‘Days of Our Lives’ Star Melissa Reeves on Her First Role: ‘I Was Clueless’ (Exclusive)

Melissa Reeves is celebrating 40 years since she joined the cast of Days of our Lives as Jennifer Horton Deveraux, but before she became a mainstay in Salem, she appeared on another NBC soap, Santa Barbara.

At the time, the East Coast-based Reeves had her sights set on working in the theater. “They cast me out of New York when I was taking my little dance classes, looking at the Winter Garden Theater, just wanting to be in Cats,” she recalls. “And all of a sudden, I’m flying to L.A. to be on Santa Barbara and it was amazing. I was only 17, so I had to get emancipated. I had never been out of New Jersey, anywhere except for New York, where I lived a lot of my life as a young teenager. It was crazy,”