Tanisha Harper Talks ‘General Hospital’ Drama, Confidence and ‘Beyond the Gates’ Premiere (EXCLUSIVE)
Soap opera beauty teases Jordan’s romance with Isaiah. Can it survive her plot to take down Sidwell?
With Jordan Ashford’s longtime nemesis Cyrus dead on General Hospital, the romance and drama are only building for Port Charles’ top cop turned deputy mayor. Soap opera beauty Tanisha Harper sits down with Woman’s World to reflect on her character’s upcoming action with Sawandi Wilson’s Isaiah and Carlo Rota’s Sidwell—two very different leading men—as well as Jordan’s partnership with Genie Francis’ Laura and Finola Hughes’ Anna.
The Project Runway alum, whose modeling landed her sit-downs with Oprah Winfrey and Katie Couric in 2003, reveals how The Bold and the Beautiful set her on the path to acting. The beauty also shares where she finds her confidence when it wanes.
Plus, Harper weighs in on General Hospital’s newest daytime competition—the brand-new soap, Beyond the Gates.
‘GH’ star Tanisha Harper dishes on her ‘Bold’ transition from Olympic dreams to acting
As a track star in high school and college, Tanisha Harper had her eye on Olympic gold. Instead, in 2003, her competitive spirit and side career as a model led her in an unexpected direction.
“I did this competition to be on the cover of Cosmopolitan and it catapulted me to a national and international stage,” recounts the Tokyo-born actress who was raised in Arizona and was discovered at a shopping mall at 15. “It was a pretty standout moment. I was interviewed by all these people that my family and I watched on TV. I never thought something like that would ever happen for me. It wasn’t even in my wheelhouse.”
Harper’s modeling career would take her to Project Runway in 2009, but it was Daytime TV that first brought her to our screens in 2005.
“The Bold and the Beautiful was looking for a model that could act,” Harper says. “I’d done some things while I was in high school, so I said, ‘Let me try.’ I ended up booking it and I think I had three lines, but that was the start of me going into acting. It was fun, so my modeling agency just kept sending me out for different projects and I kept booking them.”
‘GH’ star Tanisha Harper talks comedy roots and loving the drama
While soap fans know Harper for playing General Hospital’s powerhouse Jordan, as well her two stints as a model on The Bold and the Beautiful, her resume includes a string of comedies—including the rom-dramedies Something New and Forgetting Sarah Marshall and the series Dear White People and Hacks.
“The industry tends to pigeonhole you wherever you seem to shine and succeed,” she says. “For me, that was in the comedic world and I loved it, but I always wanted to try something different. I wanted to do drama. For me to be able to take that leap, it had to be the right role and when Jordan on General Hospital came up, I felt like, ‘This is it!’ I just knew.”
Coming into the role as a recast in 2022, Harper walked right into the fallout of her character’s divorce from Curtis. Instead of going for laughs, she had to bring the intensity.
“Jordan’s a serious, no-nonsense, very strong individual,” Harper maintains, but after a few years of drama and some serious Ashford family heartbreak, she’s thrilled to see a new side of her character emerging—and it’s all thanks to her hot new romance!
‘GH’ star Tanisha Harper talks creating Jordan, Isaiah, and leading man Sawandi Wilson
Since newcomer Isaiah showed up on the scene, Jordan is suddenly getting her flirt on, and Harper is loving it.
“A lot of fans noticed they don’t really know much about Jordan outside of her having been a police commissioner or in her role as a deputy mayor, so this is a side of her I’ve wanted to showcase,” she explains. “We don’t get to see her more vulnerable, emotional, and playful side. Having this opportunity to have a love interest and show her softer side is fun, and it’s going to be great to explore that so the fans can see a more human side to her.”
Harper is also enjoying her new leading man, Sawandi Wilson, who plays the sexy Dr. Isaiah Gannon.
