Twin Peaks Soap Opera Weekly (July 8, 2003) AMC's Elizabeth Hendrickson has done double duty walking a fine line between gay and straight In barely two years on All My Children, Elizabeth Hendrickson has had two near-miss romances with daytime's favorite lesbian, Bianca Montgomery. Strike one : The relationship between Binky and scruffy outsider Frankie Stone ended with Frankie's death. Then the-powers-that-be decided that Frankie's poor, confused but more polished twin, Maggie was straight - BAM! - they pushed her out of Bianca's life before the historic girl-girl kiss. Strike two. While the actress herself was disappointed, she had larger concerns namely, how to portray the change in her character. "Maggie was asexual for a long time. It was frustrating, and I was getting confused how I should play it," Hendrickson admits. "So I kept it honest: She loved Bianca as friend. There was a possiblity that she could love her more intimately. She still does love her, and there was a point in time when she might have thought otherwise. But ultimately she likes men." Hendrickson learned to walk this fine line when cast as androgynous Frankie in September 2001. "At first, in the description of the character, they alluded to the fact that she was a lesbian. Then when I started working, I went to Jean (Dadario Burke), the executive producer, and I asked 'Is she?' She said, "Well, she's a con artist. You read your script and make the decision yourself." In the end Frankie was merely a plot device to further the Proteus story, and Hendrickson theorizes that when the writer's saw the chemistry between Bianca and Frankie, "that's when they started pushing the fact that she was a lesbian." That chemistry also was a factor in bringing her back as Maggie. "The story was already written and Frankie had to be killed off, but you can always come back," Hendrickson says with a wink. Except for one giant glitch: Frankie's body was found. "We have this running joke that it wasn't Frankie, it was Maggie this whole time, posing as Frankie. Maggie knew that she was in trouble, so she called Frankie to come, and in reality Maggie was the one who was killed and Frankie is still alive." Whoever she is, Hendrickson was more than happy to return in February 2002, "I was so excited. I was crying. I was driving and I almost hit someone," Hendrickson recalls of the moment she got the news. "It was like getting a big birthday present I didn't expect." Hendrickson had worked hard to differentiate the sisters. "I wanted to keep Maggie light, with a bit more humor. Frankie was more dark. Maggie's very true to her feelings. She's honest. She's loving and hopeful. Maggie is much closer to myself. I am an optimistic person and a realist." There's one big way in which Maggie differs from her sister: Maggie is in a sexual relationship with a man, Henry, a frustrated musician/reluctant med student. And he's Asian. Which means Maggie went from a same-sex relationship to a interracial one. Obviously,she's not put off by a challenge. The actress perceives the Maggie/Henry and Maggie/Bianca pairings as very similar. "Love is love. Henry's a great friendship and hopefully this will be a great relationship. Both of them are extremely important to her." Henry works part-time at his family's Chinese resturant - an arrangement Hendrickson knows well from her own life. Her family run The Shack, a clam bar in Centerport, Long Island. "I started off busing tables, which we called "Haul Girls", maybe because we hauled butt," the actress remembers. Not content to cart around dirty dishes forever, she cajoled her mother into taking her to a tryout for The Mickey Mouse Club, she made it to the final eight before flubbing her screen test. "I got very nervous", she explains. Even though she missed out on joining Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake at the Mouse House, Elizabeth continued to pester her mother about turning pro. But her mother, Kim was adamant that Elizabeth stay in school. That dedication to education continues to this day - after starting as a musical theater major at Syracuse University. Hendrickson attended New York's Fordham at Lincoln Center. "I still have a year left. I plan to finish once I have a bit more time." For now, Hendrickson is focusing on whatever AMC may throw at her, and holds out hope that Maggie and Bianca may reunite one day. "As long as I continue to work with Eden Riegel (Bianca) and they remain close I'm fine with that," she allows. "Would I love for them to be together? Yes - but only if it is going to come from an honest and truthful place."