LILY ANNE HARRISON ON GH DEBUT

Lily Anne Harrison makes her entrance into Port Charles society this week as Andrea Gates, a young woman who meets with TJ and Molly about the possibility of serving as their surrogate.

The actress, who is the real-life daughter of Gregory Harrison (Gregory), previously auditioned for various roles on the show, predating her father joining the cast in 2020. “I’ve been in to read for [Casting Director] Mark Teschner many times over the years. I actually went in to read for a different role [recently], which was a quite sinister role. They said, ‘We want her, but we want her for something else,’ and I ended up with Andrea. They called and said, ‘You’re better for Andrea. Do you want to do it?’ And I was very excited.”

Harrison describes her new alter ego as “super-wholesome and genuine and just really loves her family and is [doing surrogacy work] to support her family. She sort of hits it off with TJ and Molly right away — she’s genuine and warm and open, just a really lovely person.” And she wasn’t surprised that GH’s higher-ups envisioned her as better suited to that type of role. “It’s funny because over the years I’ve read for sort of the bad guy [character] in various things and I always hear the same thing from the casting director, which is like, ‘That was really great, but I’m just having a hard time believing it on your face.’ It’s a compliment, but I’m also an actor and I could do it! But I do think my energy tends to lean a little bit warmer, so generally, I don’t think I’m a shoo-in for the evil role! But I would be thrilled if I got to do something evil for once [laughs].”