Eileen Davidson (born June 15, 1959) is an American film and soap opera actress.
Davidson started her career as a model in Mexico City and California, eventually adding commercials and print work in Europe. Her agent had recommended that she take acting classes to get work in commercials, but she took to acting so well that she was sent out to auditions for acting roles. She originated the role of Ashley Abbott on The Young and the Restless in March 1982, beating out more than 100 candidates. The character of Ashley became a front-burner character, and Davidson became an integral part of the show. She quit the show in February 1989 and the producers took her recommendation of hiring a look-alike actress named Brenda Epperson Doumani, whom Davidson had discovered waiting tables at a charity function.
Davidson then appeared in primetime television, but her show, Broken Badges (1990-1991), flopped. She returned to daytime when she assumed the role of Kelly Capwell on Santa Barbara from May 1991 until the soap's cancellation in January 1993. She next appeared as Kristen Blake on Days of Our Lives beginning in May 1993. As originally conceived, Kristen was a heroine, who had an Achilles' heel in that the show's supervillain, Stefano, had raised her after the death of her parents. James E. Reilly, who assumed head writing reins in 1993, began to make Kristen more of a villainess. Reilly eventually developed an outrageous second role for Davidson, having her play Susan Banks, a Kristen look-alike. Reilly eventually penned three more roles for Davidson (Sister Mary Moira, Thomas, and Penelope). Davidson enjoyed the challenge, but after playing so many multiple characters and making daytime television history, she decided to take a breather and leave the show. Her character, Kristen, intended to keep her other character, Susan, prisoner on an island, but Susan ultimately prevailed and Kristen has remained on the island and has not been heard from since. All related characters were last seen in May 1998. Davidson's five roles earned her a Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in 1998.
After a year-long vacation, she returned to her role on The Young and the Restless in March 1999. After a successful return as Ashley Abbott, which included Davidson's second Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress, Davidson was fired from the show. In December 2006, Davidson told TV Guide that she was fired from Y&R due to lack of storyline. Her last airdate as Ashley was January 11, 2007. According to co-star Melody Thomas Scott, the firing was protested behind the scenes of Y&R and was seen as unfair. Scott said: "That was so heartbreaking. We're still upset about that. That was a blow. Terrible. Eileen Davidson was such a part of the core of the show and such a brilliant actress; beautiful and always prepared. It was crazy. I'm not the only one who feels that way."
In a surprise move a few months later, Davidson signed a three-year contract with Y&R's sister soap The Bold and the Beautiful to once again play her Y&R character Ashley Abbott at the request of B&B executive producer Bradley Bell. She first aired on March 9, 2007.
Ken Corday called Davidson about a week before she was fired from Y&R to get permission to use a picture of her on Days of our Lives. The picture, which featured Davidson as Susan, was shown in December 2006.
After she was fired from The Young and the Restless but before being cast in The Bold and the Beautiful, her niece Devon Martt, a fashion designer, approached her about designing clothes together. Davidson liked the idea and formed a clothing company called Femmeology.
Davidson is also co-writing her first novel with author Robert J. Randisi, a mystery set in the soap opera world. The novel is called "Death in Daytime" and will be released October 2008.
Davidson was born in Artesia, California, daughter of Charlotte, a homemaker, and Richard Davidson, an airplane parts manufacturer. Davidson has been married three times: first to actor Christopher Mayer from 1985-1986. After that marriage, she was romantically involved with her leading man from the feature film Eternity (1989), Academy Award-winning actor Jon Voight. Her second husband was former General Hospital and Port Charles actor Jon Lindstrom, to whom she was married from 1997 to 2000. She married actor Vince Van Patten in 2003, by whom she has one son, Jesse, also born in 2003.
Her pregnancies contradict the rumors that she was a transsexual, a man who had had surgery to become a woman. In 1990, a transsexual actress and model named Caroline Cossey (a.k.a. Tula) was featured on an episode of Donahue. Many viewers confused Tula with Davidson, who admitted in a 1999 interview that she and Tula shared more than a few physical characteristics, but that the similarities ended there. The rumors that Davidson was born a man date back to at least 1985.
1. Emmy nomination as Outstanding Lead Actress in a daytime Serial--Days of our Lives (1998)
2. Emmy nomination as Outstanding Lead Actress in a daytime Serial--The Young and the Restless (2003).
