Her wit and laugh are sure to delight anyone she meets or talks too. Her warm, outgoing personality, love for the show and caring and respect she shows for all of her co-stars was evident from the minute I started speaking with Bree Williamson. I see why this lovely golden haired star of the ABC drama One Life to Live has won over fans since taking over the coveted role of Llanview sweetheart, Jessica Buchanan a few years back.

Fans who have watched the show since its inception rejoiced with super couple Clint and Victoria Lord Buchanan over the birth of their baby girl, Jessica. As this flaxen haired child grew, in the form of her originator Erin Torpey, fans quickly cheered, cried, laughed and loved right along with Jessica. Then Torpey announced she was leaving and since the character of Jessica was involved in a front burner pivotal storyline, ABC and One Life execs had the daunting task of finding just the right actress to fill her shoes.

And find the right actress they did, with Toronto native Williamson who bears a remarkable resemblance to her predecessor. “I was a little a nervous in the beginning because so many fans loved Erin and identified her with the role of Jessica,” she admits.  But Williamson worked her magic and made the role of Jessica her own. Those fans that were once unaccepting of a recast were now faithful followers of Williamson. 

“I was a little a nervous in the beginning,” admits Williamson.  She continues, “Erin had been on the show and in the role of Jessica for quite sometime and so many viewers identified the character with her.”

But Williamson did what a true actress does. She incorporated bits of Torpey’s Jessica with the way she saw Jessica to make the role a perfect fit. “I have tried to give the character of Jessica some of my own traits and not change her too drastically,” she says with a laugh. “I know how hard it is for fans to accept a recast in the beginning, but I hope that they are enjoying what is currently playing out with Jess,” she shares.  

Viewers may not know that Jessica wasn’t the first role Williamson had auditioned for on One Life. “That’s true. A few years back the show was casting another blonde female role, she says. So why didn’t Williamson get that part? “I came to the studio and read for this particular part, but ABC and One Life turned me down because they said I looked too much like someone they already had on the cast,” she says with a laugh. 

Boarding the plane to fly back to Toronto, little did Williamson know that fate and luck were on her side, even if it did take three years later.

“When they were looking to recast the role of Jessica, they had come across the audition tape I did for the other role,” she says. Then fate intervened, “my agent called and said they wanted me to read for a role they were recasting, submit another tape, etc…. and boom here I am,” she says with laugh. 

And what a dramatic entrance Williamson made, being thrust into the front burner paternity storyline that intertwined most of the cast for many, many months. As we all know, Williamson’s character was at the center of this storyline and that the man Jessica called daddy for so many years was not her biological father. Talk to any One Life fan or check out any message board and you’ll see that viewers were in an uproar with the show’s decision to make Mitch Laurence, not Clint Buchanan Jessica’s father. Adding more fuel to the viewer’s fire, the writers seemingly dropped this storyline overnight, leaving many loose ends and questions still unresolved. 

“I get asked about this all the time,” says Williamson. “I would honestly love to see the show address this issue once again, tie up any loose ends and answer the many questions fans still have,” she continues. “I honestly do not know what Dena (Higley, new head writer) has in store down the line.”

The silver lining in this storyline was the discovery that Jessica had a new sibling, a sister Natalie. “I love how the show is writing and developing the sisterly relationship and bonds between Nat and Jess,” she says excitedly. “Melissa (Archer, Natalie) and I are good friends off screen as well and I think that carries over into our scenes together,”

They say sisters share everything and in the case of Jessica and Natalie they even shared the love of one man. Longtime fans remember the sweet love story and relationship that developed between Jessica and Cristian Vega many years ago. In true soap fashion, Jessica and Cristian were torn apart and moved on to other people. For Cristian that other person was the sister of his former love. Even though he pledged his love to Natalie, could Cristian still have held feelings for Jessica?

“You know, I think it would have been interesting to see how the show would have explored and handled a Cristian/Natalie/Jessica triangle since Cristian and Jessica do share a past with one another,” Williamson says excitedly. “I’m sure that deep down it does concern Natalie…Jessica does love her sister and would do anything for her, so to see her react to Cristian would have been interesting to play.”