Tonya Crowe: Little Olivia Cunningham is All Grown Up

By Arthur Swift (Originally published on www.KnotsLanding.net)

Tonya Crowe played Olivia Cunningham Dyer for ten years on Knots Landing. As the daughter of Abby Ewing (Donna Mills), Olivia transformed from a freckly youngster with a handful of lines to a sultry adolescent, enmeshed in a borderline-scandalous love triangle with her mother and the rising State Senator Peter Hollister (Hunt Block). Olivia’s moment of television glory came when she slid into a harrowing drug addiction, culminating in the notorious “Give me the keys!” rant after her mother locked her in the house to kick the habit. Luckily Olivia gave up the blow and found bliss with the hunky Harold (Paul Carafotes), a man also trying to escape inner demons.

In this exclusive interview Crowe reveals her feelings about growing up on camera, her expertise as a pool shark and her desire to be a Mom.

Arthur Swift: Happy Birthday to you tomorrow.

Tonya Crowe: Thank you!

Arthur Swift: And thank you for taking the time to talk to us. We have had many questions come in from around the world, but I guess the first question on everybody’s mind is what are you doing now?

Tonya: What am I doing now or since I left the show?

AS: Both. Let’s get an overview of what you’ve been doing since you left Knots.

Tonya: I went to college, UCLA, took some time off and began learning and practicing yoga at the same time.

AS: What type of yoga?

Tonya: Hatha yoga, yoga from India. That was about five years ago. And in the last year and a half have been very much into Kabbalistic yoga. I’ve been working with people to develop a book and a tape based on the “Book of Formation” by Abraham. That book is 3,000 years old and it branches to all religions of the world. It’s been very exciting because it’s a more intellectual form of yoga.

AS: Is the tape ready yet?

Tonya: Not yet, but it’s in the works. I also did Only in Venice, a screwball comedy where I acted and produced and learned how to edit. I was in a long-term relationship and it was a story he had written; it was actually his story. That was three years in the making and I absolutely loved it. I hadn’t been in a film before and it was something I did along with teaching yoga.

AS: That brings us to our first question actually.

Chris Sumner Matheson from San Antonio, Texas asks - “I was wondering if Only in Venice is a sign you’ll be returning to your Hollywood roots?”

Tonya: That’s unanswered. (laughs) It’s a real big commitment to recommit to the industry. That’s a lot of time, auditioning, going on calls, it’s just a lot of work. It’s something I’m contemplating but I needed to have time to have a different life. My childhood happened to be in front of the camera and in my 20s I wanted to explore what I liked, what I didn’t like. Now that I’m into my 30s I think about reentering movies. It would be interesting to be working on something with a beginning, a middle and an end. So I’m undecided but I definitely had a blast when I was acting on Knots. And when I made (Only in Venice) I realized how much I learned on Knots. And let me say how wonderful the producers and crew were on the show. If I got a pilot and they saw it was a better role for me, they’d let me do the pilot. They were really interested in making sure I was happy and developing well. In the teenage years they might not have been so easy to let me go but early on when they weren’t using me as much that wasn’t a concern.

Christine from Germany asks - “For the last two years we've held a little awards ceremony on KnotsLanding.Net called ‘The GARY Awards‘. In the year 2001 ‘Olivia’ won in the category ‘Best Supporting Character’ and last year YOU won in the category ‘Best Supporting Actress‘! :) Does it surprise you that Olivia is such a popular Knots Landing character and more importantly that YOUR enormous acting talent is so much appreciated among Knots Knuts around the world?”

Tonya: (genuinely surprised) I didn’t know that. I’m totally blown away by my award. (Laughs). It does surprise me, but thank you. One thing that made Knots so great is the writing and editing for so many characters. I’m definitely proud and out of all the people on the show for me to win an award makes me extremely happy. I’m a sentimental favorite I guess.

AS: Well I would say it’s more than sentimental reasons. You literally grew up on the show but whereas other child actors did that as well, you actually matured into a real, full-fledged character and people enjoyed seeing that. Not naming names but I don’t think the other child actors were as successful.

Tonya: Thank you. I never saw it that way at the time.

