Kim Johnston Ulrich portrays Ivy Winthrop Crane, the daughter of a Governor, and the stunningly beautiful and socially prominent wife of Julian Crane.

Ivy's marriage to Julian (Ben Masters) was arranged by their parents, and Ivy, very young and naive, was not able to stand up to her father and Alistair Crane and marry the man she really loved - Sam Bennett (James Hyde).

On her wedding night, Ivy overheard Julian and Alistair talking about her, and how the marriage was one of convenience, in order to obtain the political connections the Cranes so desired. Ivy ran off into the night in tears, straight into the arms - and bed - of Sam.

Ever since that night, Ivy has been faithful to Julian, even though he's not been the least bit discreet about his affairs. And for more than 20 years Ivy has kept one of Harmony's biggest secrets - that her son, Ethan (Travis Schuldt), is actually Sam's son!

Lately, Ivy's had about all the humiliation and loneliness she can stand, and she's decided she needs more than the crumbs Julian throws her. And the only thing that will slake this overwhelming need is Sam Bennett, whom she's never stopped loving, even though he's now married to Grace (Dana Sparks) - Harmony's resident Donna Reed.

So what's a woman to do?

Have a secret affair with Sam, of course!

That way, Grace won't get hurt, she reasons.

And that way, she can satisfy this burning desire for the love of her life and not sacrifice the perks of being a Crane for Ethan or herself.

There's only one problem... Sam (meekly) insists he's happily married to Grace, and no matter how she tries, Ivy cannot coax him into bed.

As fate would have it, Ivy is the first to discover the truth about Julian's past with the seemingly respectable Dr. Eve Russell (Tracey Ross), by way of some old photographs Julian took of he and Eve. What luck!

So Ivy strikes a bargain with Eve (actually, it's more like unadulterated blackmail) ; Ivy will not tell T.C. (Rodney Van Johnson) - Eve's hot-tempered husband - about her less than virtuous past if Eve helps Ivy have her wicked way with Sam.

Sounds like a plan. And now it's time to spark the flames of desire that will lead to the moment Ivy's been waiting for for more than twenty years.

She manages to manipulate a situation so that she can be alone with Sam and try her hand at his seduction. When Sam rejects her advances, he tells her that the bond between he and Grace can never be broken because of the children they share together.

For a year now, Ivy's been debating the pros and cons of telling Sam about the son he never knew he had. On one hand, Ethan will no longer be heir to the vast Crane dynasty and any hopes he has (or Ivy has for him) of a political career will probably be lost. On the other hand, confiding the truth to Sam about Ethan will secure Ivy a place in Sam's heart forever and will better her chances of rekindling their passionate love.

Finally, during the prom (which they were both chaperoning, aboard a ship, with a supernatural storm raging around them, and with people being tossed to and fro) she let it slip. 

Too late, she realizes her impetuous behavior could cost her (and her darling Ethan) everything. 

Police Chief Bennett is hardly the sort to let a confession like Ivy's go without getting to the truth.

Then there's Julian... when Alistair threatened to make Ethan his heir because of Julian's inept performances, not only is Julian angry, but he's suddenly become determined to find out what the secret is that Ivy's been hiding from him these last few months, believing that somehow learning the truth will make him look better in his father's eyes.

All things considered, finding out that Ethan is another man's son and is no longer a threat to his fortune would no doubt have Julian cheering from the roof tops. 

However, Alistair is a vengeful man, who will surely take her down without second thought as punishment for the scandal and humiliation such a revelation would cause.

Talk about being stuck between the proverbial rock and hard place!

Can Ivy prevent Sam from finding the proof he needs to confirm Ethan is his son? Can she prevent Julian from discovering the truth that will ruin Ethan, not to mention herself? 

And, the biggest mystery of all... while dodging all of Harmony and covering up all the clues so the past remains a secret, where will Ivy find time to seduce Sam into her bed?

After getting to know Ivy over the last year, I expected a little of Ivy in Kim. Imagine my surprise to find that Kim Johnston Ulrich, though every bit as beautiful as Ivy, is soft spoken and absolutely down to earth... and above all... nice.

