In Her Court SOD, May 2004 Page 2 | Page 3 It's a gray, overcast day in Manhattan and Digest has just endured the cab ride from hell en route to Nick & Toni's Cafe. Yet as soon as the reporter meets with Renee Elise Goldsberry, her bad mood lifts; nestled as a corner table, her head buried in a book, Goldsberry is an oasis of calm in the crowded restaurant. When asked to pick a word to describe herself, the actress chooses "joyful," and it's easy to see why after only a few minutes of conversation. Goldsberry likes to make sure that everyone around her is happy. Moreover, she has seemingly boundless energy and always has to be doing something. Case in point; When she joined ONE LIFE TO LIVE in February, 2003, she was also starring as Nala in the Broadway production of The Lion King. Despite admitting that "I thought some days would kill me," Goldsberry insists that she craves the heavy workload and was thrilled when OLTL made her Todd's lawyer during the rape trial. "Work is addictive," she notes. "Doing the trial was overwhelming, but when your story slows down, you miss it. I’m always looking forward to what I can do next." It's in that regard that Goldsberry is similar to tough-as-nails attorney Evangeline. Like her character , the actress is focused and driven. She is also passionate about her vocation and almost always manages to achieve her goals. Goldsberry acquired her work ethic from her father, Ronald Goldsberry, a former executive for Ford Motor Co. and her mother Betty Sanders, a psychologist. When Goldsberry was 8, Mom arranged for her and her older brother, Ryan, to attend a summer musical theatre program. There, Goldsberry, who appeared in Guys and Dolls fell in love with performing. "The head of the camp asked me to sing and I was so scared, I barely got through it," she remembers. "But once I did I was like, "This is the most fun I've ever had. "What's strange is that this older woman once predicted to my mother that one of her kids would have a successful music career, and my mom assumed that it would be my brother, who played piano. But I was determined to prove it could be me." Goldsberry continued to perform in local productions (Ryan became an engineer), but once she graduated school, Mom and Dad insisted that she attend college. She completed and got her bachelor's in theater at Carnegie Mellon University. "My audition was awful," she recalls. "It was so intimidating, it was just like Fame." What's ironic is that at the time I thought, "I can do this, so I'm going to law school (laughs).' "When she got accepted, "I figured that they knew something I didn’t." she chuckles. "And I ended up having a great time. I met some amazing people." After Goldsberry did some theatre, spent "about a minute" in New York City, then moved to Los Angeles, where she completed her master's in jazz at University of Southern California. In addition to teaching, performing in jazz clubs and doing guest spots on ALLY MCBEAL Goldsberry went through another important continued