Daytime Emmy Winner Chronicles the ‘Crazy’ Journey She Took to a Part She Darn Near Landed
The road to stardom is never easy!
For those who were fans of As the World Turns back in the ’80s, supercouples didn’t get much bigger than Lily and Holden. Of course, even the longtime fans might have a tough time remembering just how young they both were in those early years! Martha Byrne took over the role of Lily in 1985 when she was just 15, but that was far from her first acting gig!
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Before that were movies like Anna to the Infinite Power and the theater — Broadway to be exact! Byrne started out in Annie back when she was just 10, though the actress didn’t quite manage to land the lead role! She did, however, get to play one of the other orphans, July, though we sadly don’t have video of those first early steps towards fame that she was taking.
But now we do get to see a 10-year-old Byrne auditioning for Annie! And honestly, that’s almost as good. The actress recently tweeted a clip from NBC’s Prime Time back in 1980 covering the search for a new Annie.
“Before American Idol, there were open calls for Annie on Broadway,” Byrne wrote. “This video chronicles my journey in 1980!! I got down to the top four to play Annie from an open audition. Crazy!! Didn’t get it but got the role of July. Can you pick me out?”
It was, she added in one of the comments that it was her “first audition ever.” She snagged the role of July and while she didn’t get Annie, she was the understudy until the fall of 1981, “when I got my first movie, The Eyes of the Amaryllis.”
Check out the clip below and see if you can spot her!
Before @AmericanIdol there were open calls for Annie on Broadway. This video chronicles my journey in 1980!! I got down to the top 4 to play Annie from an open audition. Crazy!! Didn’t get it, but got the role of July. Can you pick me out? 😃 https://t.co/Eb85UEzD9n
— Martha Byrne (@MarthaByrne10) November 17, 2022
Need some help in picking her out? To be fair, there were a whole lot of hopeful young actresses auditioning for the redheaded role of a lifetime! But don’t worry, Byrne shared a few pointers to help you out!
“I’m sitting right behind Allison [Smith] when she’s singing,” Byrne clarified by pointing out the young actress who’d eventually get the starring role. “I look a wreck. Ponytails, red sweater. My sister is in a yellow sweater with a perm.”
Actually, once you spot her, she’s hard to miss! And we’re pretty sure we’d look far more of a mess if we were sitting in an audition like that. But hey, it worked for her! Byrne went on from Annie to films to As the World Turns‘ Lily Walsh Snyder and we’re pretty sure she never looked back!
Well, except in moments like this.
Check out what the rest of your Oakdale faves look like these days in our As the World Turns then-and-now gallery!
