Transplanted Texan Sherry Stringfield Takes Her Soap Work In Stride, But New York Still Unnerves Her

Sherry Stringfield hardly had time to unpack from college before she won the role of Blake on GUIDING LIGHT last summer in her first professional audition. "It's such a bizarre story," she says with a laugh. She'd gone in to read for the role of Dana, Springfield explains, but was then asked to screen-test for Blake, a part the GL producers had decided to recast. Later, she did another test for Dana and was told she'd gotten that part. "I said, 'Fine!' I was thrilled. Then they called back the next day and said, "No, you're Blake.' I said, 'Okay, great.' I would've played Frank."

Stringfield, a vivacious brunette, realizes how lucky she is to have landed a juicy soap role with absolutely no on-camera experience, but she'd prepared herself to get lucky. Leaving the comforts of home in Spring, Texas, to study at the State University of New York at Purchase, home of the noted acting program, turned her into a risk-taker. "I don't know how I found it in my to do that, because I love Texas," she says now, "but I wanted to be an actress so badly, and I knew I needed to be in New York to really go for it."

A childhood fascination with Cher sparked Sherry's interest in performing. "It sounds silly, but when I was in kindergarten, I thought Cher was it . She wasn't even acting then, but I looked at her and said, 'I am going to be an actress.' When I got involved with theater in high school, I just said, 'OK - I'm going away to school.'"

While her friends pondered which Texas football team to root for, Stringfield traveled to New York with a teacher to audition for Julliard, Purchase and several other schools listed in the brochure she'd read from the League of Professional Theater Training Programs. "I did a Shakespeare monologue, Titania from "A Midsummer Night's Dream", in full Texas accent," she recalls with amusement. "I'm sure they were laughing their heads off, but I think they admired my determination."

Arriving in New York when she was eighteen, Stringfield experienced culture shock that still hasn't gone away. "Everyone made fun of my accent and I felt I just didn't fit in. Everyone I met said, 'Where are you from? Oh, that's so funny.' I even left before Christmas and moved all my stuff back to Texas, but once I got home I realized I couldn't do theater there, and I told myself I had to grow up. When I made up my mind that I was in school to work, I was fine. But I've been here for four years and it's still a different country to me."

Sipping a soda between bites of salad near GL's midtown Manhattan studio, Stringfield still exudes the friendliness of a Southerner, but she kicked her accent with the help of a college speech teacher. These days, she says, the teasing comes from her friends in Texas. "They say, 'Oh, Sherry, you have just turned into a Yankee,' with this real sad tone in their voices. I'll talk about the Mets or something and my father will say, 'I can't believe my daughter is a Yankee.'"

Even her parents, both in business, couldn't believe their daughter was serious about going north to act. "My mom came and saw the campus. It was very artistic and very small and she looked at me and said, 'Honey, if you want to come home right now, we will not be mad at you.' I said, 'No, I'm going to do it.' I was crying; I didn't want her to leave, I was so scared. She is the most graceful lady I know, a very Southern, hospitable woman. She kept saying, 'What did I do wrong?'" Sherry's parents are now her biggest fans; they tape GL each day. Sherry has two younger brothers, one in college at Texas A&M, the other a high school sophomore who gleefully reported, "You won't believe how many girls come up to me and start talking about you."

Stringfield was told that her "warmth" helped her clinch the role of Blake, previously played by Elizabeth Dennehy. Sherry says she knows nothing about Dennehy's abrupt dismissal and that it hasn't affected her work. "The other actors were very welcoming," she says. "I was riddled with insecurity when I started and when I first saw myself on tape, but you learn so much every day, and that give you confidence."

Asked what she thinks of Blake, Sherry says, "I'd put her in the soon-to-be-neurotic category. It's fun playing someone who has her hands in everything and wants to control everything." Stringfield especially enjoys working with Michael Zaslow (Roger) and occasionally babysits for his two young daughters. "He's also one of the funniest people I know." Zaslow, in turn, calls his on-screen daughter "a total joy to work with and a terrific babysitter."

GL fans began writing to Sherry within weeks of her first appearance on the show, and the actress has been able, so far, to respond personally to every letter. "People who watch the show are your best critics," she believes, adding, "Most of the letters have been sweet. They told me how much they liked the other Blake and said it was going to be hard for me to fill her shoes; then they wrote back and said, 'We gave you a chance and we like you.' Even if they're not sure they like me, they want a picture. It's really amazing to get full letters from people, and it takes no time to write back and say thank you."

In her off-hours, Stringfield enjoys eating out with friends like Kimberley Simms (Mindy). She also likes to go dancing and jogs five or six miles a day. She avoids health clubs, feeling that they've become the singles bars of the eighties. As for her own love life, Sherry cautiously says, "I'm not in a relationship right now," adding with a laugh, "I'm a very private person."

"At least once a month, I get a phone call from Texas saying, 'I'm getting married! Will you be coming down for the wedding?'" Sherry says, sounding amazed and slightly aghast. "They sound so happy, but I always want to say, 'You know, you're going to have a whole different life now.' The percentage of making the right decisions [about marriage] when you're twenty-two years old is pretty low."

The actress herself recently signed a lease on her first apartment, a small one-bedroom in Greenwich Village, and she's still getting used to life as an adult in the city. "I had never filled out a W-4 form in my life," she says. "I was told, 'Okay, get an accountant, get insurance,' and all of it made my head spin for a month or two. They don't teach that kind of stuff in acting school."

In spite of the excitement surrounding her new job, Stringfield has not fallen in love with New York City. "Just to travel someplace around town is sometimes a crazy and scary experience," she notes. "That's when you start to think it's not normal for people to live like this. You get so stressed out on the streets when everyone is brushing past each other. But I'm happy with what I'm doing here, an I have a lot of friends. One thing I do love is that you can do anything at any time, day or night."

Eventually, Sherry sees herself working in California as well as New York, and she definitely would like to maintain a base in her home state. Says the actress wistfully, "It'll be a while, but I intend to have a place in Texas - my anchor."

~~~~~~

Just The Facts:

Hometown: Spring, Texas

Birthday: June 24

Height: 5' 7 ½"

Hair: Auburn

Eyes: Green

Marital Status: Single

Education: BFA from State University of New York at Purchase

Favorite Actress: Katharine Hepburn

What she misses most about the South: "Everyone says 'hi' to you in Texas. They're so much more relaxed (than in New York) and are never on the defensive."

Why she prefers dating in the North: "It's less put on. In the South, there's a system of manners for everything. I would never go on a date in Texas wearing blue jeans. You're a lady there, you know? In New York, you can say, 'Oh, I'll meet you there.'"