PC’s Jennifer Hammon Is A Woman In Love - On-Screen And Off
If TV’s Ally McBeal were an actress instead of a lawyer, there’s no doubt she’d be Jennifer Hammon (Karen, PORT CHARLES). You know that gesture Karen makes where she pulls her sweater cuffs over her palms and talks with her hands? Kind of a combination of sweet and sexy, and maybe a little silly? Well, don’t be fooled. It’s not acting. That move is pure Hammon. She does it several times during lunch at the ABC commissary, demurely defending herself with the explanation, "I’m a Pisces, I can’t always predict what I do."

One thing PC fans could predict was that Karen and Joe (Michael Dietz) would become the show’s first major couple. The sexual tension between these interns in lust simmered from day one. But, let’s see: Karen was still married to Jagger, who was living on another coast. Then she found out he’d been unfaithful and yada, yada, yada. After trials, tribulations, miscommunication, you name it, Karen and Joe finally made love. "What I think is really interesting is a woman’s ability to be the saint and the sexpot at the same time," Hammon says. "I think that challenges middle America’s viewpoint of what a woman really is."

And as Karen, Hammon gets to basically be every woman: smart, successful, sexual and opinionated. Especially sexual. "There’s such an intense attraction on all levels between these two," Hammon continues, gingerly nibbling at her tuna melt. "But I’m a little perturbed they haven’t said, ‘I love you’ yet. That bothers me." Probably one of the reasons Hammon is upset is because much like her atler ego, she is also in love-with actor John Livingston. The pair met over two years ago in an acting workshop, and have been nearly inseparable ever since.

Great looks. Great job. Great guy. Hammon’s father once said she led a charmed life. "Definitely - I’m very blessed," she concurs. And how. In a town where wannabe actors spend years waiting tables while hoping for a big break, Hammon skyrocketed from obscurity to soap stardom in roughly 18 months.

The Orlando-born Hammon left home after graduating from Florida State University with a degree in fine arts, and arrived in L.A. eager to pursue her dream of an acting career. She pounded the pavement, but nothing happened. "I came out with my boyfriend at the time," Hammon recalls. "We were here 10 months, and I just didn’t do anything. I worked as a receptionist for a commercial production company, and my boyfriend and I had a very routine, boring life: Go to work at 8:30, go home at 6:30, make dinner, go to bed, wake up and do it all over again. To cope, I read lots of self-help and relationship books and had nightmares about escaping."

Then, Hammon decided it was time to get serious. She found herself a manager and an agent, and landed small parts (including YOUNG AND RESTLESS) before being tabbed to play PC’s Karen. A plum role, to be sure, but one with a down side: Hammon was a recast. (The part had previously been played by the popular Cari Shayne on GENERAL HOSPITAL.) And even though the character had been away for three years (Karen and Jagger literally rode off into the sunset in 1994), being a recast is a tricky proposition. But the gamble paid off.

"Everything I’ve been reading from the fans basically says that I haven’t taken anything away from what they loved about the role before," Hammon explains. "They say I’ve added a certain maturity. We saw Karen grow up. Now we’re seeing Karen grow toward womanhood."

Hammon’s aura of sweetness shifts to sexy when she confesses that while she loves what the writers are doing with Karen now, she would’ve enjoyed acting out the character’s dark past (stripping, drugs, sleeping with mobsters). "Definitely. I would’ve loved to played all that," she smiles while diving into her fruit. "John and I were just saying, 'Maybe I’ll get an evil twin and get to be really bad!'"

Then, true to form, the sexiness succumbs to silliness. When reminded that Digest once asked her, "Who would you like to be stranded on a desert island with?" Hammon asked if she could alter her previous response. Originally, she said, "Bill Clinton. I’d like to sit down and talk some policy with him." But in the wake of the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal, Hammon recants: "I wouldn’t be alone with Bill Clinton on a desert island. We’d have a chaperone." And how would Karen have responded? Hammon replies, "Who knows? Karen is extremely open-minded and free-spirited [laughs]. She must be a Pisces, too."

JUST THE FACTS
BIRTHDAY: March 7
FAVORITE FLICK: "Truly Madly Deeply because I like to sit and cry a lot and be really dark and maudlin."
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Chocolate and fried chicken
GIRL POWER: "In an interview, Michael Douglas said, ‘Women are on their way to taking over the world.’ That’s a fact."
ACTING ON SOAPS: "I love exploring all the layers. I love having all the juicy, meaty scenes to play that you don’t normally get in the film world unless you’re a superstar."
WEXLER OR WEXLER-CATES?: "Karen Wexler. Doctor. And don’t you forget it.

LUNCH DISH
Saying the right thing during a romantic moment is easy when a writer is scripting the dialogue. In real life, it’s a little different. Jennifer Hammon reveals how she and her boyfriend got around to saying the "L" word - and we don’t mean lunch!

Digest: So who was the first to say the "L" word - you or John?
Hammon: John. After like a week.
Digest: He wasn’t wasting any time.
Hammon: No. I looked up at him and he was just staring up at me very strangely and I said, "What are you thinking about?" He hates that question.
Digest: A lot of men do.
Hammon: Yes! So he said, "I was thinking that I love you," and I was like "Awww."
Digest: Did you say it back?
Hammon (smiles): Yes.
Digest: So when’s the wedding?
(Hammon chokes on a piece of fruit.)
Digest: Are you okay?
Hammon: You sound like my mother.
Digest: You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.
Hammon: No, I don’t mind… Let’s just say there are hints from me all the time!

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