“From his first day, he was bombarded with so many scenes and meeting so many people and characters, and that is extremely overwhelming,” she says. “I loved how he just took it in stride. He was very calm and didn’t let it affect him.
“I get anxiety, especially when I first started, and I get all in my head,” she admits. “He has this wonderful way of pacing himself and not letting it get to him, and that rubs off onto me. He’s a wonderful human being and I’m very fortunate to work with him—because that’s not always the case, especially with love interests.”
‘GH’ star Tanisha Harper reveals where she finds her confidence
While her new co-star helps calm her nerves, this beauty admits she has days where she’s not quite feeling in her power.
“Whether it’s modeling or acting, this is an industry where you’re often judged on your looks and whatever else, so it’s very easy to not feel confident,” says the 43-year-old, who has to deliver on screen and on red carpets no matter how strong she’s feeling.
When she has to fake it till she makes it, she calls on her mother’s example.
“I think about how my mother can walk into a room and just command it,” she explains. “She’s a confident woman. She has such a big presence and a wonderful way about her. When she speaks, you just listen intently. So I always think, ‘How would she walk into this room? What would she do here?’”
Tanisha Harper on ‘GH’ icons Genie Francis and Finola Hughes—‘I’ve learned so much’
Spending time onset with General Hospital legends like Finola Hughes and Genie Francis, who play Anna and Laura, has also helped build her confidence as an actress.
“Getting to work with these powerhouses has been amazing,” Harper says. “I’ve learned so much from working with Finola and Genie and seeing how they work, how they get their scripts together, how it works in their minds. I apply a lot of the things they do to myself, especially as I’ve progressed with the character.”
Having recently appeared on the Jennifer Hudson Show with her costars, she adds, “I’m so grateful to work with such talented and amazing actors and actresses.”
‘GH’ star Tanisha Harper talks the end of Cyrus and the rise of Jenz Sidwell
One powerhouse Harper won’t get to work with anymore is Jeff Kober, who played drug dealer turned angel of mercy, Cyrus. It was Jordan’s past that set the psycho loose on Port Charles to begin with, so whether or not Josslyn gets away with shooting him, this former undercover agent is going to feel conflicted.
“Obviously there’s that sense of relief that he can no longer hurt anyone, but this isn’t the way that she wanted it to go down,” Harper says. “She may have wanted to do it herself!”
Even as Cyrus’ demise plays out, Jordan has already set her sights on the town’s newest villain—Carlo Rota’s dark and dangerous Sidwell.
“I love that there’s not just a new love interest for Jordan, but she’s also trying to work Sidwell to get the information that she needs,” Harper says. “It’s going to be a fun juxtaposition to go undercover, working Sidwell, while having this romantic relationship with this extremely sweet and nurturing doctor.
“And he is such a character, Carlo,” she adds. “I love the way he plays Sidwell, and we work well off of each other.”
Why ‘GH’ star Tanisha Harper refuses to call ‘Beyond the Gates’ her competition
As Harper leans into Jordan’s brewing drama on ABC’s General Hospital, CBS’s Beyond the Gates finally premieres today—but this Project Runway alum doesn’t see the first new soap opera to launch in decades as competition.
“I am excited for there to be another soap in this genre to prove there is an audience that wants to see more,” Harper says of Beyond the Gates. “It’s wonderful that there is a multi-cultural cast that’s predominantly Black, because people need to see that and there’s a market for it. People want to see people that look like them in these settings and worlds—and especially in this luxurious type of show about well-to-do characters!”
All that said, she insists General Hospital fans won’t want to miss what’s in store for Jordan, who’s got her hands full with Isaiah and Sidwell.
“There’s a lot of exciting things coming up for Jordan,” Harper tells Woman’s World. “Isaiah and Jordan’s romance really picks up in the next few weeks, but she’s got to keep it hidden so she can do what she needs to do with Sidwell. She’s going full force with Sidwell. Will Isaiah be strong enough to handle a woman like that?”
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