McKENZIE: I was born in Van Nuys, California and raised in Studio City.

LAURA: Tell us about McKenzie.

McKENZIE: I love animals. I have one indoor cat, two outdoor cats and one dog. I love playing with my animals.

LAURA: What's this I hear about gymnastics on horseback?

McKENZIE: What I used to do, every summer while I was growing up, I would compete every year. I would go to this horse camp and they would train us in English horseback riding, and we'd do a little bit of western, but also what they called gymnastics on horseback. And basically it was like circus tricks.

It was things like standing on the back of the horse while the horse was galloping around. There's this other trick, and actually I just found pictures of me doing it recently. I would sit side-saddle on the horse and I would hook my foot into the stirrup, and I'd lean back so I'd be hanging off the other side. Somebody would hit the back of the horse and the horse would take of and just go around in the ring. It was better than a roller coaster. It was a great feeling!

LAURA: You're very committed to fitness and health and expect to be certified soon.

McKENZIE: I'm very much into fitness. I have been since I was about twelve. I started to really get into it. I love going to the gym, lifting weights and running. And I love roller blading, horseback riding, hiking - anything that has to do with fitness.

LAURA: What was it, exactly, that got you interested in fitness?

McKENZIE: Basically this group of nutritionists came to our school when I was twelve or thirteen. I read the books they gave us and it just turned my whole life around. I literally came home that day and, much to my parents' chagrin, went through the cupboards and cleared everything out. Dumping stuff. I was like, "That's it. You guys aren't eating this stuff anymore." So that was the starting point. Slowly I started getting into exercise.

Before I joined PASIONS I was going to start teaching a spinning class. I've been taking that for almost five years now. I thought, "My gosh, I take it every day. I should just teach it and get paid for doing what I love."

So I started down the road to getting certified, and kept getting side tracked. Then PASSIONS came along, and in the beginning there was no way I could even think about going and taking the test and the classes again. But now that I have my bearings, I think there are certain tests coming up in fall that I'm probably going to take and get my certification. I'd like to have it.

LAURA: You're an accomplished vocalist - opera, right? What other types of music do you enjoy singing?

McKENZIE: I love musical theater. One of my dreams is to perform on Broadway… Phantom of the Opera or Les Miserables. I love singing the forties torch songs. I just recently - like within the last year or two - have gotten into more of the pop. I never was a belter until this last year.

 LAURA: What is your favorite music to listen to?

McKENZIE: My favorite radio station out here is K-ROQ. That's 106.7. It's pretty much all alternative… Creed, Dave Matthews Band and Foo Fighters are some of my favorites!

LAURA: Favorite television show?

McKENZIE: As far as being obsessed with a show, it would have to be I Love Lucy. I also love Will & Grace. It's so hilarious.

LAURA: I love that show, too. But Will and Grace aren't my favorite characters.

(Together we both say, "It's Jack!")

LAURA: And Karen.

McKENZIE: And Karen! I love that show!

LAURA: Favorite movie?

McKENZIE: Gone with the Wind, and more recently Sixth Sense. It was so good.

LAURA: That ending freaked me out, and usually I'm so good with endings.

McKENZIE: Yeah! Usually I'm really good at figuring things out and that one just threw me. When I thought about it afterwards, it was like "this didn't happen, and they didn't even know he was there."

LAURA: I saw it at the drive in. That last part comes up and I'm just sitting there, with my mouth hanging open. I remember I just kept saying, "Oh my gosh… oh my gosh."

McKENZIE: That's how I was sitting in the theater! I literally had to just sit there. The lights came up and I was still sitting there.

I also loved the Matrix. Another one that I love is Dumb and Dumber.

LAURA: If you could be any character in Gone with the Wind, who would it be?

McKENZIE: Oh, Scarlett.

LAURA: I knew that. But I had to let you say it. As if anyone would say, "I'd want to be Melanie Hamilton."

McKENZIE: Right!

LAURA: If you could name your most treasures possession or possessions?

McKENZIE: Actually this ring that I wear that my parents gave me for Christmas. It's a cross ring. I switch it around on different fingers.

I always wear a cross. When the show started, because they give us our jewelry to wear, it was something that was so noticeable - a necklace - that I had to take it off. So my parents came up with the idea of a ring - something that wasn't quite as obvious.

And my Bible. I keep that by my bed.

LAURA: What would your absolute dream vacation spot be?

McKENZIE: I'd have to say Alaska. I went when I was thirteen and I loved it. We took the cruise and they took us into Glacier Bay. We were literally surrounded on all three sides by this enormous landscape of glaciers. It was so breathtaking.