Jordan Tate from France asks - “Dear Tonya, I'm a young woman of 24, I'm a fan of Knots Landing since I'm a little girl so I'm very happy I can speak with you. I would want to know if being an actress has always been your dream, if it was your choice when you arrive on the series being a little girl, and if you sometimes considered the crew of knots landing as your second family, being with them every day? (I'm a young script writer too, and I’ve got a lot of admiration for talented performer as you).”

Tonya: Yes in a big way being an actress was my dream. I remember at 4 and 5 (years old) pointing at the TV and saying that I had to be on TV. I kept going on and on about it. My father was a principal of a school and my mother was doing real estate and we lived in Orange County, a small suburb of L.A., about 25 minutes south of the city. So my father talked to the one student who had an agent and it turned out to be a very good agency. There were about five child agencies that were good at the time so they had me come in and read for them.

AS: How old were you then?

Tonya: I was about five and I did well because I was able to read scripts and anything they gave me. They were amazed but I knew I wanted to do this more than anything. I think true intelligence is desire and if you desire something you can make it happen. I had a huge desire to express myself and you don’t see many kids with that capacity at that age so that worked in my favor.

AS: So you got the agent and how did things move from there?

Tonya: When you first start acting as a child you get vouchers. You don’t have a SAG (Screen Actors Guild) card but you’re in SEG, for extras, and if you get enough vouchers you can eventually get into SAG. I was doing a lot of commercials as an extra. But when I’d be there I’d see other people, other actors, talking and I couldn’t say anything since extras aren’t allowed. And I didn’t like that! (Laughs) My big break was when I got onto Charlie’s Angels as an extra and apparently this was one of the more famous Charlie’s Angels episodes when I was supposed to play one of the kids in the orphanage. The one where Jaclyn Smith goes through hypnosis. Well one of the girls who had a speaking part got into a fender bender and couldn’t make it so they saw that I had the right look, blue eyes and brown hair, and asked if I could read. And I did and my agents were thrilled because this was how I got my SAG card.

AS: And you started getting parts after that?

Tonya: Yeah I did The Cracker Factory with Natalie Wood.

AS: Didn’t you do CHIPs as well?

Tonya: That was later; I think when I was 12. I did a lot of episodic work, that’s for sure. They were very good on Knots to let me do that.

AS: Who’s the Boss? was another one that a lot of people remember. Was there ever a possibility you were going to be a regular on that?

Tonya: That one I did for three episodes and no, it was just a limited role. I played one of Alyssa Milano’s friends; there were three or four of us. Nicole Eggert, who was on Baywatch, was one of them, but I was the leader of that group. I think one of her friends eventually became a regular but I’m not sure.

AS: There’s an urban legend that there was a Joan Van Ark reference in one of your Who’s the Boss? episodes.

Tonya: Really? I don’t remember that. It may have been true but I really don’t remember.

AS: It probably is just a legend. You know how people get carried away! Anyway, how did you get on Knots?

Tonya: My Mom was thrilled when I got the audition for Knots. She was a fan of the show and she was really happy when I got called.

AS: How did that process work?

Tonya: It was an audition and two call backs. About 50, maybe 30 to 50 people auditioned.

AS: Did you audition with Donna Mills?

Tonya: No I was hired and then started with her once I was on the show. And I had a very different look than (Donna) so they had to hire an actor to make it look believable that I was her daughter. But I had a few roles where I had a blonde mother; Tuesday Weld was my Mom in Mother and Daughter.

AS: So as for Jordan’s question, was Knots like your second family?

Tonya: Not like a second family, more like an extended family. And some people more than others. My favorite person was Bill Reynolds, the makeup artist. He was someone I was able to talk to and be confidential with. If I happened to have a hard day, Bill would be the one to talk to. He’s one of the first people you would see, the makeup artist. And he was one of the most established makeup artists in Hollywood. He had this attitude of “I’ve seen it all” and really had seen the stars of the stars but he knew that it was just a job. We’re all just as useful as anyone else and no one is better than anyone. That was a good lesson for me to learn there and he really helped me. Natalie Wood was also good that way; she was an ex