Welcome Fiona! Have you done cyberchats like this before?

Fiona Hutchison:  I have, and I enjoy them immensely!

PEOPLE:  Great! We're enjoying having you here!  So Fiona--what was Jenna DOING during all that time she wasn't in Springfield? Enquiring minds want to know!

Fiona Hutchison:  She was stealing from the best, and living the high life with Jeffrey Morgan. She was wining and dining on the French Riviera, and then popping off to Monaco, as the story goes... So I understand! I myself gallivanted off to places like Australia to do a TV series, and Malaysia, Japan, Taiwan, and Vegas! to do various different projects which I has tremendous fun doing.

PEOPLE:  was it like going back to the "Guiding Light" set after a two-year absence and a stint on another popular soap?

Fiona Hutchison:  It was as though I was on location, I guess... many new faces, along with many friendly familiar faces, so not really not like going home again, but... close!

PEOPLE:  Can you compare what it was like to play the characters of Jenna on "Guiding Light" and Gabrielle on "One Life To Live"? Were their personalities separate in your mind?  Which character did you secretly like best?

Fiona Hutchison:  The two characters are VERY different in my mind. I truthfully enjoy the humor of Jenna, the comedic aspects of her.  Gabrielle, while being very powerful, cried a little too much for my tastes. But she made a big impression. So I hold a very special place for that character.

PEOPLE:  Why do you think that soaps are so amazingly popular? What is it about them that turn otherwise rational people into obsessives?

Fiona Hutchison:  Soap opera, as in serial, applies not only to daytime soaps as we know it, but the same thing can be said about prime-time serials, like Dynasty, Knot's Landing, Dallas, and now Melrose Place, Beverly Hills 90210, and Pacific Palisades. All of those shows are in the same category as daytime soaps. We... suck you in!

PEOPLE:  You do... It's true!

Fiona Hutchison:  And hopefully make a believer out of you... a believer in the stories that we tell. You just get to see us a little more often.
 

PEOPLE:  Forget Roger! Forget Buzz! Who's the male character on "Guiding Light" that Jenna could _really_ be happy with?

Fiona Hutchison:  (laughs) I don't think the male species has a candidate for that position! Jenna is destined to be unhappy, I believe.. that's where her humor thrives.

PEOPLE:  What's a typical day in the life of a soap actor like?

Fiona Hutchison:  Well first of all, we wake up with two heads, and it takes a little time to squeeze it into one! No different from anybody else's day... The pressures of high-profile job are there, as they are in every industry. I think people view us differently than we really are. But that can be said of, probably, any performer.

PS -- I don't have the time to walk around with soap bubbles... I'm too busy looking after an 8-month-old baby boy! Soap opera work is the toughest work in the industry.  Sometimes I have 50 pages of dialog to memorize, with no teleprompters. That is an incredible amount of memorization! And after all is said and done, you have to make it believable!

PEOPLE:  I'll say that's a lot of memorization! Any tricks you use to keep it all in your head?

Fiona Hutchison:  Visualizing the setup, visualizing the whole picture helps me personally to remember the individual words, but everyone does it differently. I think I'm fortunate... the first six months on One Life To Live, as Gabrielle, I was panic-stricken! Every night I would wake up to see if I could still remember my dialog for the next day. But now, what with life and an 8-month-old, I appear to be able to learn it within about half an hour, the morning of the day of shooting. I guess
you do what you have to do!

PEOPLE:  Fiona, in real life you didn't start out to be an actress. You trained as a dancer--and then an accident put you on another path. Do you miss dancing? If you had magical powers, would you go back in time and un-do the accident so you would STILL be a ballerina?

Fiona Hutchison:  No, I wouldn't change anything. I learned so much about myself and life around me with every -- don't like the word tragedy --with every pitfall along the way. I still teach for the Columbia City Ballet, as a guest teacher, and it allows me to stay in shape. So I believe in fate -- what happens was meant to be.

PEOPLE:  A lot has been written about eating disorders among young dancers. How true to your own experience are these accounts?

Fiona Hutchison:  Very, very high percentages of dancers, particularly classical ballet, have problems. Because of the pressure to be abnormally trim, a ballerina's body is a very different shape to a normal person. I feel very fortunate that my father was a doctor, and talked to me very openly about anorexia, bulimia, and other forms of eating disorders, i.e. laxatives, things like that. So I was well armed.
But I saw a great deal of damage around me.

PEOPLE:  Off the set, do you have a hard time remembering when you're not in character?

Fiona Hutchison:  No, except for those times when I am lifting people's jewelry! Only at those times do I realize... OOPS! I must be Jenna, not Fiona! It's those big, sparky earrings that I can't resist!

PEOPLE:  You've acted in television, on the screen (Prey of the Jaguar), and on the stage (Dial M for Murder, Rapture). Which of these three venues is your favorite as an actress to perform in?

Fiona Hutchison:  Without doubt, the stage. Because in television and film, you don't get a response to your work right away. But in theater, it's make it or break it, right there, right then -- the audience tells you how it feels. And I love that.

PEOPLE:  I ask this as someone who has waist-length hair and has recently been thinking of getting it cut... What did it feel like when you cut off your long beautiful hair as you did for your stage appearance in "Dial M for Murder?"

