Sonia Satra calls to say she's running late. And then she calls to say she is in heavy traffic. And then she calls to say she has to be across town sooner than expected - and asks if we can reschedule our interview for later. She sighs - there is another audition. Uh-oh. Satra is having, you know, one of those days. She calls back a little later. She has to pack and get to the airport - so can we maybe move dinner? Yikes. E.T. didn't use the phone this much. Indeed, Satra reveals a not-so-shocking secret: "My phone bills are huge!"

Luckily, there are moments when Satra gets to put the phone down and actually get to work. To wit, the beautiful and popular actress, who enjoyed a four-year stint playing the perennially put-upon victim Lucy Cooper on GUIDING LIGHT, is nothing if not busy these days. She's bi-coastal, and is not only looking for a place in New York City, but she's moving out of the L.A. apartment she shared with ex-boyfriend Monti Sharp (ex-David, GL; ex-Lew, AS THE WORLD TURNS). Satra is also running around L.A. auditioning for prime-time roles and films. And several times a week, she flies to New York to play ONE LIFE TO LIVE's Barbara Graham, who, by the way, is no slouch when it comes to the put-upon department.

As if her schedule doesn't sound kooky enough, Satra is also busy getting ready for a yoga retreat, and after that, a skiing trip for a couple of days of downtime. Whew. "Truthfully," she giggles, "I made a 'Things To Do' list, but I lost it. I can't find it. I'm not kidding. I have bills to pay [in L.A.] and I can't find those either. I figured, hey, they could turn my lights off [for non-payment]. I'm not here for the most part anyway." If you're about to scream, "Stop the insanity!" Satra's actually fine with keeping all the plates spinning. "I don't mind it," she smiles. "I generally like my life when things are crazy."

Thankfully, OLTL introduced Barbara slowly, since anything more intense could have put Satra over the edge. That said, Barbara's entrance was nothing if not dramatic: She came onto the Llanview landscape in February as a rape victim (like Lucy) and has leaned on the Buchanan boys - Kevin and Joey - for support.

As it turns out, Satra wasn't as interested in working in daytime as she was - and still is - in pursuing prime-time. After all, being bi-coastal means living, basically, in cabs and airports. "My first day at ONE LIFE, I was thinking, 'I must be nuts,'" Satra relates. But OLTL's new executive producer Jill Farren Phelps, who worked with Satra when Phelps produced GL, made the actress an offer she couldn't refuse. "There is no contract. And it's recurring. And that was very attractive to me," Satra states. "They said, we'll talk in six months and we'll see what we both want. Of course, I was on the show a few weeks, and we got new writers. It was like, 'Okay, make up your mind, Sonia [laughs]. Are you going to sign [the contract] or what?'" At this writing, Satra still hasn't decided.

Though new to the show, Satra felt the shakeup nonetheless. She was bonding with costar Kevin Stapleton (ex-Kevin) just when it was announced he was being canned in favor of Timothy Gibbs (ex-Gary, ANOTHER WOLRD). "It had to be hard on Kevin," Satra states quietly, "but let me tell you, he is such a great guy. A real trouper. He could have said, 'You're new, and I'm leaving,' yet he has been nothing but good to me. Great from day one. He is a terrific guy."

Satra also speaks highly - and affectionately - of Sharp, her beau of several years. So what happened? "I think I needed time to be by myself for a while," she answers. "Monti and I will always be friends. Good friends. We may even get back together down the road. I don't know. But for now, we both needed a break from the relationship."

Anyone who knows the New Jersey-born Satra will tell you she is one of the friendliest and sweetest people you'll ever meet (she never forgets birthdays, always picks out the perfect presents). But, they insist, she is incredibly private. "I don't see myself that way," she laughs, "but then again, I suppose I am. I told Rick [Hearst, ex-Alan-Michael, GL] that I was dating Monti a year after we were together. I just don't volunteer a lot. And I'm close to Rick. Yeah, he was p----d off."

During her break from soaps, Satra made forays into prime-time and feature films. First, she guest-starred on BAYWATCH, playing a former love interest to star and Executive Producer David Hasselhoff. She recently wrapped the starring role in the low-budget, independent movie Hyacinth, playing a British woman named Fiona.

As good luck would have it, Fiona Hutchison (Jenna), Satra's former GL castmate and buddy, was an invaluable resource. "Fiona helped me so much," Satra enthuses. "She was really great about it, considering it was a part she was perfect for. Fiona even called me and read all the [audition] lines into my answering machine so I could get the accent down perfectly. That was above the call of duty. Because of her I walked into the room with a British accent. The producers even thought I was British after the audition. I mean, I told them I lived in England. They didn't have to know that it was when I was 8."

Satra reports that the film (a mystery co-starring William Katt of THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO and Martin Kove of CAGNEY & LACEY) was a "very cool" experience, as was working with Hasselhoff. When asked if the BAYWATCH biggie is a good kisser, Satra demures, "Oh, God. The eternal soap question!" If she was intrigued by his lip service, she was much more attuned to Hasselhoff the businessman. "Talk about great people to work with," she raves. "I was truly impressed by him. He was great with everyone on the set. If anyone could walk around with an ego - he is the star and the executive producer - it would be him. And he couldn't be more fun and down-to-earth."

Speaking of terra firma, these days when she's not in midair or flitting from here to there, Satra does her best to keep up with her former GL friends. "I take an acting class with Jean Carol [ex-Nadine], so I see her all the time. I also talk to Marj [Dusay, ex-Alexandra], but not enough. She is so talented, she should be working. And I talk to Rick [Hearst] every once in a while. I also talk to Barbara Crampton [ex-Mindy; Maggie, BOLD AND BEAUTIFUL] and Jocelyn Seagrave [ex-Julie] a little bit." Satra laughs and then laughs some more. "Come to think of it, I think I talk to more of thse people now than when I was on the show."

Of course - she has her phone.

* first appeared in the March 31, 1998 issue of Soap Opera Digest