Kim really is "the girl next door", though she portrays the bitchy vixen sooo well, it's hard to envision it.

Being struck by the contrasts between the character and the real woman, I wanted to get to know Kim, the real person, before delving into Ivy.

LAURA: Where were you born and raised?

KIM: I was born and raised in… I say northern California, but it's actually dead center of the state. In the central valley, in a small town called Ripon.

LAURA: What would you say is your favorite movie of all time is?

KIM: Auntie Mame, with Rosalind Russell.

LAURA: Favorite actress?

KIM: Rosalind Russell.

LAURA: Favorite actor?

KIM: I don't have a big favorite… probably Cary Grant and Mel Gibson.

LAURA: What's your favorite music?

KIM: I don't listen to music a lot. If I do it's either classical or new age.

If I'm driving around in my car, I will probably have a book on tape.

LAURA: What kind of books do you read?

KIM: Currently, it's mysteries. I love the English mysteries. Elizabeth George is one I just listened to.

LAURA: <and now the big question…> Have you ever read romance?

KIM: Yes, I have.

LAURA: Who are some of your favorite authors?

KIM: I like Jude Deveraux. She has a book that I absolutely adore and someday I'd like to get the rights to.

My mother in law reads a ton of Nora Roberts. People like her are so prolific, it's amazing.

Mary Stuart I like a lot. I especially like her Crystal Cave series.

LAURA: Did you have any idols while you were growing up?

KIM: People I aspired to be?

LAURA: Or truly admired.

KIM: I can't think of any off hand

LAURA: Would you say you had a mentor as far as your acting?

KIM: No, I really didn't. If anyone, my husband, who's always been there, and always wanted to be an actor, wanted to be a performer, and led me in the right direction. A couple of acting teachers. But not really a mentor.

LAURA: When did you know you wanted to be an actress?

KIM: <laughing> You know, about six months ago.

LAURA: Or at least that's when you took it seriously?

KIM: There were twenty-five hundred people when I grew up (in Ripon). Three hundred people in my high school. Acting wasn't one of those options you considered. I had gone away to college, and I'd come back to go to a local college. I was living at home again. I got involved in the theater department there - kind of through a side door. I was doing the makeup for a production. And I met my husband, who had always wanted to be an actor, or a performer, or in the business. Since he was four he was writing scripts or screen plays and shooting movies. He just always knew. So I started doing some more theater then, and when we got married, moved to New York and kind of went, "Well, I'll do something - I don't know what…"

I started taking acting classes, and went with this modeling agency, and I got lucky. That's all I can say. I have to think that this was what I was supposed to do, because it fell into place.

I mean, I worked, and I studied, and then once things started coming my way I worked hard to make it better and to become better at it.

LAURA: If you could have any leading man play opposite you in a movie, who would it be?

KIM: Current leading man? Probably Mel Gibson. Maybe Harrison Ford. And Kevin Spacey would be awfully fun to work with.

Then you get into… who do I just want to look at, and who do I really want to act with.

LAURA: You'd have to sort of ask yourself what type of movie you're doing.

KIM: Yeah. That's a tough question. In terms of, "he's fun" and "a good actor" and "nice to look at", it would probably have to be Mel Gibson. He's a good actor, I don't think he takes himself too seriously, so he'd be fun, and he's very easy on the eyes.

I'd want to work with someone who's a good actor. I'll tell you, someone can be gorgeous… I've seen it happen - stunningly gorgeous - and if they are not a good actor, by the end of the movie, you won't find them appealing. Then someone can be not so good looking but a fabulous actor, and by the end of the film you'll be so in love with him.

LAURA: That happened to me with Anthony Hopkins. I mean, no matter how great an actor, you couldn't fall in love with him in Silence of the Lambs - perhaps it was that whole flesh-eating aspect of the character. But in Zorro, he was just amazing.

KIM: And the one he did with Emma Thompson.

LAURA: Remains of the Day.

