazine where she is really going to step up in making that a success and her love for the magazine, and trying to navigate her relationship with Jax.”

“General Hospital” airs weekdays on ABC.