It’s been 5 months since Finola Hughes walked offstage for the last time at All My Children. But despite the time that has elapsed since her anticlimactic departure after 4 controversial years of playing Alex, the twin of her signature GH character, Anna Devane, and then the GH expatriate herself, “Finola Fever” has yet to die down. Hughes’ fan base continues to clamor for her return, most specifically to GH. Brian Frons commented in an interview in late 2003 that Hughes and other A-list veterans wouldn’t necessarily move the ratings needle enough to justify their cost to the cash-strapped daytime division. While Hughes declines to address Frons’ comments directly, citing legal reasons, the actress did declare with a wink before the brouhaha went public that, “I’d definitely go back-so long as the lighting was good.” 

For now though, Hughes isn’t looking back. When her AMC gig wrapped, she, her husband, artist/producer Russell Young and their son, Dylan pulled up stakes and returned to the west coast, where they traded urban digs for a more pastoral abode, complete with a fruit orchard and the ocean nearby. “It’s a nice place to raise a kid. The only man who ever owned it grew everything organically there, he never used pesticides. And there are a lot of trees to look after, which Russell’s really good at, because that’s not up my street,” confesses the self-avowed urbanite. “It’s difficult for me to stagger around in my Jimmy Choo heels trying to look like I understand what’s happening with flowers. I need “Gardening for Complete Dummies”. I know how to cut a rose, stick it in a vase and that’s it.” 

If you think this has the ingredients for a Green Acres remake, wait until you’ve seen Hughes wend her way through her country kitchen. “I’ve had to make some pies,” she declares. “But I’ve only done it three times and that was right after we moved here. I haven’t done any since. People ate them and they didn’t die. So, I’m looking at that as a success.” 

But just because Hughes pulled a few pies out of the oven doesn’t mean she’s content to trade the fast lane for The Simple Life. While’s she’s no Martha Stewart, her longtime manager, Peter Iannucci hopes to parlay Hughes into what he’s coined the Anti-Martha Stewart or Martha with an Edge- an ever-expanding franchise that already includes a successful jewelry line, a weekly fashion/reality show on the Style Network called How Do I Look? and a clothing line. Oh, and she’s currently in the throes of penning her first novel. Many of these pursuits require her to schlep into L.A., where she can get her sorely needed fix of city living. 

But Anna fans don’t panic- Hughes insists she hasn’t hung up Anna’s trench coat for good. “I know that I’ll revisit acting; it’s in my blood,” she admits. “But living in NY and being exposed to all the things fashion-wise and style-wise that you have there, and meeting the people that I did, brought home something that has been itching in me for many years. As a young girl we didn’t have any money, and my Mom used to take me to thrift stores and we tried to put together things to either greater effect or complete disaster. And I worked in a clothing store when I was a teenager. It was then that I developed a passion for vintage clothing.” 

Back to Anna… If Hughes were to reprise the role, maintaining the integrity of the character would be priority number 1-something she concedes got sacrificed along the way as AMC suffered myriad casting, writer and producer shuffles. “I tried to concentrate on the small picture- how can I make something great, or good, or at the very least passable for the day? Whatever I am given, I try to make it work. Even if I don’t like it, I try to make it realistic for the audience because my job is to make real whatever is that I’m handed. In that respect, I am fairly low maintenance. Having said that, when I first signed on to All My Children, they had a long term blue-print for my character that just changed and changed,” in some instances because of circumstances beyond anyone’s control, like Michael Nader’s exit and Hughes’ pregnancy. “I just kept rolling with the punches,” she sighs. “But I was incredibly frustrated with the fact that Anna was not a good detective anymore. I mean I never solved one thing! That was abysmal and very frustrating. Anna was supposed to have this razor sharp mind.” Which on GH showcased itself via Anna’s expertise in explosives, fencing stolen goods, and a successful stint as a double agent in two rival spy organizations. “But none of that was ever addressed. At the Pine Valley Police Station I didn’t have all my guys and I didn’t have the supporting characters and stories. So, I couldn’t fight for something that wasn’t going to be there. That wasn’t the story they were telling, I just went there with the reality, and the reality was that I was in NY and I was employed by All My Children and this was the story that I was given. I don’t fight the situation, and I don’t think about things once they are done. Once I’ve done it, it goes out of my mind. I’m always surprised by how other actors and fans know the detail of storylines. The fans were most upset that Anna was never allowed to be good at her job. They felt it too. Tristan Rogers ex Robert GH, had an iron mind when it came to his character. He knew exactly what his character would do and what he wouldn’t do, and on a daily basis he would be outspoken about it. Tony Geary (Luke) is the same way. I should have learned more from them but I remember sort of standing there thinking, “Wow, how does he know that? That’s Amazing!” 

