Cady McClain

At 54 years old, Cady McClain has this physical status:

McClain's professional acting career began in 1978 at the age of 9, when she was featured in a commercial for Band-Aid bandages. She went on to appear in over thirty commercials for products including McDonald's, Amtrak, Kenner's "Strawberry Shortcake" dolls, Burger King, Mattel, Barbie, Maybelline, Shout Detergent, Pillsbury Pop 'n Fresh Rolls, Apple Kool Aid, Prell, Texaco, and McCain's Chicken.

Among her notable early TV credits was a recurring role on St. Elsewhere, and an appearance on Cheers, when she was 16 years old, as Coach's niece Joyce.

Other TV credits were as Virginia in Emmy Award-winning TV movie Who Will Love My Children, opposite Ann-Margret, Robert Kennedy and His Times, as young Pat Kennedy (with River Phoenix and Chad Lowe), the ABC After School Special Just a Regular Kid: An AIDS story (with Christian Hoff and Dana Ashbrook), Danny Thomas' One Big Family (with Michael DeLuise), Spenser for Hire, (with Robert Urich and Ron LcLarty), Lou Grant, (with Ed Asner) the TV movie Home Fires (with Guy Boyd and Juliette Lewis) and the Michael McKean TV Movie, Town and Gown.

Her first film was in 1982 starring opposite Peter O'Toole in My Favorite Year as Tess, his daughter. She then appeared as a dancer in the Herbert Ross film, Pennies from Heaven starring Steve Martin and Bernadette Peters.

McClain later appeared in the independent films Simple Justice, (1989) with Doris Roberts and Cesar Romero, Alma Mater (2008) with Alexander Chaplin and Will Lyman, Retreat (2004) with Michael E. Knight, and Soldier's Heart, (2008).

Soldier's Heart, a film about veterans and PTSD (with James Kiberd, directed by Brian Delate), won the prestigious Best Narrative Feature award at the GI Film Festival in Washington D.C.

In 2008, McClain also appeared in Home Movie with Adrian Pasdar. In the film, McClain plays Claire Poe, a psychiatrist, mother and wife. Home Movie, is the story of a family's descent into darkness. In a Blair Witch style mockumentary, we follow the Poe children's violent tendencies and their parents' effort to help them. Directed by Chris Denham, it won the Sitgis Film Festival Citizen Cane Award for Best Direction.

McClain began working in the theater at a very young age. Her first professional production was as a chorus girl in The Music Man and Finian's Rainbow at Fullerton College. Other small California productions followed such as Wait Until Dark and Dames at Sea. She was cast in a workshop production of the then titled 40 starring Bonnie Franklin, and was brought to New York with the production as part of a pre-Broadway tryout at the John Drew Theater in East Hampton. With lyrics by Judith Viorst, the production title was changed to Happy Birthday and Other Humiliations. She went on to work with Mary Beth Piel and Ron Rains in A Little Night Music at the New York Opera Ensemble, Quiet on the Set at the Westbeth Theater, as Hero in Much Ado About Nothing at the Lincoln Center Stages, Comedy of Errors at the Hudson Theatre Guild, Barefoot in the Park at the Westbury Music Fair, Self Offense with the Cucaracha Theatre Company, Inventions of Farewell at HERE Theatre (a one-woman show directed by Estep Nagy), and The Red Address as Lady, written by David Ives.

She also wrote, produced and acted in a one-woman piece of performance art called Mona 7, which dealt with abuse and its effect on a young woman.

McClain is best known for two high-profile roles she has had on daytime television: the role of Dixie Cooney on All My Children and her role on As the World Turns as Rosanna Cabot.

McClain won her first Daytime Emmy Award in 1990 for Outstanding Ingenue on All My Children and in 2004, won her second Daytime Emmy for her portrayal of Rosanna on As the World Turns. In 2021, McClain won her third Daytime Emmy as Jennifer Horton on Days of Our Lives, becoming the first actress to win an Emmy for three, separate shows.

After McClain's stint at As the World Turns concluded, rumors circulated about a return to All My Children. In December 2005, McClain made an appearance on the show, and her popular character returned full-time a few months later. In a surprising turn of events, the character of Dixie was killed off via poisoned pancakes on January 30, 2007, which caused a massive negative outcry from longtime fans and soap opera media. A front-page headline on a Soap Opera Weekly cover story quoted McClain as saying, "There was no negotiation."

McClain confirmed via a blog entry on her official site that she would return to her Emmy-winning role of Rosanna on As the World Turns. McClain returned to the screen July 30, 2007, when her character woke up from a two-year coma. After a six-month run, McClain decided to leave the show again. Her last air date was January 28, 2008.

McClain then returned to All My Children on May 2, 2008 for six weeks as a ghostly Dixie to help guide Tad Martin (the character's former lover and husband) to their daughter Kate. She departed the series on June 12, 2008.

On March 2, 2009, McClain confirmed in her blog that she had agreed to return to As the World Turns for another six-month contract beginning May 20, 2009. When it was announced that ATWT was canceled in 2010, she returned again for the show's final episodes.

McClain returned once again to All My Children in March 2010 for a short stint as a ghostly Dixie to help son J.R. fight his battle with cancer. She again returned on April 20, 2010, so that her character of Dixie could welcome Palmer Cortlandt to heaven at the end of a tribute to the late James Mitchell.

McClain returned to All My Children again in late 2010, as writer Lorraine Broderick brought the character of Dixie back – and alive – to the canvas. However, the show was canceled before she could complete negotiations on a year-long contract. McClain did return for the last summer of the show's airing on ABC, from May to August 2011. She subsequently appeared on the show's brief online revival in 2013.

In February 2014, McClain joined the cast of The Young and the Restless as Kelly Andrews, replacing Cynthia Watros in that role. In September 2020, it was announced that she had temporarily been cast in the role of Jennifer Horton on Days of Our Lives. In February 2021, McClain briefly portrayed Jennifer's mother, Laura Horton, in newly created flashbacks. That same month, it was announced that McClain would exit the role, and she last appeared on February 17. McClain has appeared as Jennifer in several episodes in 2022.

McClain won Emmys for three of her four daytime roles - spanning all three networks over three decades.

In 2006, maintained a blog on the ABC website titled "Confessions of a Mad Soap Star," which earned over 2 million hits. After she left AMC, she continued to blog on her own website. Her blog is widely respected and has received a strong fan following. She also has a YouTube channel where she posts Vlogs, videos of her music, and comedy sketches. She has also frequently contributed to PolicyMic, where she writes about pop culture and social issues, collaborated with liberal columnist Matthew Rozsa, and maintained live news feeds about current events, including the 2013 Golden Globe and Grammy Awards. She has also brought attention to new artists, including cooks Craig Thornton of Wolvesmouth and Kevin and Amanda of KevinandAmanda.com.

Her autobiography Murdering My Youth was published in 2014.

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