Yasmine Bleeth:
"He's the Best Husband!"
Daytime TV Magazine, November 1986
by Janet Di Lauro
Article Provided By WandaWhen Yasmine Bleeth was called to screen test for Ryan's Hope, she was totally prepared.
"I read the script quickly and thought, 'this is great. I'm going to be perfect as Ryan.' I couldn't wait to audition."
But when the show's casting director introduced Yasmine to her handsome leading man, Grant Show (Rick), she was speechless. "I took one look at Grant and thought, 'Oh, my God! I have to screen test with him?' He made some impact on me."
Fortunately, Yasmine got over her 'shock' and went ahead and won the role of Ryan Fenelli. The young actress was ready to tackle her first soap.
"I'd already been in the business for a long time," she explains. "My mom put me in it when I was a little baby. I've been modeling since I was in fifth grade - magazines like Seventeen. As I got older my mom left my career up to me. I took it real lightly for a while. Then, it just came along for me."
Born and raised in Manhattan, Yasmine got her unusual first name from her mother.
"It's Arabic," she explains. "It stands for the jasmine flower. My mom gave it a French touch by spelling it with a 'y.'"
Yasmine's mother enrolled her in New York's United Nationals School (the city's only bilingual school at the time), so she'd grow up learning English and French.
"It was a great school," she boasts. "I learned so much, but I had to leave during my senior year of high school, when I started on Ryan's Hope. Luckily, I was already in my second semester, so I didn't have much homework. I just had to study for finals. I went to class as much as possible and had a private tutor too."
After graduation, Yasmine began working full-time on RH and, shortly afterwards, began living totally on her own - all this at the ripe old age of 17!
"My mom, stepfather, and baby brother Tristan moved to France last summer. I kept the apartment we'd all lived in. It was the first time I was totally on my own - my chance to be independent," she giggles. "Of course my real dad only lived two blocks away, and my grandparents were in the city too, so I was never really alone."
Like Yasmine, Mrs. Ryan Fenelli Hyde has become a very independent young lady, too. What's it like playing a teenage bride?
"Fun," she smiles. "I think the audience wanted Rick and Ryan together for a long time. They really pulled for us. I love working with Grant. He is one of the most sensitive guys I've ever met. He's so nice...so understanding. He's like a big brother to me. He always give me advice. We're close. We do things together off the set a lot. I couldn't ask for a better TV husband."