Popular daytime star Cady McClain (ex-Dixie Cooney, All My Children; ex-Kelly Andrews, The Young and the Restless; ex-Rosanna Cabot, As the World Turns) has been making a serious splash in the directing world. Her documentary Seeing is Believing: Women Direct -- which she wrote, directed, and edited -- won the Audience Award for a feature film at the 2017 SOHO International Film Festival, while the 30-minute version won Best Short at the Glendale and Burbank Film Festivals and a Jury Award at the Newport Beach Film Festival. But believe it or not, her career and success as a director were nearly thwarted -- by advice from her own mother.
In a chat with Soap Central, the actress revealed that she had dreams of becoming a director at a young age, but her hopes were squashed by some unfortunate yet well-meaning words of wisdom.
"When I was in my early twenties, I took a directing workshop with a guy named Curt Dempster, and that really opened the door for me. I thought, 'Oh, this is what I want to do. I want to direct.'"
But her mother stepped in and advised that the behind-the-camera hopeful strike directing from her list of ambitions.
"My mom basically said, 'Don't do that. That's a bad road to take. Women are not [taken seriously as directors], you're not going to be appreciated,'" she recalls. "'You're not going to make it, because so few women make it as directors.'"
And just like that, McClain's directing dreams were smashed. "I sort of got depressed and I turned that all off," she shares.
Fortunately for the film world, the actress changed her mind and, in recent years, decided to give directing a proper try. Her projects have all been successful and include her documentary, a short film about young girls and bullying titled Butterflies, and Venice the Series, for which she received an Outstanding Directing Team in a Digital Series Daytime Emmy nomination this year.
McClain starred on AMC from 1989 to 2011, on ATWT from 2003 to 2010, and on Y&R from 2014 to 2015. She still has an interest in acting but has turned her talents mostly to producing and directing for the time being. In fact, she recently directed and also starred alongside her real-life husband, Jon Lindstrom (ex-Kevin Collins, General Hospital; ex-Craig Montgomery, ATWT), in a new web series called Switch. The scripted series explores human nature and ordinary people's secret desires, fetishes, and fantasies in New York's most exclusive BDSM Dungeon.
"Such a terrific actor... and I got to direct him!" McClain tweeted about working with Lindstrom in the new project. "Pretty meta!"
Such a terrific actor... and I got to direct him! Pretty meta! Check it out August 23rd! Follow: @SeriesTheSwitch @StavroulaToska #prouddirector #awesomeactors #killingit https://t.co/UjSVOfHoxy
- Cady McClain (@CadyMcClain) August 14, 2018
The shocking series, which will be available here on Thursday, August 23, also stars Stavroula Toska, Academy Award winner Olympia Dukakis, India Ennenga, Mark Borkowski, Bobby Daniel Rodriguez, Eleni Yiovas, Catherine Eaton, Katie Maguire, Alicia Greene, Gabriel Furman, Jessica DiGiovanni, and more.
Check out a sneak preview of Switch below, and for more from McClain on her directing career, check out this video of the actress discussing her work with Soap Central.
What do you think about the premise for Switch? What do you think about the advice McClain's mother gave her many years ago? Have you ever been discouraged from following your dreams? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.
