Victoria Rowell (Drucilla Winters)

Unless you've been under a rock, you know that there is a murder-mystery going down on The Young and the Restless that has everyone on guard and under suspicion. Carmen was murdered this past fall, and any number of Genoa City's residents had the means, motive and opportunity to off her. But, who did it? This secret is sealed tighter than a shrink-wrapped DVD (I hate trying to open those things!), and ain't no one talking. Especially not Victoria Rowell (Drucilla Winters).

"What can I say?" Victoria muses. "The scripts are so chock-full of mystery, we are just short of Agatha Christie. (This murder-mystery) has galvanised viewership in America. It has also galvanised interest in daytime television. This is exciting. It's right up there with (General Hospital's) Luke and Laura's wedding!"

Y&R has been the No. 1 rated daytime drama series for 18 years now, and this ability to garner and retain its viewing audience with mystery and intrigue is one reason it has been able to stay on top for as long as it has. Another reason? "I've been on the show for 16 of those 18 years," says Victoria. "I am proud to be a part of those 16 years. The Winters family is the first and only black family on the No. 1 daytime show. We are a predominant black family, and a predominant part of our audience is African American."

Meltdown

While viewers have enjoyed watching Victoria's Drucilla all these years, she has more than enjoyed playing her. "Drucilla's been great. (With the current storyline) we are watching Dru come undone. The scene where she had to go to jail, and her fall (hairpiece) is about two feet long, and they have to confiscate her fall. The audience thought she had already outdone herself. They are very much involved with her meltdown and with her husband looking at another woman."

Victoria has been looking at another man, too, but it's not what you think. Samuel L. Jackson plays her husband in the new movie Home of the Brave (now playing). "I play a military wife and mother of two whose husband comes back from his second deployment in Iraq. He returns wounded, mentally wounded."

This character is so powerful for Victoria because "thousands of wives and mothers are waiting for their loved ones to come home. I am characterising the extreme strength of military wives."

Intimacy and vulnerability

Working with Jackson again (she previously worked with him on the movie Eve's Bayou) has been an extra treat. "He is the consummate professional. People are talking about the intimacy and vulnerability of his role. We usually see him in powerful and intimidating roles. Working with him again, and playing this role, has made me grow. You can't help but grow."

Victoria is proud of the fact that MGM studios submitted her name for Golden Globe, SAG and Academy Award consideration. "I've never been submitted for Oscar consideration before. This is big! A big studio - MGM - thinks I'm good enough to win an Oscar."

She is also proud of where she came from and who it helped her to become. On April 9, her book, The Women Who Raised Me, will be published, which details her 18-year odyssey in foster care and the women who've had a profound influence on her life.

So where does she find the time to be a movie star, TV star and (hopefully) best-selling author? Victoria explains: "You make the time. Nothing is promised tomorrow. Live every day like it's your last."

- Cindy Elavsky