Soap star trades TV life for Penn

College freshman Jessica Prunell gave up a six-year sitcom deal to come to Penn. Prunell, a star of television and film, began building her lengthy show-business resume when she was just four years old, modeling in Long Island, N.Y. She quickly moved on to commercials. At 11, Prunell made her debut on the big screen in controversial filmmaker Oliver Stone's Born on the Fourth of July. She played Tom Cruise's girlfriend Donna as a child. Actress Kyra Sedgwick portrayed Donna as an adult. Prunell said that movies are definitely her favorite medium. "In a movie, a character can go through a whole range of emotions," she said. "It's not the Thursday night at 8 o'clock show that the audience is expecting." Prunell started her television sitcom career with Nick and Hillary featuring Steven Collins, Chris Elliot and Blythe Danner. The show revolved around a divorced couple who ran a restaurant, but "there wasn't really much of a plot besides that," Prunell said. The show was short-lived, which the young actress attributed to its poor ratings on the East Coast. Prunell next moved on to the pilot of a show called News at 12, in which she played the main character's dream-girl, Felice "The Bod" Radner. The show was about a young boy interested in journalism who meanders around different news stations to learn the trade. The show did not get picked up by a network. As a freshman in high school, Prunell secured a role on the soap opera As the World Turns as the young Mary Ellen Walters, who later changed her name to Lucinda. Because Prunell only appeared in the painful childhood flashbacks of the adult Lucinda -- who had been abused physically and sexually -- she said the role was her most challenging. "It was hard," she said. "A lot of crying, a lot of emotional outbursts." Prunell said she dealt with these scenes by thinking about something in her own life that she could convert to this painful situation. "That's what makes every actress different," she said. Prunell remained on the show off-and-on for two seasons, and then moved on to the television show The Babysitter's Club, which ran for three years on HBO. Prunell next took a part as the main character's sister in a sitcom pilot entitled Beck about a boy of the same name. Prunell said the show may be still picked up by a network to replace a show that is canceled mid-season. Just before coming to Penn, Prunell read for a part in Patty Duke's sitcom, Amazing Grace, which is filmed in Idaho. The casting agents of the show asked her to do a screen test for the show, and although she knew she was going to college shortly she saw no risk in reading for it. "You read for so many parts," she said. "And you never get them." She agreed to do the screen test, never imagining she would get the role -- which included a six-year contract that would require her living in Idaho. "What am I going to do in Idaho, freezing my butt off with potatoes?" she said. When she did get the part, Prunell had a difficult decision to make --college or sitcom. She decided that her top priority was her education -- which meant pulling out of her contract, because networks no longer provide educational tutoring for actors older than 17. Prunell said the network, NBC, was extremely upset about her actions, but because she was 17 when she signed the contract, she was not legally responsible. And although she does not think she will ever work for NBC again, Prunell is happy with her decision. "I love Penn," she said. "I absolutely adore it. I love all my classes. The people I've met here are great." Since her arrival on campus, Prunell has tried out for two UTV13 television dramas, Locust Walk and Mock Trial. She got the lead in both and now has to choose between the two. Prunell said that life as a child star was somewhat difficult for her because she missed out on normal aspects of adolescent life, like going to parties and playing sports. "Sometimes it was hard to meet people," she said. "That's why I came to UPenn and why I didn't really tell people about [my career]." Prunell added that she has not been recognized for her work mainly because she wears her hair curly now, while it was straight in the various roles she has played. When she does get recognized, she said it is usually for her work in The Babysitter's Club, and it is usually by men more than women. "I say to them, 'What are you doing?'" she said. "'It's a show about 14 year-old girls!'"

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