KIM: You loved him.

Kevin Spacey is another one. He's such a good actor, you find yourself attracted there.

LAURA: Kenneth Branagh is handsome and a wonderful actor.

KIM: He can be so sexy, that by the end you're like, wow…

LAURA: What do you think you would have become had you not gone into acting?

KIM: I honestly don't know. I was thinking of going into interior design. That's why I'd gone back to school as an art major - because I thought I'd go into interior design. So I'd have probably would have headed in that direction. It's something I love to do. I love color, and I love fabric and furniture and all that.

I don't know if I have any talent for it, but I really enjoy it.

LAURA: That's how I am. I don't know how good I am at this remodeling I'm doing in my house. What I really need is some old gothic mansion. I painted my dining room Victorian red, and my mother walked in and just sort of gasped. I like it.

KIM: That sounds great. I had a red bedroom for a while.

LAURA: Decadent, isn't it?

KIM: Mmm, it was wonderful. Cozy and warm and womb-like. It was fabulous.

LAURA: What was your first acting role?

KIM: I think the first thing I did after I got my SAG card was a commercial for some toothpaste.

LAURA: Which toothpaste?

KIM: I don't remember. Isn't that terrible? Was there a toothpaste called Closeup?

LAURA: Yes.

KIM: I think that might have been it.

LAURA: In red or green gel.

KIM: And oddly enough, there were three girls, and I was the bitch. I always booked commercials where I had to be nasty or sarcastic. I never ever booked the nice girl next door. If it was nasty…

LAURA: But you do it so well!

KIM: Scary, but I do!

LAURA: You do it so that you do come across quite nasty -

KIM: But likeable.

LAURA: Because you know there's something deeper there.

What was your first television role that was not a commercial?

KIM: I did a very small part on One Life to Live. I'd auditioned for another part on One Life to Live.

Actually, As the World Turns was my first contract role. That was fifteen years ago.

I came out to LA with an NBC contract. I was under contract to develop something. It happened to be the year of the writers' strike, and NBC did no pilots. So I spent a year basically not auditioning. I did a couple of NBC shows, and then that ended. Since then, I've done so many primetime, guest spots, series, and movies of the week.

LAURA: Name some.

KIM: My very first one was Remington Steel. Then I did an episode of the A-Team. I've done Cheers and Wings, 3^rd Rock from the Sun, Diagnosis Murder, a couple of Matlocks, a couple of Murder She Wrotes. I had a series called Nightingales, which was an Aaron Spelling show about student nurses. I did eight episodes of Reasonable Doubt with Mark Harmon. They asked me if I wanted to be a series regular, and I was pregnant. I said, "I'd love to! Can you work this in?" And they said, "No." So…

Then I did several pilots. The last one I did was Dogs for ABC. I played Jay Thomas's wife.

LAURA: It sounds like you worked constantly.

KIM: I did. You know, truly, for an actor who is not on a series, I worked a lot. I was very fortunate. I did at least five or six guest spots a year. And like I said, I also did a couple of pilots. You do a pilot, and you might wait ten months while you wait to see if you get picked up. I did some guest spots, but you can't audition for any series, because you're waiting to see if your pilot is going to go.

That kind of covered me for fifteen years. And in the middle I had a child. I actually worked until I was five months pregnant, and had my first audition when he was three weeks old - I didn't do very well on that one.

Finally, when Passions came up, I said, "Yeah, I'm ready to do daytime again." I'm at an age where auditions are slowing down. You get past thirty and there's not that much work out there. And what work there is, most of it is being done out of town, a lot of it's being done in Canada. I really didn't want to go out of town. My husband's here, my son is here.

LAURA: Cooper, your son, is young.

KIM: He's eight. When he was really little, like the first year or two, I actually passed on several things that were shot out of town. I wouldn't do them.

LAURA: Their childhood is not long. I look at Jared, my oldest, and it's as though he should still be a baby.

KIM: I know. I'm amazed at my son. I just look at him and go, "Wow." You just don't want to go away - you don't want to be gone.