LAURA: I also hear men outnumber women something like three-to-one in Alaska.

McKENZIE: Yeah. That's the other good reason to go!

As far as something closer to home, it would be Cambria. It's up near Big Sur.

LAURA: And if you could build a home anywhere, what kind of home would you build, and where?

McKENZIE: It would be ranch style in Santa Barbara. Gotta have horses, so it would definitely have all that to go with it.

LAURA: What in life are you truly passionate about?

McKENZIE: My family, my spirituality.

LAURA: I find it refreshing that you are openly a Christian. So often, that's one aspect of a person's life that sort of gets lost in the shuffle…

McKENZIE: I try to find that happy medium of just letting people know that this is where I stand, I can't be swayed. I don't shove it down anyone's throat, but if I'm asked about it, I'm totally open about it.

LAURA: You celebrated your birthday recently. How did you celebrate it?

McKENZIE: I went with my family to this Italian restaurant we have out here called Buca. Everything is served family style and in enormous portions. The food is amazing.

Then we came back here and opened gifts.

LAURA: What are some of the gifts you received?

McKENZIE: My aunt and my uncle named a star. I got the certificate that shows where in the sky it's located - it's actually in the quadrant of Taurus. I was all excited about that.

My brother and his wife gave me this beautiful vintage 1940s dress. My sister and her fiance gave me a silk Victoria's Secret robe, and a bottle of my favorite perfume. And my parents gave me an I Love Lucy lunch box - it is the coolest thing! My parents also gave me a beautiful cat angel doll to put in my dressing room.

LAURA: What books do you enjoy reading?

McKENZIE: Everything… Jurrasic Park, that was one of my favorite books. Anything by Sylvia Browne - I love her books, she is just so fascinating to read about. Talking with Heaven was another favorite of mine.

LAURA: McKenzie… do you know how it is your parents chose this name for you?

McKENZIE: They wanted to come up with an M name because my mom is Marion, my dad is Michael, my brother is Michael, Jr., and my sister is Michele. They first had thought about Megan, Mercedes, names like that. But McKenzie kept coming up. My dad had worked with McKenzie Phillips, and then there was McKenzie Astin, and my brother had a friend at school whose name was McKenzie. They took it as some sort of sign, and figured, either way, if I was a boy or girl, it was going to be McKenzie - it was just a matter of spelling (for boys it's Mac, and for girls it's Mc). So that's how it came about.

LAURA: Did your mother go through life going, "M-m-m-m-m"? My kids are all J's - Jared, Jordan and Jacob. I can't keep their names straight. Last week I called my daughter Jork, which I think must have been a combination of Jordan and Jake.

McKENZIE: I get called Michele all the time. She does that all the time, the "M-Mi-Mich… come here!"

LAURA: What would you consider your dearest childhood memory?

McKENZIE: When I was thirteen, I told my parents that for my birthday there was nothing I needed. I had their love, I was happy. I went and I found a charity called St. Ann's. They take in battered women with children. I had a birthday party. My parents rented a roller skating rink, and I had all the kids from my school come and had them all bring baby gifts for these children.

LAURA: They must have been so proud of you!

McKENZIE: They were happy… that I came up with the idea on my own. It felt so good to be able to do something like that for someone else

LAURA: You come from a show business family…Did you always want to be an actress? Or was it something that came naturally because of your family's involvement in the business?

McKENZIE: I pretty much always wanted to be. I started acting when I was 15 months (in a Bold detergent commercial). I did Raging Bull when I was three and a half (she was DeNiro's daughter). Then, for some reason, I got incredibly shy. So my parents put me in acting class to get me out of my shell. That just triggered it. I fell in love with being on the stage, and the feeling that I got.

LAURA: You did numerous musicals and plays, and attended Los Angeles County High School for the Arts. You've compared it to Fame (the movie). Tell us about it…

McKENZIE: It was a school that went from the tenth to the twelfth grade. It consisted of four hundred and fifty kids for the whole school.

School would start at 8 o'clock in the morning. From 8 to 12 was academics, and then after lunch, from 1 o'clock until 4 o'clock was our chosen art area. After that, we'd usually have to rehearse, and there were nights I literally wouldn't get out of school until around midnight, because we'd be rehearsing for plays that were coming up. We were constantly doing plays.

That's why I didn't go to my senior prom - because there was an opera I was performing in the next day and I didn't want to take the chance that I'd strain my voice in any way. I was so thrilled to have the lead in the opera - it was my big moment.

LAURA: Which opera?

McKENZIE: Dido and Aneas.

After I went to the Arts high school, that's when I blossomed because I was amongst people I was on the same level with.

