Arianne Zucker (NBC)

When Arianne Zucker first came back to Days of our Lives to reprise her role of Nicole Walker Kirakis, the character was still shallow, materialistic and self-absorbed. Several months later, Zucker has shown viewers that all was not what it seemed, as her latest incarnation of Nicole has a depth we’ve not seen before.

I recently spoke to Arianne about her return to Days, as well as another project she worked on, and she enthusiastically told me, “I’m having so much fun! I’ve been so busy, I don’t think I’ve worked this much before.”

Taking two years off in between stints as Nicole, Arianne took the time to fine tune her craft by taking a scene study improv class. “Going into that class for two years and learning so many new things and coming back to the show on Days has made such a tremendous difference in my work and how comfortable I am and being able to take the character from one place to another. It’s sort of a dream come true,” she stated. “I’ve had such a great time since I’ve been back. I do feel like I’ve been gone for a while because I’m a different person and the character has changed.”

Her time in the class seems to have paid off, as the actress is front and center going head to head with Days leading man James Scott (EJ) and perennial soap favorite Roscoe Born (Trent). Since Born is one of my favorites, I had to ask what it was like to work with him. Arianne, replied, “Isn’t he good? And he’s the nicest guy on the planet. It’s so refreshing to work with someone that evil and he does it in such a slight way that it’s creepy, but in a good way. He’s intending to do that and he’s so good a it and I feel very fortunate to work with him.”

As for Scott, Arianne couldn’t be more pleased to work with the charming Brit as well. “I love working with James. He’s so great. We work a lot together on our stuff, we’ll come in early or work on stage quite a bit, now that the fans like the two of us together, just to create something more every time we have scenes together.”

While Zucker gushed about the wonderful cast she’s lucky enough to work with, she admitted her favorite scene partner has been Tamara Braun (Ava). “She always gave me so much, just as a woman, as an actress, everything. Such a wonderful person all around. She did so much with that character. She could have easily played that character into a wall and she didn’t. She did such a good job with it.”