To be the lead in an hour show is nice because there can be a lot of prestige and recognition involved. There are too many hours. I don't want to work sixteen hours a day. I want to be home.

LAURA: How many hours would you say you work a day?

KIM: This week? (It's been a long week for Kim)

I went in at six, and I came home at ten - at night! That was a long day. But that's unusual.

Normally, a good storyline is two to three days a week. That's not bad. If I can have two or three days off a week, that's great. If I only have to work two to three, that's perfect.

Our schedule is such - well, I came in today at 7:45 (am) and I was done by 11:30 (am). That's good.

LAURA: How do you combine your career and your family.

KIM: With a lot of help from my friends. It's tough. I'm constantly amazed at how my mother did it without the help. I have much more respect for her. I always respected her, but I have a great deal more respect now that I have my own family.

My mother went back to work when I was three, and she was a nurse. She mostly worked the 3-11 shift. I don't know how she did it all.

I have help. I have a fabulous woman who's been with me for five years. I rely on her a great deal to pick up the slack and help me out. My husband does a lot. And I only have one, so it makes it a lot easier.

You know, I do this (Passions), I go home, I do the homework, I figure out what's for dinner, do the shopping…

My in-laws have always been very active. They don't live near us. I wish they did, it would be great.

Cooper always has gone up to spend time with them. I'll send him up there to stay with them for a week or two. They live in northern California.

LAURA: That's so good for a child.

KIM: It's wonderful for him. They are fabulous, fabulous people. He's just this little king when he's with them - it's hell on me when he comes home, of course.

LAURA: Of course!

KIM: I think he's going to have these great memories of time spent with his grandparents. They are really special, and I'm thankful for that.

LAURA: If you could change anything about yourself or your life, what would it be?

KIM: Well, of course, you want to go back and know then what you know now.

I would have probably wasted less time - certain auditions I might have tried a little harder.

I definitely would have had children a little earlier. I always say there's a reason young women get pregnant easily - it's because you really should have them young because of the energy.

LAURA: You don't have the patience, but you have the energy.

KIM: Right. It's a trade off. I have more patience. I have no energy, but…

I can honestly say that having waited as long as I did, there's nothing I feel I didn't get to do. We did everything. We had a lot of fun and we traveled and went all over the world. So now I'm pretty content. To stay home and hang out with Cooper is fine with me. I don't need to be running around. I'd rather be here.

LAURA: I've noticed children of older parents tend to be calmer, and I think it's because the parents are calmer.

What would you say your personal strengths are?

KIM: I'm loyal. I'm easy going and non-judgmental.

LAURA: What about weaknesses?

KIM: Well, um…

LAURA: Go ahead. You're allowed to admit it's chocolate.

KIM: That is a weakness, I've got to tell you.

I'm not as motivated as I'd like to be. I can be a little lazy.

My husband would say that I never say I'm sorry. And I never say I'm wrong… <she lowers her voice> because I never am.

LAURA: What was it like starting on this show that was brand new and very different?

KIM: It was wild. I'd done a soap before, so I kind of knew what to expect in terms of filming and hours. But having no back-story, you kind of walk in and wonder, "What is my relationship to them?" It hasn't been written, so you don't know.

So that was kind of odd, walking in to everybody new and nobody knowing. As an actor you tend to make up back-story, you try to create a whole life for your character, and then after you do that, you find out you were wrong!

It was kind of strange. It was fun, exciting - it still is.

LAURA: I love Ivy. She's a nut.

KIM: Yeah, she is nuts.

LAURA: I have to let you know I've been rooting for the bad guys on Passions. I cheer Tabitha on, and I adore Ivy.

KIM: I think, on all shows, you tend to… you're not rooting for them, but you love to hate them. And that's on any show - primetime, nighttime. A really good villain is always fun.

LAURA: I really don't think of Ivy as bad. What do you think of Ivy?

KIM: Well, Ivy isn't bad. She's not a bad person. Actually, in my opinion, Ivy was a really, really good person, and is a good person.

