Samantha (Sami) Brady

Alison Sweeney. The young actress, who plays 'Samantha Brady' on NBC-TV's "Days of Our Lives," is like a shaken up soda can bubbling with carbonated energy. Sweeney says that her effusive personality is not something she developed as a result of her recent fame. She says, from the days she could talk, there was no turning back.
Sweeney's nursery school teacher could not help notice the same thing. When she was just a toddler, her endless stories and chitter chatter pervaded her Montessori nursery school classroom. "I would just talk and talk. At show-and-tell time, I'd raise my hand and tell some random story that had no bearing on anything," she says. So Sweeney's teacher recommended to her mother, Polly, that she try to make a go out of her daughter's charming personality.
Polly, a professional violinist, knew a few people in the industry and used her connections to get Alison her first and only agent.
As she began high school, Sweeney and her parents agreed that she should relax her acting career for a while and focus on academics. The private school she attended was an intense academic arena and Ali wanted to stay competitive for college. So, she took it easy for a while, living at home with her parents and two brothers, Sten (named after her father) and Ryan, and focusing on her studies. However, she and her agent decided not to become too detached from the industry, so her agent continued to submit Ali to casting directors and producers in order to keep her name and face out there.
It wasn't too long before her agent called to inform her about an available contract role on "Days of Our Lives," Alison's favorite soap opera. This role was to change all of Sweeney's plans. She laughs about her audition as she recalls the executive producer telling her that when she met Patrick Muldoon (ex-Austin Reed), she blushed so red that her stage makeup couldn't even conceal her embarrassment. Red cheeks or not, Sweeney swept the test for the part of the beautiful, troubled teenager 'Samantha Brady.'
Since joining the cast on January 6, 1993, Sweeney has grown into her character as an unstable, devious teenager. She originally had trouble leaving work at the studio and taking her character's problems home with her, but learned quickly after 'Sami' was raped, suffered from bulimia, and witnessed her mother commit adultery, that she must separate herself from her character. When asked what 'Sami' and Ali share in common, the actress replies with a natural wit, "We look alike."
All jokes aside, Sweeney reflects that life as a young soap star hasn't been without its drawbacks. She missed virtually half of her junior year and all of her senior year of high school. Her school of 13 years, her "home territory," as she describes it, became estranged at times when new students recognized her as her character, and not as Alison Sweeney. However, Alison made sure she attended all of the significant senior year events such as proms, picnics, and of course, graduation.
As most of her friends have gone off to college and are experiencing dorm life, Sweeney sometimes feels segregated from that same path she'd planned on pursuing for so many years. However, the level-headed actress is extremely grateful for her role on "Days," and adores the entire cast and crew, whom she considers family.
When not busy working or studying, Ali keeps herself busy with her three dogs (Ace, Elizabeth and J.J.), two cats (Sneaky and Sugar) and her horse, Apparition.