Beth Maitland has been a staple of The Young and the Restless since her character Traci Abbott joined the show in 1982. Now the actress has reflected on her approach towards work.
Maitland recently visited Australia, and while there was interviewed by publication TV Tonight. The actress shared that despite having been on the show for over forty years, she doesn’t really push back when reading the scripts and tends to perform them as written.
The actress shared, “I sort of feel like it’s my job to take what they give me and make it my own. It’s above my pay grade to have written it down.”
That doesn’t mean that there is never a time where she would speak up. The actress added, “Now, if it’s completely offensive or way off course, that’s a different story. But usually these writers are a core that have been with the show for long periods of time at a stretch, and hopefully know our characters almost as well as we do.”
Maitland explained that this isn’t the case with all of her fellow actors, saying, “There are loads of actors who put their foot down and say,’ I would never say that’ and they change it and do what they do as they need.”
She continued, “But for me, it’s my training to take what they give me and find a way to make it work. Part of my daily challenge is I always pick one place in my scene work, where I can bring a surprise. Or I can play something that is opposite of how it was written. Or I find a place to laugh in a serious scene, that sort of thing. Just as a personal best.”
The actress shared how she takes her role seriously, adding, “But I also really take it seriously that unless it’s absolutely impossible, or a foreign language, I feel like they put that down on paper for me to say the way they wanted me to.”
