Soldier of Fortune (Soap Opera Digest - October 19, 2004) by Mara Levinsky How Elizabeth Hendrickson Learned Not To Become A Casualty In AMC's Unique Battle of the Sexes When it comes to her place in the All My Children universe, Elizabeth Hendrickson is in a bit of a bind. On one hand, she's one of the show's most well-liked performers, so passionately embraced by fans during her short term 2001 stint as the moribund Frankie that she was brought back by popular demand (with a contract, no less) two months later in the hastily designed guise of Frankie's twin sister, Maggie. On the other, Hendrickson's unmistakable chemistry with Eden Riegel (Bianca) played no small role in endearing her to fans originally and sustaining their adoration to this day - which, given ABC's long-standing "maybe,maybe not" attitude toward a Bianca/Maggie pairing, is as much a curse as it is a blessing. In essence, the quagmire presented by Maggie's indeterminate sexual orientation is this: Until AMC figures out what Maggie's story is, there is little Maggie story to tell. So, Hendrickson's time in Pine Valley has been, in large part, a waiting game; she's a supporting player whose leading lady potential has yet to be realized, who must sit back and watch as her contemporaries - Riegel, Alexa Havins (Babe), Alicia Minshew (Kendall) - get all the glory, the front-burner storylines and the magazine covers. And she's okay with that - now. But six months ago, it was a different story. "Frustrated and bitter!" is how she describes her state of mind at the time. "I had grown so much as an actress within my first three months on AMC, and then I came back and they didn't know what to do with me. And as the months went by, I felt myself slipping. I felt like I was brand-new every time I came to work; I felt that pressure constantly." "And," she continues, "I felt the pressure of being 'too much' of a lesbian, because I know that they're going to put me in scenes with men, and I have to be able to play that, too. I have to play both sides, but it's really difficult. Maggie's confused and she doesn't know what she wants, but so much of that isn't in the script - it only comes up every other month. It weaves in and out of storyline. Yeah," she sighs, shaking her head. "I was just getting so stressed out about what I had to work with." Luckily, she had a close-knit circle of on-set friends - Riegel, Rebecca Budig (Greenlee) and Cameron Mathison (Ryan) chief among them - to help her through it. ("Numerous times" she laughs, "Cameron would bump into me in the hallway after I'd left the set hysterically crying, or find me sitting on the windowsill, hysterically crying, writing in my diary....") With her loved ones' support, her internal tide turned. "I came to the realization that it wasn't about me," she explains. Where the constraints were place on Maggie's storyline were concerned, "There was no one to blame; there was no one at fault. It just is what it is, and I know that. I've gotten to a good place with it. Really, I was being selfish. I mean, I am so lucky. I'm still getting a paycheck even though I'm not working, and I still have great friends at work and I learn so much from them. I basically gave myself a slap across the face and said, 'Shut up!' And hey, [Head Writer] Megan [McTavish] created Babe. I understand why Alexa's working, and she's doing a fantastic job. There are wonderful stories going on! I'm just happy that I get a taste of it from time to time." She got perhaps her biggest taste to date back in June, when Maggie finally gave voice to her feelings for Bianca in a stirring confessional. "I had been waiting for material like that for so long," she says. "My expectations of myself were so high; I wanted to prove to myself that even though I don't get scenes like that all the time doesn't mean I can't handle them." And how does she grade her performance? "I think 80 percent of what I was going for was there," she says modestly. That 80 percent was enough to earn her Digest's "Performer of the Week" honors, which was a thrill. "The only problem was, I was on vacation! My mom called me to tell me, and I was like, 'I cannot believe this! I'm in the Dominican Republic and can't pick up a copy!'" And who knows? There may be plenty more scenes as rich as that one now that Maggie's hooking up with Jeff Branson's Jonathan, which just may reignite Bianca's interest in her best friend. "What I love with the new storyline that I have is that Maggie's growing up," Hendrickson enthuses. "My material is more mature, more expressive. She's beginning to open up a little, which is really...." She's too self-effacing to say it, so we say it for her: Long overdue. "Yeah," she smiles. "Long overdue." Just The Facts: Birthday: July 3 Recent Additions to her CD Collection: "The soundtrack to Garden State is amazing, and I've just gotten into Wilco. Sam Page (ex-Trey) turned me on to them." Channel Turf: "I'm addicted to the Food Network and the Game Show Network. Who watches LINGO - am I the only one out there?" On Reports From Her Male Co-Stars That She Tries to Beat Them Up: "I play-fight with them all the time. I'm a spicy little one, I am. Never underestimate a small girl!" On Reports From Her Male Co-Stars That They Have To Resist the Urge to Toss Her Into the Air: "I think all big, burly men have to fight that temptation. I've been dealing with that for a really long time, so I'm not really opposed to it. I'm like, 'Ya know, if you want to throw me up in the air, let's just do it and get it over with.'" Did You Know? - It is Jonathan Bennett (ex-JR) who gave her puppy, Nessy, her name. "It means 'miracle' in Hebrew - isn't that great, even though she's not Jewish [laughs]? But because we got her in the Dominican Republic, we wanted her to have a Dominican name, so Hunt [Block, ATWT] gave her one: Nessisita." In The Bedroom Maggie and Jonathan's burgeoning romance has brought Elizabeth Hendrickson into new territory. "Because I play a sexually confused character, I have not had to do a lot of sex scenes," she giggles. "Maggie lost her virginity to Henry in her dorm room, and it was pretty PC, pretty chaste. Well, not with Jonathan! When we did our first big love scene, I was so surprised about how prudish and shy I became! It's like I became 16 again. I had to drop the blanket that was covering me, and in the middle of my kiss with Jeff [Branson, Jonathan], I started cracking up. He was like, 'What did I do, what did I do?' And I was like, 'Nothing! It wasn't you! I'm a 25-year-old professional woman. What is wrong with me?' I couldn't believe myself!' Everyone else does these scenes all the time, they're basically naked and it's no big deal, and I'm like, 'I need everyon to leave the set!' I'm a prude!"