Jenni ‘JWoww’ Farley Once Felt She’d Be ‘Awful’ in Her First Acting Role in ‘One Life to Live’
Jersey Shore star Jenni ‘JWoww’ Farley became as famous as some actors after amassing a massive fanbase from the show. At one point, Farley tried to parlay her celebrity into a potential acting career. But Farley’s short time on a show was a very off-putting experience.
Jenni ‘JWoww’ Farley first tried out acting in the soap ‘One Life to Live’
JWoww lent her star-power to another show other than Jersey Shore. She had a recurring role in the long-running Soap One Life to Live, where she played a bartender named Nikki. Since JWoww was curious about acting, she thought a show like One Life to Live was a perfect place to get her feet wet.
”I think the best way to learn is being on like a soap opera. It’s like a crash course. They do an episode a day. It’s just like they’re on it and I’m dealing with actors and actresses that have been around for 20, 30 years that just give me great pointers. It’s like going to school. I find it amazing,” she once told E News.
Although the actor admitted to feeling jitters about the show early on.
”I originally found it pretty hysterical and I was like, ‘Oh my god, it would be awful.’ But now I’m madly in love with it. I’m totally obsessed. I want to live, die, get killed, come back as my evil sister,” she said. ”On the first day I was so nervous.”
The very personal reason JWoww pursued acting in ‘One Life to Live’
It turns out there was a more internal reason for JWoww to try out acting as well. On her channel Jenni Farley, JWoww confided that she used to have a lot of stage fright in her younger years. This made it impossible for her to actual perform on television, but this was a strong motivator for JWoww to do the soap.
“I decided to do One Life to Live because I actually am petrified of scripted television,” she said. “I cannot remember lines. I have one of the worst types of stage fright, I don’t even know how to explain it.”
Her stage fright was so bad at the time that she described getting cotton mouth whenever she had to do public speaking. One Life to Live was JWoww’s way of trying to overcome her phobia.
“So, I thought by doing One Life to Live, or doing a very scripted, remembering lines, a very fast-paced schedule because these people turn out an episode a day, would break that. It did not,” she said. “It completely took me out of my uncomfortable comfort zone and threw me into a whirlwind.”
It didn’t help that her One Life to Live character was a central part of the show, getting involved in many of the show’s conflicts. The Family Vacation star further asserted that one of the hardest parts of doing the feature was her kissing scenes. Because the nature of the show was so fast-paced, she was often rushed into kissing her co-star with little preparation.
“I’m sitting there like, ‘I’m gonna throw up, I’m gonna throw up in this guy’s mouth, this is gonna be the most embarrassing thing in my life. I don’t know what I’m doing,’” she remembered.
JWoww got into it with her ‘One Life to Live’ director for being late
JWoww’s time on the show got even more unpleasant after getting into a fight with one of the show’s directors. After being held up in the makeup chair, JWoww arrived late for a line reading. The director of this episode took notice of this and questioned her commitment to the series.
“He already hated me, he already blacklist me and called me out and said, ‘You’re late, you shouldn’t even have time to read.’ And then he’s like, ‘Well, if you want, we’ll just get your lines done before lunch.’ And I’m like, ‘My lines consist of kissing someone on camera, that’s not easy to do. He’s like, ‘Yeah, you got it, right? You’re here for a reason,’” JWoww recalled.
But JWoww asserted that she wasn’t exactly on the show for being a trained actor.
“I’m like, ‘Oh my God, I’m here because I’m on a show called Jersey Shore and they’re using me for my fame and publicity. They are not using me because I’m good at this. At all,” she reminded.