I had this really long day on Wednesday, where I had tons of monologue. One of them was actually kind of fun, because she finally kind of turns the corner and says, "Oh my gosh, he walked through the door and I lost it - I lost my will power, my self control. I've become obsessed. I've been nuts."

I think that's what happened. I think she had all these years when she's been a good person, she's done her job, she accepted her lot in life. She doesn't like Julian, but let's face it, who does? She does well by her kids.

I think there are moments when she and Julian may have had some fun, but no love lost. She's just now reached that point in life when she's going, "Wait a minute. What about me?"

She's become a little selfish, but I don't think she's bad.

LAURA: And blackmailing Eve… that's just a phase. It won't last.

KIM: The thing about the blackmail… honestly, in my head, I think Ivy's really lonely. I don't think she has a lot of friends. She's blackmailing Eve for friendship as much as she is to get Sam.

She really wants that friendship. And in my heart, I honestly don't think she'd go through with it. She knows Eve is going to buckle under and she's never really going to have to pull the plug.

LAURA: Right. Every time Eve threatens to come clean with T.C., Ivy quickly tells her, "No! You can't do that!"

KIM: This is a good ploy, but I don't think Ivy would ever really destroy her.

LAURA: Every now and again you see a glimmer of that. In one episode, Eve tells Ivy that her son died as a baby. And we saw Ivy soften a little.

KIM: Her thought isn't like, "Gawd, it's Julian's." When she really thinks of a baby dying, it's hurtful. She has four - how could it not be painful?

LAURA: But would she notice if her other three died?

KIM: Well… <she laughs>

LAURA: After all, Ethan is everything.

KIM: Today I had a scene where I kind of get mad at Ethan, and I am like, "Fine! Where are my other kids? Maybe I'll turn one of them into the Crane heir!"

LAURA: Aren't they all girls?

KIM: We don't know. We had one speech about six months ago, with Ethan and Ivy, and Ethan says, "I love my sisters and my brother." It has never been mentioned again.

I don't know if they (the writers) went, "Oops. We can't have another boy." Since then, it's always been "my sisters".

He's either really a young boy, or a girl. What I do know is I have daughters. And oh, wouldn't you like to know what they must be like.

LAURA: You mean actually being Julian's daughters?

KIM: Being actually Julian's. And obviously Ivy hasn't been as maternal with them as she might have been.

LAURA: Everyone believes Ethan is Sam's because he's so good.

KIM: I kind of hope - and this is just truly me - in my heart of hearts, I would like it to be that he is, in fact, Julian's. To go through all of this, do DNA testing, and find out he is Julian's son. And here Ivy's pinned her whole life on the fact that he wasn't Julian's.

LAURA: I've thought of that, but then, it wouldn't tear up Harmony half as much…

KIM: Everything could get torn up and then you find out. And then it gives Ethan a chance to be really bad.

But that's just me, and as far as I know, he's going to be Sam's.

LAURA: We're still not sure whose child Chad is. You guys might know… <yes, I'm digging for any crumb she'll throw me!>

KIM: No, we don't.

<Ack!>

LAURA: Well, they let Chad and Whitney have that passionate kiss.

KIM: From there on, I went, "He can't be Eve's because that would be too icky."

LAURA: Way too creepy!

KIM: Ewww! We're not ready for that on daytime yet. It's just over the line you still can't cross.

LAURA: What's it like working with Ben Masters?

KIM: Oh, my! He's great. You talk about people you like to work with. He's a very good actor, first and foremost. I knew him from his other work, in Celebrity, Heartbeat. So I knew his work and I respected his work.

He takes such joy in his work.

This rarely happens to me, but today on the set, he did his take. It was fabulously Machiavellian. I wasn't sure if he was doing Hamlet or Macbeth. It was so out there. Or maybe it's Lear, I don't know. He was so out there with his character, with a very Shakespearean take on it. Very twisted. And I was watching him, and couldn't keep it together. I found myself, in my reaction, laughing. And I thought to myself, maybe Ivy's reaction would be to laugh, too. She would have to look at Julian and go, "You're out of your mind! Are you insane? I'm going to have you committed."

