Getting to Know You: Courtnee Draper

Learn more about "The Bold and the Beautiful's" Courtnee Draper (Erica.)

Courtnee Draper (Erica Lovejoy, The Bold and the Beautiful)

On soaps: "You have to memorize your lines quickly, but it builds that muscle, which will help when I go back to doing films. And you have to make sure that you are focused. My first two days at B&B I said to my mom, 'I can't do this!' I was distraught. Now I find that I can memorize a lot easier."

On her character: "Erica never says how old she is - I'm thinking she's in the 16 to 18-year-old range - but she's on a level with adults. She knows what's going on. It's cool to play a character like that opposed to other shows where you see girls older than me playing immature teenagers. I like to play older roles. I'm mature for my age. Erica is really good for me."

On Erica's obsession with the Forresters: "Would I be friends with Erica? No. (laughs) She's too obsessive for me. 'Gotta meet the Forresters. Gotta impose myself.' If I had a friend who was that obsessed with someone they didn't know, I'd be scared. But Erica is sweet. She's very thoughtful and nice and kindhearted. You know what? I might actually be a friend with her. I'd try to bring her back to reality."

On on-screen mom Kimberlin Brown (Sheila): "It's awesome working her. She's amazing. Especially like on a soap opera set, you have a lot of egos. But Kimberlin and Matt (Borlenghi, Ziggy) have been around for a long time and neither of them have egos. They're the nicest people you can meet. I'm honored to work with them."

On Erica's friend Alyssa: "I hope that she pays a bigger part in the story because Sabrina and I are friends in real life. We worked together on some Disney commercials and she went to school with one of my ex-boyfriends, so I knew her. When I found out she was going to be on the show, I was excited."

On Erica's love life: "Everyone is older than Erica. The youngest one is Rick, so at this point he's the only person she could be with. She and Ziggy have a weird relationship, but I'd think Ziggy should go for Sheila. They would be fun together."

On being one the youngest actors on set: "It's difficult to a certain extent. Sometimes it's hard when they're talking about going out and partying. I'm like, 'Okay, I'll just go home now.' But nobody treats me like I'm any younger, which is cool."

On her few first months: "When I look back, I think: God, I sucked. I didn't take my time and I rushed through things. But everything is a learning process. If I had walked in knowing what I know now, it wouldn't have been so much fun. Half of the journey and half of the excitement about working on a new show is learning new things. If I had walked in knowing everything, I wouldn't be growing.

On watching herself onscreen: "I have a couple times, but I think that when you watch yourself you get overly critical. I try to watch my scenes with Kimberlin and the fantasy sequences to make sure they're coming across the way I want them to. Usually I don't watch myself because I'm too much of a perfectionist."

What we'd be surprised to know about her... "I'm a neat freak. I like to have everything organized. When I'm upset, I organize things a lot. I figure when you're stressed out and pieces of your life are falling apart, you might as well put some of them back together and organize things. I like being clean. I can't stand it when people spend the night and mess everything up.

© Soap Opera Weekly 2002