Heather Tom Promises She’s Not Giving up Acting

Soap fans have watched Heather Tom grow up on camera starting with her role as Victoria Newman on THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS, then Kelly Cramer on ONE LIFE TO LIVE, and now Katie Logan on THE BOLD & THE BEAUTIFUL. Over the course of her daytime career, the actress has earned 19 Daytime Emmy Award nominations and taken home the trophy six times. But in recent years, she’s been stepping behind the camera to explore directing.

“It was something I had been wanting to do for a long time,” Tom admitted to Soap Opera Digest. After checking with B&B executive producer and headwriter Brad Bell, she began shadowing director/producer Cindy Popp. “When I was with her, she was so incredibly open about the process and what you had to do and how you broke down a script and how you gave notes in editing, everything that goes into it.

“I had this idea that I knew what the basics were — I had no idea!” she added. “I can’t believe how many moving parts there are. It’s a miracle that the show gets put out every day and it’s a testament to all of the people who work in all of the different aspects of getting the show out.”

After directing some episodes of B&B herself, Tom was rejected by the CBS directors program because she still didn’t have enough credits on her resume. “So I did three short films and went back to them and was accepted as part of the program,” she explained. “Through that, I got DYNASTY. In fact, I finished my sixth DYNASTY. I also did GOOD TROUBLE, so it’s been wonderfully crazy.”

Still, despite her growing success as a director, Tom has absolutely no plans to give up acting for it. “I don’t want to obligate myself to anything,” she said. “I love Katie and I love acting. I’ve been doing it my whole life and yet directing is really exciting. I’ve always wanted to keep learning, no matter what, and this is an exciting way to do that.” 

So keep watching B&B to see Tom either on-screen as Katie or credited as the episode’s director!