Julie Dove Fires Back: ‘I’m More Than Just a Super Fan’ — Setting the Record Straight on Her Soap Opera Stardom!
Days of Our Lives (DOOL) spoilers indicate that Connie Villinski has made some incredible waves in Salem. She started off rather “quiet” and then exploded into storylines after viewers discovered she was the one behind Li Shin’s (Remington Hoffman) death.
The character’s portrayer, Julie Dove, has burst onto the daytime drama scene, known as the DOOL’s “superfan” who landed the part.
Still, Dove recently spoke with Soap Opera Digest (SOD) and talked about how she’s so much more than just a fan of the show.
In fact, she set the record straight that she’s an actress, who has trained in her craft.
While the rumor mill buzzed that Dove got her DOOL gig from winning a contest, Dove cleared up this misconception by telling the online mag that she had received formal acting training and auditioned for the part.
Dove tells SOD that not only did she earn a BA and MA in theatre from East Texas State University, but she also studied comedy at The Groundlings and The Second City Los Angeles, among others.
In addition, her past credits include appearances in Happy Endings, The Office, and Angie Tribeca.
Julie notes during the interview that she wanted to grow up and be a soap star because it was so popular at the time.
She headed to college in 1988 to fulfill this dream, but while she did pursue acting in school, living in Texas, she was too scared to leave home and do it.
She ended up becoming a drama teacher. Still, as she navigated through life, and moved to Nashville to work within the music industry, she had an epiphany while helping others reach their “creative dreams”.
After her second divorce, she tells SOD, she reflected upon her life and wanted to be an actor. She moved to Los Angeles and began to fully pursue her dream.
She’s been living in California since December 2001 and has focused solely on her acting career.
Still, she’s had some side jobs, and being the nanny for General Hospital’s Casting Director Mark Teschner’s daughter, was one of them.
She watched Amelia from the time she was 18 months to 5-6 years old.
Mark’s daughter is now 19, and Dove states she and Teschner are still close friends. While she had auditioned for GH in the past, nothing ever came of it.
Dove does note she was a huge fan of Days and eventually ended up auditioning for the soap.
While she mentioned how much she loved DOOL when she auditioned, Julie is sure she wasn’t handed the job based solely on her fan status.
Her first Days appearance took place in 2021, where she had a scene with Billy Flynn (Chad DiMera) and Marci Miller (ex-Abigail); however, that scene ended up being cut.
As sad as it was, former Head Writer, Ron Carlivati heard about Dove’s love of the show and eventually brought her back as a client of Sloan Petersen (Jessica Serfaty). She entered the land of Salem in 2023 – the rest is history!
Days of Our Lives spoilers note that fans should brace themselves over what Connie does next!
She’s a sociopath with a knack for killing, but how long could this last before she gets caught?