Fiona Hutchison:  I felt a liberation  like a grownup. I felt that I finally had control of what I wanted to do! One's hair is a very oppressive aspect of our physical being. It has a tendency to rule us far too much. My hair was all the way to my waist; now it's to my shoulders, but it was very short. Each project I did, I've changed the
cut and the color, in the last two years. Now we're taking it day by day as Jenna. Maybe tomorrow, Jenna will have orange hair who knows??  Actually I doubt it -- my producers wouldn't appreciate that.

PEOPLE:  Jenna perhaps with an orange Mohawk? Nah -- the world is not ready...

Speaking of "Dial M for Murder", how did it feel to perform a role so closely associated with another actress (the late Grace Kelly). How did you define your own performance?

Fiona Hutchison:  First I tried to understand what Frederick Knot wanted from his Margo. That was the most difficult I have played yet. Because the play takes place in 1953, and women at that time, in England, almost didn't speak unless spoken to. Yet passion roared just beneath the surface. Try playing THAT! Not easy!

I think Grace Kelly did a superb job. But she had the help of the movie camera, with close-ups that allowed the viewer to understand the inner turmoil... On stage, this is not so easy. But I did the best I could.

PEOPLE:  Garyrosi asks: Are you married?? (Sorry to disappoint you Gary, but I think the answer is YES)

Fiona Hutchison:  Yes. sorry, guy! We met seven years ago. He played Father Tony on One Life to Live. And as I said before, they wouldn't let me defrock him on the show, so I had to defrock him OFF the show! And now, three years later, we're married. We have our son, John Hutchison Viscardi, and to his friends he's known as Hutch.

PEOPLE:  Yow! But think of what it would have done for the ratings if you HAD been able to defrock him on the air!

Jenna, what's your idea of the Ideal Role?  What parts would you love to play?

Fiona Hutchison:   I never know what to say when asked that question.  Probably because whatever role I'm playing at the time is the only role I want to be playing. It's hard to explain...

There is a role that I envy. That role is on Broadway, in a play called "The Master Class," about Maria Callas. That is a tour-de-force role for a woman. But I doubt I will ever have the opportunity. But it is a hell of a piece.

PEOPLE:  Are the soaps in general a good training ground for actors? It seems as though they must be -- so many big stars got their starts in them!

Fiona Hutchison:  Yes, tremendously good training grounds. But only good if you have the chops. Disastrous for an actor who is not ready or capable. Being green is one thing -- being untalented is something completely different. You can't hack it if the potential isn't there to begin with. It's just too tough. And that's why many a young performer shows up on a show and then disappears quite quickly. Those that stay can have a very fulfilling career -- not only in daytime, but in many other areas.

PEOPLE:   Interesting...on that same note: What advice might you have for aspiring actors?

Fiona Hutchison:  Always know your lines! Never, EVER be late! And above all, remember your blocking! Do not make them have to re-light, because you have forgotten where you are supposed to stand, or move or sit. That is your responsibility as an actor. Everything else is none of your business.

A footnote: publicity is a very big part of show business. Don't sneer at it, or take it lightly. It is a very powerful, important part of your career.

PEOPLE:  You are ADMIRABLY pragmatic, Fiona! Many other actors to whom I put that same question have babbled on something about "stay true to your dreams!"

Fiona Hutchison:  Yuck! You can dream all day if you want -- when you get fired!

PEOPLE:  Last question for the evening: Fiona, what projects are up next for you?

Fiona Hutchison:  Learning computers is definitely a major project, next on the list!

PEOPLE:   It's fun. But highly addictive.

Fiona Hutchison:  I will be again, for the second time, be cohosting "Fox After Breakfast," with Tom Bergeron, shortly, and I just filmed an Excedrin commercial, which was great fun. And I am trying to pull together a children's book, which I have been persuaded to finally write. For many years, friends in publishing have told me that I MUST do this idea that I have, and so now, I am in the process of completing it.  I'm dedicating it to my son Hutch! I have a film coming out this summer called "Something To Believe In." So I'm looking forward to what's
around the corner.

PEOPLE:  We love Tom Bergeron! He did a conference with us not long ago.

Fiona Hutchison:   Really! I never know from day to day what's going to happen next -- a bit like a soap!

PEOPLE:  You sound like a busy person, Fiona -- BUSIER than Jenna even!

Thanks for taking the time out of your busy existence to chat with us tonight! And tell Tom Bergeron hi from his fans at PEOPLE Online! And thanks everyone in the audience!

Fiona Hutchison:  I'm working on getting Tom a cameo on "Guiding Light" -- so stay tuned! I certainly will!

I love doing this show -- I had such a good time!

PEOPLE: And Fiona -- I think that Jenna needs to get hooked up with an Internet crime gang. JUST a suggestion -- :-)

Fiona Hutchison:  Oh I like that! I wish you could come and write for our show!

PEOPLE:  We'll be glad to offer technical advice!

Thanks everyone -- this has been FUN! Good night Fiona! Goodnight everyone!

Fiona Hutchison:  Good night! Thanks!