Farah Fath is excited. She has somehow managed to make several seemingly impossible dreams come true in her soon-to-be twenty-one years. The first order of business for my chat with Farah: Will she be watching the Kentucky Wildcats play in the basketball tournament? Days dish? Not interested... yet. What's in store for Mimi? We'll get to that later. Let's get to the really important stuff first - our Cats! The good news is that Fath did manage to snag Big Dance tickets, which, Fath admits, were not cheap. She was also willing to suffer with a sinus infection to be in the company of our beloved team. "I'm a little nervous," she confessed, referring to the Wildcats' chances, "But that's what it's all about, I suppose!" Unfortunately, the team found itself eliminated from the tournament at the very game Fath attended.

But the actress has plenty of other things to look forward to as well. The Lexington, Kentucky native has had nothing but good luck on her side, ever since she arrived in Salem: The role of Mimi is Fath's first professional acting job. "I just got really lucky," she says, "I had been watching the show since I was eight years old. The scenes that I had to read for the audition were Belle and Mimi, talking on the phone about Austin and Carrie and Mike and I knew that storyline because it was my favorite storyline!" She admits that her vivacious personality and an immediate rapport with Kirsten Storms (ex-Belle, now Maxie, General Hospital) may have also contributed to landing the role. "We looked like we would be best friends," the actress shares, referring to Storms, "I had that really outgoing, talkative, bubbly personality that they wanted Mimi to have. It was just fate. I was meant to do this! I just basically got lucky. That's really all I can say about that."

In the meantime, Fath has another milestone to mark - her 21st birthday! How is she planning to make it special? "Funny you should ask..." she replies, "My good friend and co-star, Martha Madison (Belle), she overheard me talking about it." Madison took charge and promised Fath a party to remember. "It's kind of a half-surprise party," she says, "I know I'm having a party, I just don't know the details!"

Mimi, however, has not always been as lucky as her portrayer. For the longest time, she was simply known as Belle's best friend. She competed with Belle for Shawn's affections and even found herself critically wounded during the shoot-out at Greta von Amberg's coronation ball, which occurred in 2001. Still, there was a presence about Fath that made her character stand out, and eventually, the show rewarded the actress with an exciting story and a love interest. Mimi and Rex fell in love, Mimi became pregnant, and secretly had an abortion, kicking off one of Days of Our Lives most controversial tales. Still, there were a few problems, like the fact that Rex has yet to learn the truth. "I know it's been dragged out for a long time and I'll just be honest and say why it has," Fath says candidly, "Everybody knows by now that Eric Winter (Rex) is leaving the show, and it just had to do with why Rex was going to leave. But they had to coincide it with Eric's contract, so therefore they just dragged it out until Eric's contract ended....they didn't want to drag it out this long, but they had to."

I bring up a point in the story that I thought was unnecessary: Jan's blackmail of Mimi. Why didn't Mimi simply clue Belle in to Jan's intentions? "Oh I know!" Fath states with gusto, "That was ridiculous.... Belle knew about the abortion, so I had no reason not to tell her what she (Jan) was doing. Trust me, I brought up these points before anyone else did, because I don't know what they think sometimes. But they have their reasons, I suppose." Will Mimi finally confess? "Look for her to tell him (Rex) within the next two months," Fath previews.

But the actress and her character are not as alike as you may think. "I use to think we were a lot alike," Fath observes, "But not so much anymore. I lend my mannerisms and personality traits to her but as far as how we think, we just think totally different. I rarely agree with what she is doing these days, but I try to see why Mimi is doing the things she is doing. That way, I can make it believable. You have to know where your character is coming from so you can play your character realistically."

Fath remains philosophical about her character's flaws. "I think she (Mimi) has already learned lessons through her mistakes, but obviously when Rex leaves her, I want her to just know that she always needs to go with her gut feeling and just not listen to any other person's advice but her own," the actress states, and continues, "I just want her to grow and maybe this relationship with Rex wasn't meant to be and it's her first love. Everyone has a first love and it doesn't work out. But you learn from it and I just hope she learns many valuable lessons and can move on from it and hopefully love again, or if Rex comes back to town, maybe they can work things out. I just want her to be happy and not make stupid choices." What would she like to see happen for Mimi? "I recently had scenes with Bryan Dattilo (Lucas) and that was really fun! Maybe once Rex leaves, I'd like to be thrown into the Lucas/Sami/Austin and possibly Carrie storyline because Austin is coming back. I've done the Belle/Shawn storyline for long enough." Indeed, it would be interesting to see Mimi placed in a story that her portrayer admitted to being a big fan of. "I'd like to see Mimi interact with a whole other group of people," she says, hopefully.

Is there any particular performer on her wish list, like say, her onscreen brother, Brody Hutzler (Patrick)? "Yeah we always talk about that," she says of Mimi's lack of scenes with her brother, adding," We are brother and sister on the show but we've had two scenes together since he's been on the show."

The future of Farah Fath looks as bright as the path the brought her here in the first place. Unfortunately, a taxing work schedule has ruled out any other offers that come her way. "It's way too hard to do that when you're under contract with Days," she admits, referring to the lure of primetime and pilot season. "I work every day, and to try to book another show or another part is just like they usually need you to start right away, and I have to give like a month's notice. Who knows what the future can hold?" Still, Fath, who has less than a year left on her contract, is enjoying her hectic schedule. "I love it. I'm excited every day!" she says enthusiastically, "I was thinking this past Sunday night, I had to go to work on Monday morning and I'm like 'Yay! I get to go to work tomorrow!' And I stopped and I thought, 'That is such a cool thing. I'm excited to go to work tomorrow.' How many people can say that?"

"I'm very blessed," the actress continues, "And if I ever leave the show, it will have nothing to do with the show. It'll just be strictly because I want to see if there's anything else out there for me."

This effervescent actress seems to have the world in her hands and I only see good things coming for her. She is a giving person who adores her family, her friends, her co-stars and her fans. We could wish her good luck in the future, but Fath seems to have her good luck all wrapped up!

I would like to extend a heartfelt thanks to Farah Fath for taking the time to talk to me, despite feeling under the weather. She was a pure joy to chat with.

Visit Farah on the web at www.farahfathonline.com and be sure to check out her message boards. Farah posts messages to her fans quite often.

All photos courtesy of Farah Fath except for "Mimi" screen captures, courtesy of the author.