On her portrayal of Lianna Ramos, she said, “The one thing I like most about Lianna is no matter her mood or what she is going through she is so resilient. She puts one foot in front of the other every single day, and she keeps breathing in an out.”
In 2018, Harlow took home the Daytime Emmy award for “Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Digital Daytime Drama Series.” “That felt like an out-of-body experience. It was beyond incredible,” she said.
A native of Las Vegas, Nevada, Harlow had nothing but the kindest remarks about Gregori J. Martin, the executive producer, writer, and director of The Bay. “Gregori is great. He is super collaborative,” she said.
Harlow continued, “Sometimes on set, you feel like there is an invisible barrier between you and the writers and you and the producers, and you don’t feel comfortable talking to them about your process or your character. None of that exists at all on our show. Every actor feels totally comfortable going to him and talking to him about the show and the stories, and that’s fantastic. It makes all the work that much more rich.”
Next month, Harlow will be vying for the Daytime Emmy award for “Outstanding Lead Actress in a Digital Drama Series.” “I am flabbergasted by the nomination,” she admitted. “Everybody in my category is very talented, and the caliber of shows represented this year is unlike any other year. It is exciting to celebrate so much talent.”
Coming from a soap opera background (Days of Our Lives and Passions), Harlow noted that she does not mind being dialogue-heavy, especially in regard to memorizing a great number of lines and pages. “It is common for all of us to have heavy dialogue,” she said. “When the writing is good, it’s easier because all of it feels very natural.”
Each day, Harlow is motivated by the opportunity to be a conduit for somebody else’s story. “In acting and storytelling, they are not going to show somebody on an average day. They are going to show somebody either on their worst day or best day. To be able to be the conduit for that storytelling is what motivates me every time,” she explained.
For young and aspiring actors, Harlow encouraged them to “start studying” and get into an acting class. “You are not only going to improve your skills from memorization to technique, but you are going to also grow a community of like-minded artists, who are going through the same thing as you are going through. That way, you don’t feel alone in this, and you don’t feel like you are the only one looking into the face of rejection. There are ways to cope and move on,” she said.
Digital transformation of the entertainment industry
On the impact of technology and streaming on the entertainment business, especially with Amazon Prime, Hulu and Netflix being so popular, Harlow said, “Technology is great. The more venues we have to watch great stories, the better. There is so much out there that some things get lost, but also some other things that the traditional system wouldn’t have given airtime to, get oxygen in this new system.”
Harlow acknowledged that she uses hard copies of scripts as opposed to digital versions to learn her lines. “I need notes, my scribbles that nobody else could read but me, and sometimes, depending on what I am doing, I would color code emotions,” she said.
She defined the word success as “feeling a sense of self-fulfillment that no one and nothing can take away from you.”
For digital drama series fans and viewers, she concluded about The Bay, “Definitely check it out and give it a go. Also, thank you for those who do watch The Bay.”
To learn more about actress Jade Harlow, follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
For more information on The Bay, check out its official homepage.