LAURA: Right before you landed the role on PASSIONS you got accepted to an Ohio School.

McKENZIE: I was accepted to the Cincinnati Conservatory of Musical Theater.

LAURA: But you didn't have to go…

McKENZIE: Nooo. I really did want to go, but I was almost going as much for my dad. He said, "You know, nothing's really clicking here so maybe you should go back to school. This is a great school, everybody speaks highly of it."

Then PASSIONS came.

LAURA: See? God listens.

McKENZIE: Yes, He answers prayers.

LAURA: You did some television work before being cast as Sheridan on PASSIONS. Where might readers have seen you?

McKENZIE: Star Trek: Next Generation. I landed a small part in it when I was only twelve years old. Nobody would recognize me. People have seen the episode and they have no idea who I am. It's because I'm twelve with long curly brown hair.

I did an episode of Weird Science that was on the USA network. I was what they called their "Babe of the Week". But it was work, so I was happy to do it.

I did an episode of Star Trek Voyager last year. And on Days of Our Lives, I was Mindy.

I actually read for the part of Taylor (on Days) and came very close to getting it.

LAURA: How did you hear about the casting calls for PASSIONS?

McKENZIE: Through my agent and my manager. I had gotten the call that they were starting a new soap. I had gone out for every single soap opera possible and nothing was clicking. They said, "Good news, they are starting a new soap and maybe we can try and get in on this."

So they sent me out for the part of Gwen. I went and read for Gwen and got called back for Gwen. When I went to go read for the producers, they called my agent and said, "No, we see her more as this character Sheridan."

I went back into the casting office and read for Sheridan… went back to the producers and read for Sheridan. Then was told I was signed to do a test deal, did the test deal and then a while later was told they wanted to do another test deal, because they felt that my dress was too matronly. They wanted to send the tape - I'm assuming to James E. Reilly and the heads of NBC - they wanted to send me in my best light and they didn't feel what I was wearing was sexy enough. The character was written to be sexy. So they asked me to come back in something sexier. So I did.

It was the day after my birthday that I got the call.

LAURA: How many readings were there before you got the big call?

McKENZIE: Six. From about January to April.

Then everything happened at once. Literally, they called me on Tuesday, said I had the part, and that I was leaving that Sunday for Paris.

LAURA: Oh, that must have been so exciting!

McKENZIE: My head was spinning - I mean absolutely spinning. It was so funny, because, when I got the call, I was having dinner with my parents, and my dad almost choked on his food. He was so excited.

LAURA: "Hey, Dad, I don't have to go to Cincinnati!"

McKENZIE: Exactly!

LAURA: What did you know about the character of Sheridan when you first began performing the role?

McKENZIE: Basically, what they had written out in the description was that she was very sexy - and very classy - character. The daughter to an extremely wealthy man - Alistair. She came from a family that was totally ruthless, and the only people in the family that had a good soul were she and Ethan.

LAURA: Tell me a little about Sheridan's family… We know her father, Alistair, is a domineering old man who likes to push Sheridan - and everyone else in Harmony - around. Will we ever get to see Alistair? Or are we doomed to forever only hear his voice over that speakerphone?

McKENZIE: I don't know. I'm hoping. I'd like to put a face to this voice.

The man that's doing the voice now is Alan Oppenheimer. My dad has worked with him, and I'd seen him perform on the stage in Sunset Boulevard. He's got an incredible singing voice.

LAURA: What about Julian ? He's the sort of older brother that would make you consider an expense of $10,000.00 a wise investment if it put him out of your misery. But from an entertainment aspect, it's got to be fun to work with Ben…

McKENZIE: It's incredible to work with him! He's a lot of fun. When I do scenes with him, I laugh so hard. He and I have so much fun together - anything that comes out of his mouth just cracks me up. He's so witty - really on the ball.

LAURA: Is McKenzie like Sheridan?

McKENZIE: In the beginning yes. With the direction they're going now, no.

I'm a lot like the character, with the exception of the family stuff. But as far as standing up for people and believing in what's right… like when all this stuff happened in the beginning with Luis, when he was going to lose his job over something she'd done and she went and stood up for him, that's something I would do.

But as far as some of the pettiness that she gets into with Luis…

LAURA: Like putting him in jail?

McKENZIE: Yeah! I would have a bit more sense and know that if I signed that paper he was going to jail. I wouldn't be quite so dingy!

My grandmother called me the other night and said, "I just have to tell you, if you don't stop slapping that poor man, I'm going to disown you as my granddaughter!"

LAURA: Did you really hit him?

McKENZIE: Yes, I did. I really had to slap him. I get along so well with Galen, I had such a hard time slapping him. This time it was a little bit easier because I had the leather glove on and that sort of softened the blow.

