Career
At age 12, she had the first individual girl's bat mitzvah in the state of West Virginia. She moved to New York City at the age of 15 to pursue a modeling career. Kay later worked at MTV and won $27,500 on Wheel of Fortune.
In 1997 she made her daytime debut as Molly Conlan on As the World Turns. For some time the character was not very popular due to Molly's villainous behavior, but she eventually won a 2001 Daytime Emmy for Best Supporting Actress in addition to charming viewers during her romance with Jake McKinnon (Tom Eplin). When Jake was killed off in 2002, Molly again became adrift, and Kay left the show in early 2004 after a number of promised storylines never appeared. Kay popped up a few months later to recast the popular, brassy character of Lois Cerullo on General Hospital. Kay (and the resurrected character of Lois) exited GH in early 2005 after mutually agreeing to part ways with the show.
In November 2005, Kay assumed the role of Felicia Forrester on The Bold and the Beautiful, taking over for Colleen Dion after a year's absence. Bold and the Beautiful Head Writer Bradley Bell had planned to kill her character off from cancer. However, a huge fan outpouring, including petitions and numerous letters, in addition to Ms. Kay's job of making the role her own, convinced Bell to keep Kay on the cast. Her character, Felicia Forrester was resurrected from the dead. Lesli Kay invested herself into the cancer storyline so much that she shaved her head for the role. Kay was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress at the 34th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards but lost to Genie Francis.
In November 2009, while continuing to play Felicia Forrester on The Bold and the Beautiful, Kay also returned to As the World Turns as the character she previously portrayed, Molly Conlan McKinnon. She stayed with As the World Turns until the show's final episode, on September 17, 2010.
Read more about this topic: Lesli Kay
Famous quotes containing the word career:
“My ambition in life: to become successful enough to resume my career as a neurasthenic.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“Whether lawyer, politician or executive, the American who knows what’s good for his career seeks an institutional rather than an individual identity. He becomes the man from NBC or IBM. The institutional imprint furnishes him with pension, meaning, proofs of existence. A man without a company name is a man without a country.”
—Lewis H. Lapham (b. 1935)
“I seemed intent on making it as difficult for myself as possible to pursue my “male” career goal. I not only procrastinated endlessly, submitting my medical school application at the very last minute, but continued to crave a conventional female role even as I moved ahead with my “male” pursuits.”
—Margaret S. Mahler (1897–1985)