Until she is lured back to ABC, check out Hughes on How Do I Look? Fridays at 9p.m. on the Style Network. 

Following the tragic death of her newborn and the subsequent collapse of her marriage, AMC’s Anna Devane moved to Paris, the style capitol of the world. Ironically, haute couture played a role in the plans of her portrayer, Finola Hughes, as well. After relocating from New York to Los Angeles, she accepted a job as host of HOW DO I LOOK?, a Style Network reality series that give fashion victims much-needed makeovers. 

     “Our show is about people who have gotten into a style rut,” the clothes-horse explains. “The wardrobe challenged are given three ensembles to choose from with the help of family, friends and an expert. Some people get stuck in an era-say the 80’s. We found Jordache jeans in one woman’s closet. They can be trendy if you’re 20, but not if you actually lived in the 80’s!” 

     GOT STYLE? The series ringmistress admits that she enjoys delving into the psyches of the program’s participants. “There’s a family element to the show that I love, “she confides. “I get obsessed with their stories- why has this person gotten herself or himself into this place- because sometimes there are deep psychological reasons. Not that I an unearth them, but I try my best because I am basically nosy.” 

     Hughes is also a great fit for the show because she has a firm handle on her own sense of Style. She knows what looks good on her and what doesn’t. “I can’t wear mini skirts anymore,” she sighs. “Other women my age can, but its not elegant for me. You just have to know. Something in your heard has to tell you.” 

     However, the Fashionista maintains just because a certain article of clothing should be taken out of rotation, it doesn’t mean that they have to be tossed out. Au contraire! “I have a sweatshirt from 25 years ago”, she shares, “It says MEMPHIS on it. It was the first American thing that I ever bought so I can’t throw it out. “But” she hastens to add, “I don’t wear it anymore.” 

     A SOAP RETURN? When not stitching together her new career, Hughes keeps in close contact with many daytime pals, among them her one time GH hubby, Ian Buchanan and AMC’s Kelly Ripa, whom she knew would be a big hit long before her success with LIVE WITH REGIS AND KELLY AND HOPE AND FAITH. “Kelly is so funny,” raves her gal pal. “When I first met her, she came up to me and repeated in an English accent the speech my character said in Staying Alive. She knew the entire thing! I thought, what could this girl do? And now she is.” Leaving her AMC clique behind wasn’t easy for the actress. “I miss them a great deal,” she admits. Even before her AMC departure, buzz began that she’d be going to another soap. Hughes and Buchanan’s bond with Susan Flannery- her new neighbor and his one time love interest on B&B led to speculation that the British born performer would join that half hour CBS show. But Hughes’ diehard fans want both her and her popular, cross-over character, Anna, back on GH. Is Hughes open for a return? “Its where I started,” she recalls wistfully. “I love that show. I adore Anna. But no, not right now. I’m having so much fun at the Style Network.” 

     If Hughes ever reprises her role on GH, its unlikely that she’d be paired again with her last leading man, Vincent Irizarry, whose AMC character, David, resides in PV. “I loved working with Vincent,” she gushes, “When you find someone you feel comfortable with (as we did), it’s a good thing.” While Anna’s former portrayer enthusiastically supports the belief that her character’s presumed-dead first husband, Robert Scorpio, survived the boat explosion that she and Cesar Fasion did, she wouldn’t mind being paired with Robert’s best friend, Luke Spencer, in the future. “I love Tony Geary’, the actress says. “When we see each other at the Daytime Emmy’s, we always make time to say hello.” 

     THE X-FACTOR There could be a big screen part awaiting Hughes if the next X-Men movie incorporates the character of telepath Emma Frost (a/k/a The White Queen), the role that she brought to life in the 1996 television movie, Generation X. “Emma wore thigh high silver boots,” Hughes recalls, chuckling. “Talk about a fashion statement! I’d love to play that role again. It would be fantastic.” 

    In the meantime, the actress has signed a book deal with Ballantine/Random House to write a novel about (what else?) the soap world. “I’ve been writing bits and pieces for the last 10 years”, she shares. “My husband (photographer Russell Young) was tired of moving these boxes of paper around and said to me, ‘Maybe you should do something with this?’ While the budding novelist says that her tome is due out in March 2005, she remains mum about the rest of the details, including the book’s title. However, she does hint that readers will have fun trying to figure out which real-life soap personalities are the inspiration for her characters. “If you know soaps, you’ll know whom I’m referring to.” Should twins pop up in Hughes’ novel, its possible she could be referring to her own stint in the dual roles of Anna and Alexandra. “I had hoped that I was Anna from the beginning,” the actress reflects. “I felt in my heart that I never really managed to make that twin thing work.”! 

     Participants of HOW DO I LOOK? Support her theory. “Often people who appear on the show say, “Oh, you’re Anna!”