Days' Arianne Zuker: Runaway Model

By Paulette Cohn

Model-turned-actress Arianne Zuker once got stranded in Japan, but now she's finding her way (beautifully!) among the Titanic terrors of Salem...

When Days Of Our Lives cast Arianne Zuker in the role of Nicole, it once again proved the adage that art imitates life. While Nicole is hoping that Titan's New Faces modeling campaign will skyrocket her to the top of the style heap, Arianne began her real-life career as a model at the tender age of 16. In fact, Arianne recaptured her own first-day jitters in playing the scene where Nicole was required to "freeze" in front of the camera at her initial photo shoot.

In reality, modeling has taken Arianne to Australia, Japan, Paris and New York. So far, Nicole has only visited Los Angeles. Both women, however, had cause for concern about their destinations. "I was brought up in one house, haven't moved and I'm very family-oriented," admits Zuker, who is San Fernando Valley born and bred. "The whole by-yourself-to-a-foreign-country thing has never been appealing to me. When my agency wanted me to go to Japan, I said, 'Yeah, right,' thinking about the whole white slavery issue."

Stranded at the Airport

Fortunately, Zuker managed to book a five-day shoot for Japanese Gap from Los Angeles, but even so her trip to the land of the Rising Sun was not without problems. "The agency told me a driver would meet me, but no one was waiting at the airport," she reports. "A model friend from New York arrived at the same time and said, 'No, we have to take a two-hour bus ride to a hotel and we'll be met there and taken to our hotel.' I had none of this information."
Despite five grueling, 14-hour work days, the trip turned out to be a great experience. So, Zuker has no regrets about her seven-year modeling career, except, occasionally, when it comes back to haunt her. "I did a shoot for the J.C. Penney's Nurses Scrub catalog last year," Zuker discloses. "A fan found it, brought it to the Days Of Our Lives luncheon and asked me to autograph it. I was so embarrassed." Zuker, herself, was a fan of Days. "From seventh grade to about 10th grade, I watched Days," she discloses. "My cousin would come up and she would watch Young And Restless, so I always watched that, too."
Zuker's soap viewing fell off as her modeling career took off, so she was not familiar with Jensen Ackles (Eric) prior to meeting him at her audition for the producers. "Jensen is great, she states with conviction. "I am so fortunate. He's an all-around great guy, which makes it easy for me. I'm just really getting to the comfortable place with him."

Auditioning for Nikki: "Just Breathe..."

The reading for the Days producers was nerve-wracking, as it was Zuker's first major audition, and the first for which she received call backs. "I actually sat there long enough that I relaxed," she remembers. "I was there an hour and a half. I calmed down and thought, 'I know my dialogue. Just breathe and relax and take control of the situation. Take a minute before you start. Do what you came here to do and that's get the job.'"
She didn't get the job that day, but the chemistry between her and Ackles took her to the next level. "The screen test was a five-hour wait," she bemoans. "They gave us 10 pages of sides all together. It had crying, laughing, kissing and anger. Every emotion in one scene. Luckily, I went last, so my confidence level was way up there."

First Day: Lights, Cameras, Retape!

Not many actresses land the first role for which they screen test, but that's exactly what Zuker did. Even so, that knowledge wasn't sufficient to alleviate her first day case of stage fright. Having to tape her scenes twice, only added to her insecurity. "They weren't sure which direction the character was going," Zuker reveals, "because she's brand-new. So, I had to do three or four scenes that we shot in the morning, again, in the afternoon, in a different outfit. That made me nervous, but it wasn't me. They just didn't like the first look." Zuker is a fan of classic movies, which may explain how she was bitten by the acting bug. An admitted addict of the American Movie Classics channel, her love of old movies has given her a new interest. "My Mom and I have always watched old classics like Singing in the Rain," she relates. "I love the old musicals because there is nothing like them now. Finally, I made a call and said, 'Let's go.' My Mom and I started tap dancing [lessons]. It's nice, because it's something we can do together."
Zuker's other activities include golf (which she plays with her dad), horseback riding, snow and water skiing. She is currently dating an actor, but stresses that she wants to keep the relationship mellow.
That also allows her to focus her energies on her acting career. So, she was pleased when supervising producer Steve Wyman took her under his wing. "At first he scared me a little bit," she confesses, "Then, we had a talk and everything made sense. He said, 'I just want to help you become a better actress. I said, 'Steve, if you can do that, I love you.'"

From Soap Opera Digest Online

Back