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Buzz In The Biz - The Daytime Emmy's Christie Clark (Carrie, DAYS) landed a nomination in the Outstanding Younger Actress category. Her first reaction was, "I'm so glad Eileen got nominated! I'm really stoked and hope she wins!" As for herself, Clark heard her phone ringing three times between 6 and 7 a.m., but "I didn't want to answer. I couldn't imagine who would be calling at that hour. It wasn't until I got up at about 10:30 and listened to a list of messages from friends, my family and publicist. It's cool! I'm a little more calm this year because it's my second nomination, but I'm just as happy this year as the first. I'm just delighted that people like my work." The Music Man From Broadway to daytime, Kevin Spirtas rejoins DAYS as Mike's rival DAYS introduced Kevin Spirtas a few months ago as Dr. Craig Wesley, an old college rival of Mike's, and is bringing him back for a longer run. Spirtas will be involved in the Mike and Carrie storyline. The actor was shocked but delighted when DAYS casting director Fran Bascom called to check his availability for the next several months. "Then I found out I have a three-year contract!" exclaims the 35-year-old actor. "It came at just the right time. I've been hoping for a role that would help me make the transition from boy to man." Originally from St. Louis, Mo., Spirtas has two brothers, Joel and Eric, who are both involved in the family environmental demolition company with their father, Arnold. Mom Sandra is active in community politics. The youngest of the clan, Spirtas appeared in plays during high school and then worked at a Six Flags amusement park as a song and dance man. At 17 he won the Stairway to Stardom contest, sponsored by Six Flags, and was sent to Los Angeles to tape the Dinah Shore show. "That was my first visit to NBC Studios," he explains. Before his return to this studio, Spirtas, then 18, went to New York, where he appeared in a number of plays, including A Chorus Line on Broadway and its national tour. Settling in Los Angeles after that run, Spirtas found work in "a lot of slasher films" before going back to New York and appearing in the Broadway musical Meet Me in St. Louis. When he returned again to the West Coast, he did a number of small musicals and most recently co-starred with Jeff Trachta (ex-Thorne, B&B) in Three Guys Naked From the Waist Down. Spirtas is also no stranger to daytime. Before going back to his family name, the actor played Tom Gallagher under the name of Kevin Blair on the syndicated soap Rituals for the year it lasted. More recently, on Y&R he played a lounge lizard who slipped a drug in Nina's drink, got caught and ousted from the bar. Immediately after, Spirtas joined DAYS as Craig. Born July 29, he describes himself as "very Leo". When not enjoying movies and plays, Spirtas loves a variety of outdoor sports, including snowmobiling, snowboarding, and "wake boarding", which combines the two. "It's like water-skiing," he explains. "On your snowboard, you hold on to a line tied to the snowmobile." Look for this natural-born dare-devil to reappear on DAYS on March 25, 1998. Divided We Stand Carrie's and Austin's lives are heading in different directions Carrie and Mike discover they enjoy working together a bit more than either one expected. They even reminisce about the fun they had in Los Angeles when they attended a medical conference, looking for a cure for Roman. but Mike and Carrie don't know they'll be soon getting a visit from Mike's old college rival, Craig Wesley, who was also at the L.A. conference, and for whose benefit Carrie pretended to be Mike's girlfriend. Craig heads to Salem to apply for the hospital's chief of staff post - a position Mike has been campaigning for. "Craig hears there's an opening at University Hospital," says Kevin Spirtas (Craig). "And he sets his sights on the position. Craig knows that Carrie does not like him at all. In Los Angeles, he found Carrie very attractive, but Craig is married with a couple of kids." (Little change in the 2001 storyline, huh??) Mike is surprised by Craig's arrival and his plans - but the new twist makes Carrie all more determined to help Mike win the post. Meanwhile, Austin has succumbed to Darrell's persuasive spiel and puts his boxing gloves back on. Will he be too preoccupied to notice how much time Carrie has been spending with Mike - and that she once posed as Mike's girlfriend? Meanwhile, how will Carrie react to Austin’s flirtation with his old ring career?