MEET DAYS'S AKETRA SEVILLIAN

Getting cast as a doctor who’s masquerading as a baker on DAYS didn’t give actress Aketra Sevillian (Talia) any pause.

“I wasn’t surprised at all by the storyline,” she begins. “This is a soap opera. I’m ready for all the twists and turns that come with it.”

Sevillian grew up watching soaps at the knee of her grandmother, Madeline. “She was in love with DAYS OF OUR LIVES and GENERAL HOSPITAL,” shares Sevillian, adding that it helped her to be well-versed in daytime before joining the soap. “I was just praying and hoping that I was going to be the good girl, that I was never going to be the villain. But that might be too much to ask for in the soap opera world.”

It took Sevillian a couple of tries before finally landing a role on DAYS. She’d auditioned for the show before, including the part of Talia’s sister, Jada. Despite being “confident” in herself and knowing she’d done “a great job,” she says, “I was kind of bummed when I didn’t get the roles, but it made sense. As an actress you realize some roles just don’t fit you.”

A couple of months later, Sevillian’s manager and agent called with good news: DAYS finally had a role they thought she was perfect for. “I didn’t even have to audition. I just sent them some of my tapes, because I had tested for them twice,” she explains. “They came with an offer a couple of days later, and I was ecstatic.”