LAURA: If you could change one thing about Sheridan, what would it be?

McKENZIE: Just that she should listen and not shoot off at the mouth so much. And, like I said, some of the pettiness.

I can understand the feelings she has toward Luis right now - I mean, what woman wouldn't when she overheard who she thinks she overheard. That she's been played for a fool and used. I know I would certainly feel that way and would absolutely hate the guy.

But at the same time, to maybe look at the past and think back about all the times he's saved her life and has been there for her, that something just doesn't add up.

LAURA: Lately, Sheridan has been making an attempt to assert her independence. This would be expected of a woman who's lived a life controlled by her father and pushed around by her older brother. She's been more adamant about making her own decisions and sometimes becomes very emotional. How do you prepare to do these scenes that require so much anger and energy and emotion in order to seem real?

McKENZIE: Me, in my own life, I'm not the kind of person to yell or get angry like that. So when I do have to do those kind of scenes, it's like a relief and I can release all that built up anger. I almost enjoy those scenes - it's like therapy.

LAURA: Now it's time to go where everyone is waiting for us to go… to Sheridan and Luis.

McKENZIE: All right.

LAURA: At this point, Sheridan has just signed the papers to file kidnapping charges against Luis (boo!) and Luis was thrown in jail. That was pretty harsh, considering the guy just saved her life, like five different times in Paris.

McKENZIE: There's a lot of guilt. What you'll find out this week, and they kind of touched on it last week, is that Sheridan really, honestly, had no idea that by signing the papers, through her powers of being a Crane, she still couldn't take it back. It was really all to just teach him a lesson that he couldn't push her around. She didn't realize the severity of it.

LAURA: This whole "Luis Mask" thing… did I read somewhere that your father made that mask?

McKENZIE: Yep!

LAURA: Of course, everyone is rooting for Luis and Sheridan to get together - and the ladies are just horrified every time Hank and Sheridan are even in the same room… in fact, the upcoming kiss between Hank and Sheridan has fans in a real uproar <she is laughing at this point>. But on your end that has to be kind of fun - playing the woman caught between two handsome men, both of whom would do anything to win her heart. On the set, the three of you must have a lot of fun together.

McKENZIE: I don't know what it is, but when the three of us get together, we can't stop laughing. It's so funny. It could be two of us over here or the two of them over there, but it's never the same as when it's the three of us. We don't know what our problem is, but we cannot stop laughing. I mean, we really have a great time together.

It was really funny because I had to do a kissing scene with Galen and a kissing scene Dalton all in the same day, one right after the other.

LAURA: Poor baby!

McKENZIE: Literally, I'm standing on the set saying, "Next!" It was so funny.

LAURA: I can think of worse jobs.

McKENZIE: I know. I'm sitting there thinking, "And I'm getting paid for this!"

LAURA: Galen recently got married. Is it strange kissing him now that he's married to Jenna?

McKENZIE: I try not to think about it. When we do these things, it's a very strange phenomenon to kiss someone you're not in a relationship with. It's very strange. I just separate myself from what's going on in the scene. You're standing there doing this, and there's a whole bunch of people watching it. There's nothing romantic about it whatsoever.

LAURA: The Tango scene… did that take a lot of work?

McKENZIE: They had us practicing for about three or four days. We were pretty lucky that we were able to pick the steps up pretty fast and we danced well together.

 LAURA: Tell me about your PASSIONS family. Which of the cast members would you say you buddy around with the most?

McKENZIE: Around the set, Galen. We're pretty close.

Outside, I've been trying to get together with Eva to go running, but it's just not happened yet. I had lunch for the first time with Lindsay last Saturday - a little birthday lunch (celebrating both their April birthdays). That was so fun.

I have a great time with everyone on that show. We're like a little family and we all get along. I just feel so blessed to be part of it.

LAURA: Tell us what Galen's like in real life.

McKENZIE: He's a great human being. We have a very similar sense of humor, so we really get along well.

LAURA: How's he handling this People Magazine honor of being one of the 50 most beautiful people?

McKENZIE: He's still the same old Galen. He's really great. So much is happening and it hasn't done anything to him. And I don't think it ever could. He's genuinely a great person.

LAURA: What's the funniest thing that ever happened on the set?

McKENZIE: When we had to do the fantasy - the locker room fantasy - he had to come out in these little… I don't know who came up with the name, but they donned them the wiener pants. He was so embarrassed to wear these things!

LAURA: Making mental note to ask Galen about wiener pants.