So they had to do another shot of my reaction, because I just lost it.

It was good. It was just so out there.

LAURA: My interview with him was a real joy.

KIM: He takes it very seriously, even though he doesn’t want you to think he does. He's the one who knows his lines for next week. He walks in and he's very prepared.

LAURA: He told me it's very grueling work. You guys, unlike other actors… I mean, it's probably as close as you can get to it being live television without it actually being live. How far in advance to you actually get your lines?

KIM: They try to get them to us a week or so in advance. But if I'm heavy, like when I work every day, I can't learn next week's lines. If I do learn them, I get them all confused in my head.

LAURA: How far in advance are you shooting now?

KIM: Probably three weeks ahead right now.

LAURA: I want to be sure to catch this part where you lost it.

KIM: It will be a couple of shows after the prom. He's accusing me of, yet again, keeping a secret.

LAURA: Who? Ivy?

KIM: Me? Keeping a secret?

LAURA: One thing almost everyone has said is that Ben makes them laugh. And the week they were airing the whole Theresa-Pirate Ben thing -

KIM: Oh! I was laughing when I was watching it. Some of that stuff was hilarious!

LAURA: Right. And there's Ethan - Ben is laughing, you can tell he's laughing and totally enjoying playing this very bizarre man. I don't know how Travis kept it together.

KIM: I'm sure he didn't. They probably had to go back and do another reaction shot of him, too!

What I really love about Ben, too, is that most actors of his age and stature would be afraid to look ridiculous. Ben has no fear of looking ridiculous. And because he has no fear of it, and he embraces it, he never looks ridiculous.

Because he is willing to go so far out on a limb, the audience laughs with him, not at him. He's so good at it, so committed to it, and he throws himself into it. It's just wonderful.

LAURA: One of the questions I asked was when we'd get to see Julian's heart. To which he replied, "Never. He doesn't have one." Eventually the writers are going to have to redeem this man and make him vulnerable to something.

KIM: They had a couple of moments, and I hope they don't forget them, where Alistair was threatening Ivy - threatening her physically, threatening to get rid of her. And there were a couple of moments where he kind of played it like he didn't want that to happen - it would be very sad. That he truly loved Ivy somewhere deep down. I hope they don't lose that, because I think that would be interesting to have something happen where he'd have to show some vulnerability.

I agree with you. I think you need to see it occasionally in a character.

LAURA: If you could trade the role of Ivy for any other role, would you?

KIM: I love Ivy, so I would not trade. The only other person I'd like to play is Tabitha. She's the only person that has more fun than me.

LAURA: Isn't she lovely?

KIM: Yes. She's wonderful.

LAURA: What would you like to see for Kim in the future?

KIM: I'd like to see me turning into Phoebe on All My Children. I like the job - it's a great job to have a family with. It's close to my house. I enjoy the people. You know, I'd love to see the show run for a long time.

As an actor, the work is all the auditions. To have a job is the gravy.

LAURA: Are you going to be auditioning for any outside work?

KIM: It's very difficult on a show to get out to do anything else. My husband's a casting director, and I know it's difficult for them to use soap people because of the scheduling problems. They are casting for an hour show on Thursday for someone to work on Monday. It's often the night before.

I'm very content. If something came my way and someone asked me if I wanted to do a day here or a day there, and I wasn't working, that would be great. But I'm very happy doing what I'm doing.

LAURA: Then it's the perfect job - to be happy at what you're doing. Not everyone can say that.

KIM: Very few people can. I realize how fortunate I am.

If you haven't been fortunate enough to catch PASSIONS... if you're reading this because you stumbled upon it while visiting your favorite romance authors at The Romance Club... check your TV Guide and make time to watch this show (or tape it!). 

Kim Johnston Ulrich, as Ivy Crane, is a villainess you find yourself cheering for. Beautiful, cunning, and hilarious, Ivy gives a whole new meaning to romantic heroine.