Fan favorite actress Rebecca Budig (ex-Greenlee Smythe, All My Children; ex-Hayden Barnes, General Hospital) will appear in primetime in the new film Fit for Christmas, a holiday movie that will air Sunday, December 4, on CBS. Budig will star opposite actress Amanda Kloots and actor Paul Greene in the film. Budig will play Lisa, whose character is best friends with Kloots's character, Audrey.
Budig told Soap Opera Digest recently that she is excited about her latest project, especially because she hadn't expected to land the role when she first auditioned.
"Whenever I do an audition, I just move on to the next one and don't expect anything. But I got a call when I was in Kentucky; I took a month-long RV trip last summer with [husband] Michael (Benson) and [daughter] Charlotte, and they called in July and said, 'Do you want to do this? It's shooting for three weeks in Canada in August,'" Budig told the magazine.
Despite having to be away from her daughter for the entirety of the shoot due to passport issues, Budig told SOD that making fast friends with her castmates helped with any loneliness she might have felt.
"I kind of knew (Kloots) by association, but we had never met. When we did meet, we were like, 'Ah, finally!' Amanda is such a light. She has such a good, positive energy," Budig told the magazine. "Paul Greene, who plays the male lead in the movie, is also super lovely and he knows Cameron Mathison (Drew Cain, GH; ex-Ryan Lavery, AMC) from back in the day. It was kind of like six degrees of separation with everyone and we all clicked in this beautiful, lovely way."
As for a possible return to daytime and GH, Budig said she was still open to the possibility. Her last appearance in Port Charles was in 2019. The following year, she was nominated for a Daytime Emmy.
"I am so grateful to all the fans who still ask me about General Hospital," Budig said. "I'm so appreciative that people are like, 'Come back!' It's very sweet, and I hear they do still talk about me from time to time on the show. I haven't heard anything from the show, but I would always be open to coming back."
During her run on ABC Daytime, Budig garnered four Daytime Emmy nominations, most recently in 2020 for "Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Drama Series" as Hayden Barnes. Prior to her 2020 nomination, Budig was nominated twice for her portrayal as Greenlee Smythe on All My Children, in 2001 and 2003.
Will you be tuning in to see Budig in her new holiday film? Would you like to see her return to General Hospital? We want to hear from you -- and there are many ways you can share your thoughts.
