Days of Our Lives Exclusive: Meet the Newcomer Who Proves Dreams Do Come True — Plus, the ‘Chabby’ Scene You Never Saw!

It’s not every day that your dreams come true! Granted, that’s not something Days of Our Lives‘ poor Chad and Abigail would know. Her death put an end to their idyllic dreams. And it’s likely not going to happen for Colin or big sister Sloan. The revenge they so desperately crave will probably never come to fruition.

But it is what happened to Julie Dove, the actress who plays Connie on the Peacock sudser’s May 4 episode and links all four characters together!

Salem Beginnings

We’re going to warn you upfront: This is a feel-good story in a time when it seems like we don’t get enough of those. It does have, though, something of a tragic beginning. Dove, you see, has been a lifelong Days of Our Lives fan ever since her father passed away when she was 13. Soap operas gave her a fantasy world to escape to and when her dad died suddenly at just 38, she couldn’t get enough of them.

“I was very obsessed with the love stories and the idea of the super couple,” she shares with Soaps.com. “Am I going to find my Bo Brady? Am I going to find my Luke Spencer [from General Hospital]? Am I going to find my Steve [from As the World Turns]?” She watched everything she could and read every soap magazine she found until one day she saw a recap of Hope’s 18th birthday party on Days of Our Lives. Her and Bo’s love story just seemed so romantic, Dove had to start watching.

She was almost instantly hooked.

Bo and Hope brought Dove into the Days of Our Lives fold.

Credit: NBC

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In fact, she even bought her first VCR (well, OK, Betamax, because that’s what she could afford as a teen) to record Bo and Hope’s wedding! Her love of soaps made her dream of being an actress (and of growing up to be Hope) and Dove wrote to actors from across the dial.

Some, like Loving‘s Lauren Marie-Taylor (Lauren) wrote back. In fact, the actress invited Dove and her sister up to New York to see the show, hang out and even sent her home with a dress worn by Loving‘s Lorna, played at the time by a young Susan Walters. (Who we all know is back as Diane on The Young and the Restless!)

Yup, Dove even wore the Loving dress to prom!

Credit: Courtesy of Julie Dove

It wasn’t until hitting her 30s, though, that Dove finally decided she was going to be an actor and moved to Los Angeles. She started booking shows like The Office, Angie Tribeca and Criminal Minds, and right now, she’s voicing Jessica on Adult Swim’s Birdgirl. But still, soap operas were what started it all and then finally, in November of 2021 she got her dream gig on Days of Our Lives.

A Brush With ‘Chabby’

“I never post when I’m going to be on TV,” Dove notes, but Days of Our Lives was too exciting to keep to herself. “It was the night before I knew that I was supposed to be on. I made this post [on social media]. I even waited until midnight. And I was like, ‘My dream has come true. This was the greatest thing.’”

Dove got to meet headwriter Ron Carlivati in person at Day of Days.

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Hundreds of folks from her hometown chimed in to comment and congratulate her and then… her scene didn’t air. Dove was pretty upset, but she still shared some behind-the-scenes stuff and in time it caught the attention of headwriter Ron Carlivati. Loving her story, he released her deleted scene on Days of Our Lives’ official YouTube channel.

“It was wonderful,” Dove says of filming that missing scene with Chad and Abigail. Billy Flynn and Marci Miller were great and even offered to run through it with her a few times before filming. “There was a lot of pressure because I had to throw coffee on Billy. There was really no other take that could happen. So if you watch the clip closely, you can see my hand shaking a little bit.”

Hey, we’ll just chalk that up to method acting. Connie was pretty upset, so it’s understandable! Dove was a pro, though, so she steadied herself with her other hand, wound up and tossed the coffee!

You can check her out as the very opinionated Connie below for an extra look at Chad and Abby that you missed out on the first time around! But that was far from the end of Dove’s Days of Our Lives story.

“The most amazing thing was when I shot the first scene, and it got cut, I was devastated,” Dove admits. But instead of putting an end to her dreams, it just made her more determined than ever. She told a friend, “’You know what? I’m going to be on it again. And I’m going to be on it and Bo and Hope are going to come back.’”

Second Act

And that’s exactly what happened! Carlivati decided that Dove was coming back and bringing Connie with her — and this time, her scene wasn’t getting cut. And lo and behold, it coincided with Bo and Hope’s return!

Though she didn’t get a ton of interaction with Peter Reckell and Kristian Alfonso, she did cross paths with both of the actors who made her fall in love with Days of Our Lives all those years ago — even if she didn’t realize it at first! Dove, it turns out, sat down right next to Reckell as he was running his lines, not realizing at first that it was him with his hair cut so short. When he was called to stage, she just about pinched herself for missing the chance to say “Hi.”

Alfonso, she ran into in one of the wardrobe rooms where they exchanged a few words. “I wanted to be like, ‘I met you when I was 13,’” Dove laughs, but she kept it to herself. As for her scene with Jasper Newman, she only found out later that she didn’t just film with him on his first day on the show, it was his first scene ever.

Colin may be a cad, but Newman is a handsome delight!

Credit: Jill Johnson/JPI

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“That was a huge honor,” she notes. And casting director Marnie Saitta had even filled Newman in on everything. “He came up to me and he was like, ‘Oh, I’m Jasper. Marnie told me all about you and your story.’ And he gave me a big hug.”

As for the actor himself, she adds with a laugh, “Jasper is so handsome. I’ll just say that what I needed to play in the scene was very naturally coming out of me.” And Jessica Serfaty (Sloan) “was great too. Everyone was just so professional and so nice. Not everyone is that way on every set.”

And that’s something Dove wants to let everyone she worked with know. “Thank you to everyone at the show that I got to meet. Marnie, Ron — we’ve Instagram messaged each other. I met [co-executive producer] Albert Alar. He’s amazing. I’ve not gotten to meet [executive producer] Ken Corday, but I just want to say thank you for just being who you are and for the show.”

And she also makes sure to say a special thank you to the director. “I was just so focused on, ‘I have to make this the best ever so that I can come back again,’ I didn’t get to say thank you to Noel Maxam. I enjoyed working with him. So it was just really a blast!”

Of everyone who helped make this happen, “I just appreciate them so much. I just love the show and I’m so excited that it’s been renewed, to make the 60-year mark.” And she’s “looking forward to Connie hopefully popping up in Salem again!”

Hey, we hear third time’s the charm, so here’s hoping Dove brings one of Salem’s busiest bodies back for another go around! It’s certainly wonderful to see that our dreams are attainable after all — and being a daytime superfan can pay off in spades!

If that Chad and Abigail scene whet your whistle for more, why not relive their entire love story in our photo gallery?