Plussized Actors and Dwarfz......

[Andrew]

I would like to se more plussize actors on Soaps. Actress Jennifer Gee who played Susan on Days in 2002, should actually be the new Stephanie, no i am not joking, she was such a great actress, i mean dont you all think soaps would get more wievers if the actors looked like the ones you see everyday out in town.

Another thing has their anytime been any dwarf Actors on a soap, besides the one who played Timmy on Passions, you know there probaly many great actors among them, it would be fun if a Dwarfactors/actress would turen up on Soaps................

[applcin]

One of the reasons I enjoy watching Ryan's Hope and Edge of Night so much is the majority of the casts are average looking, not glamourously made up all the time, the women don't all look like copies of one another...

Brent Collins was a dwarf. He played Wallingford, Felicia and Cass' best friend on Another World. They made such a great trio.

[Chris B]

Y&R has done good showing average sized people...

Trish Stewart (Chris Brooks) looked like a supermodel when she began, but overtime gained lots of weight. Beth Maitland (Traci Abbott) is plus sized and also the first actor to win an Emmy for Y&R. Tricia Cast (also an Emmy winner) was what I'd call an average size, not plus sized in any way. The actress who played Eve Howard, Cole's mom and Victor's crazy girlfriend, was pleasantly plump.

With Bill Bell, these women were still looked at as beautiful and could still get the men all those size zero women got.

[Graciecat]

Well, first of all, I don't think the term "dwarf" is quite politaclly correct anymore. I believe "little people" is the preferred term.

I think a little person on daytime could be interesting, but I wouldn't trust most hws to do it in an inoffensive way. I think most would turn it into a gimmick, or use the actor as their comic relief. If they were willing to actually explore the prejudice involved, I think it could be a valuable story, though.

As for plus sized actors, I think this is one area in which soap theory is conflicted. I see so many people on this site talk about how they want to see real stories about real people. But I also see a lot of comments about how soaps are meant to be about escapism. I think most viewers actually want both simultaniously- they want family oriented stories, and they want the characters to seem like people they know, but they also want to see men doing things far more romantic than men often do, people jetting off constantly to fabulous location.

So where do looks fall into the real life vs. fantasy question? Do we want to see people who look like our friends and neighbors, or the kinds of guys the vast majority of us will never catch?

I'm embarassed to admit that I tend to be pretty superficial with soaps. My theory is that soaps are already badly written; I need pretty people to distract me. However, I readily admit that certainly not everyone needs to be a size two. And right now, some soaps are currently overrun with model-types. I do see most EPs trying to give us a bit more diversity of body-types, though. Now we have Epiphany on GH, and Ashlee on GL.

So, basically I don't want everyone to look "normal", but I do think we could do with more plus size characters.

[All My Shadows]

Traci Abbott and Nina from Y&R were two of my favorites as a little bitty kid and two of my first TV crushes. Loved them both and it never really occurred to me that they were "average." I just liked them both a lot.

[Quent]

Graciecat, here's a newsflash: people don't like to be told what terms they should use. If you prefer the term "little people", use it. If the OP prefers dwarf, respect their choice.

[JackPeyton]

Here my view...

as far as plus sized people on soaps - its a def need. and theres no reason there are not more. Ashlee on GL is a great char, IMHO, and i like the her weight isnt really that much of an issue.

however, small people on soaps storylines would 99% be about them being a small person. and i may be alone but i like to see universal storylines. i dont care if the players involved are short, tall, skiny, big, white, black, hispanic, gay, bi, or stright. i just want good storylines. and i wouldnt mind a realistic storyline, but i do m uch prefer affairs with your spouses sibling, long lost twin, fake pergo, and all other soap classic's. but i want them told in a way that is real.

i just HATE PSA storylines. HATE them. Y&R's Devon being a main case. Actually that entire year or so for the winters on Y&R felt like one long PSA.

[Pest Spray]

Personally, I think if they just cast based on talent and ignored the looks, Daytime would be so much different.

[dragonflies]

I agree with Pest Spray

Let's not forget Katie Brier either. IMO she's one beautiful woman and being plus sized IMO makes the beauty even stronger.

[applcin]

I agree with the remark about a dwarf/little person, in today's soap climate, being used as nothing more than a gimmick or comic fodder. I think Wallingford on AW was probably the only instance where the character was developed well beyond that. He did get into humorous adventures but he also ran a business, had average-size girlfriends, counselled his friends, etc. I think soaps today are more interested in shock value or mockery in its lowest form for an immediate reaction.

Sometimes the heavier characters start out as comic fodder or in the females' case, the girl who compares herself to the thin girls. OLTL's Marcie started out as the self-debasing, worshipping comic sidekick whom Jen Rappaport treated rather badly in the beginning...back then, Jen was a vapid beeyatch and Marcie liked her for no other reason than she was thin, blonde and beautiful. I don't think at that time, anybody envisioned her becoming what she is today.

[Graciecat]

Um, wow. Okay, I did not feel that I was being rude to the OP in any way. It is my understanding that little people prefer that term, so I thought I would point it out. I thought that maybe the OP was not aware of which term is preferred these days, and I didn't see any harm in pointing it out.

Could you consider the fact that it isn't about what I prefer, or what the OP prefer, or what you prefer, but what little people themselves prefer? Isn't that what matters?