McKENZIE: They are these little, tiny, flesh-toned pants, that are supposed to give the illusion that the person is naked. It was so hard doing that scene - it was sooo funny.

The basketball scene was another moment. I could not, for the life of me, make that stupid basket. But as soon as they turned off the cameras I was fine. As soon as they'd start rolling again, I could not make it. It got to the point where the crew was laughing, and I was apologizing. I was like, "Come on guys, can't we just compete doing the Tango again?"

The third thing was, when we were doing all the stuff in Paris, and we had to be harnessed up and we were like flying, doing the stunts and things. It was really funny, because we both had to wear a harness. For a guy, it's even more uncomfortable than it is for a girl, and it was pretty darn uncomfortable for me.

LAURA: Harnesses… like parachute harnesses?

McKENZIE: Yeah. Poor Galen was just groaning the whole time. They hoisted us up. Both of us were almost in tears because it was so painful. They put a ladder underneath us so we could take our weight off these things. Well, they take the ladder out from beneath us and we go to do it again, and he's like, "Wow! This actually doesn't feel too bad!"

Somehow, he'd gotten his legs wrapped around me, so his weight and my weight were pushing me down into the harness. I finally said, "Galen, get your legs off of me! That's why it's not hurting you!"

All those stunts are fun to do, but after a while it's like, "Okay, enough."

LAURA: Lindsay Korman sang on PASSIONS in April… will we get to hear McKenzie sing, too?

McKENZIE: Hopefully some time soon.

I have plans to sing outside of the show. It's all stuff that's in the works right now, as far as CD's and things like that go.

For the show? I don't know. I'm hoping before the year's out.

LAURA: If you were cast in a romantic movie, and could choose any actor in the world to be your leading man, who would you say you'd want to be paired with?

McKENZIE: Oh, my goodness… I've always been a Mel Gibson fan. He is just a gorgeous human being. The older he gets, the better looking he gets.

LAURA: Like Sean Connery.

McKENZIE: Right.

LAURA: Who else?

McKENZIE: I'm trying to think of some of the younger actors out there now…

LAURA: I'm hard pressed to think of any. I decided Anthony Hopkins, in the Mask of Zorro, was so sexy.

McKENZIE: Yes, he was! Antonio Banderos is very sexy, but I was really impressed. I have to agree with you.

LAURA: I think I'm going through some sort of phase… if they're much older and have a Scottish or English accent, I love them.

McKENZIE: You know who I think is very good looking… he's on The Bold and The Beautiful. Victor Alfieri.

LAURA: What advice would you give a young actor or actress trying to get into the business?

McKENZIE: To study and get in as many classes as you can. And study the classics. As much as I really didn't want to do it, I remember my dad telling me, "You have to study Shakespeare. This will so benefit your acting."

So I took it and it was the best thing I've ever done. I learned so much from it. Not only learning that style of acting, but so many things I can apply to even what I'm doing on PASSIONS.

Take the classes. You make a lot of contacts.

And community theater. That's how I got my manager - doing a play at a theater in Glendale. She just happened to be there, and everything just took off from there.

LAURA: I hear you are a romantic …

McKENZIE: Hopeless.

LAURA: What is the most romantic thing a man has ever done for you?

McKENZIE: Actually, for my birthday, I was given a charcoal drawing of this tree on a cliff on the right side, and on the left there is this ocean wave. Hidden in the wave is this woman, and the wave is reaching out. And you can just barely see an outline of a man hidden in the tree. And the tree is reaching over to touch the tip of the wave, and it creates this heart. Then hanging from this heart are two roses.

I was so impressed, and it's the sweetest gift I've ever received from a guy.

LAURA: What are some of the qualities you look for in a man?

McKENZIE: A good heart. Somebody that loves me for who I am and doesn't want to change me in any way. Somebody that I can laugh with. Being able to laugh is a big thing for me. I have to be able to have fun and feel free around that person, to laugh, or say something stupid and not feel stupid.

Spirtuality is also another big one.

Most of all, it's the heart and the soul and being able to have fun. Someone I can call my best friend.

LAURA: What are some of your goals for the future?

McKENZIE: To continue on with PASSIONS as long as I possibly can, and eventually go into movies. And I've got to make my way to Broadway one day.

After meeting McKenzie, I do not doubt that she'll make all those dreams come true. 

If you're already watching PASSIONS, keep watching. We're going to be seeing a lot more of McKenzie.

If you haven't been fortunate enough to catch PASSIONS... if you're reading this because you stumbled upon it while visiting your favorite romance authors at The Romance Club... check your TV Guide and make time to watch this show (or tape it!). The Sheridan and Luis storyline is the stuff romances are made of - you're going to love it:)