Pull up a chair for Tea Time With Tabyana! In a new Instagram video, General Hospital star Tabyana Ali (Trina) answered one of the questions she’s asked most often: What it’s like to work on a daytime drama.
Sitting on her bed with a cup of tea in her hand, the young actress shared with her followers — and aspiring performers — her thoughts about why working on the soap has been such an incredible opportunity.
“So, people always ask me what it’s like to be on a soap opera,” she began her Instagram Reel, adding that the job is “probably one of the greatest gifts I have ever received.
And then I realized that God was actually laughing at me because I didn’t book a show. I booked a boot camp!”
Ali was hardly an acting newbie when she joined GH: She’d appeared in the Shudder original movie Horror Noire, on several primetime series, and voiced a character on the Nick Jr. show Shimmer and Shine.
But nothing could have prepared her for the grind of working on a daily daytime drama.
“Soap operas are not for the faint of heart,” Ali continued, noting that her soap’s particular schedule includes shooting “anywhere from one to five episodes in a day. We do 10 scenes in an hour. And you basically only have one take to get it right.”
Despite the hectic pace, Ali has found the experience to be invaluable. “Being on a soap opera is the best acting school there is.
You’re thrown straight into the deep end with scripts and blocking and memorization. And you’re just hoping not to drown,” she explained.
It’s not just professional growth that Ali has experienced over the past three years thanks to her job — she’s grown personally, as well. “I am beyond grateful for General Hospital. Not just as an actor, but as a writer, director, communicator. A person.”
Wrapping up her video, Ali urged her fellow performers to give serious consideration to the daytime genre should the opportunity arise.
“If you’re an actor, please don’t overlook soaps. They’ll teach you more about the craft and yourself than you’d ever imagine,” she insisted.
