‘I Remember When He Was Born!’ Heather Tom Talks Playing TV Mom to Joshua Morrow’s Son (EXCLUSIVE)
Heather Tom dishes on her Thanksgiving hosting secrets, directing milestones and working with Crew Morrow
Heather Tom, a six-time Daytime Emmy Award winner, shines as an actress on The Bold and the Beautiful. Now stepping into directing and writing, Tom adds another layer to her illustrious soap opera career, boasting directing credits for The Young and the Restless, Dynasty and Good Trouble.
Still steaming from her daily hot yoga class, Tom gets candid with Woman’s World about her daytime career, being a Logan girl, Katie and Bill’s future, and what it’s like to play on-screen mom to The Bold and the Beautiful newcomer Crew Morrow — the son of Joshua Morrow, who played her big brother Nick back when she was a kid on The Young and the Restless!
Plus, with 40 guests preparing to descend on her home this Thanksgiving, The Young and the Restless, One Life to Live and All My Children alum offers her tips for playing hostess during the holidays.
Heather Tom on how ‘the longest three years of my life’ turned her into a soap star
Having joined Daytime TV at only 15, The Bold and the Beautiful’s Heather Tom is the only female actor to win a Daytime Emmy in all three performer categories. Like her siblings David and Nicholle Tom, she’s also been in the business since she was a tyke — but when she first signed that three-year deal to play Victoria Newman on The Young and the Restless back in 1990, she had no idea what she was in for.
“It sounded like the longest three years of my life,” Tom admits. “Lauralee Bell (who plays Christine) had been on the show for nine years at the time and I was like, ‘Nine years? How can you?’ Now cut to, what? 35 years later… and here I am!”
Technically, Tom’s now working across the hall from where her soap opera journey started. After a run on One Life to Live, which crossed over onto All My Children, she joined The Bold and the Beautiful in 2006 and hasn’t looked back.
“I love playing Katie,” Tom raves “She’s been allowed to grow and change. She’s dynamic and so dogmatic. When she gets on the scent of something, she’s gonna find out!
“I also love being a Logan girl and I love my sissies on the show,” she adds, referring to Katherine Kelly Lang’s Brooke and Jennifer Gareis’ Donna. “The Bold and the Beautiful is like a little oasis in Hollywood where we all like each other, so I’m beyond grateful to have this gig.”
Heather Tom on directing ‘B&B’: ‘It’s kind of a miracle that we get this show done’
While Tom has flourished as an actress, a few years back she spent six months shadowing The Bold and the Beautiful producing director Cindy Popp, hoping she could start directing.
“What I learned is that it’s kind of a miracle that we get this show done every single day because there are so many moving pieces and it all has to happen so fast,” she marvels. “Everyone has to be on their A game. It’s shocking that it gets done!”
That said, she’s now getting it done—with almost 40 The Bold and the Beautiful episodes under her director’s belt. Since completing the CBS Directing Initiative, she’s also branched out into directing primetime. More recently, after submitting a spec script and taking some tips, she’s written six shows for The Bold and the Beautiful.
“The other day, I was writing a B&B script, I was supposed to direct the next week, and I was also shooting four shows,” she lists. “I’ve also got an adaptation of a book ready to shop, just finished a pilot, and am actually working on a Christmas movie. Anyone who knows me knows that I am a worker bee, so I’m so happy right now!”
Heather Tom on her wild ‘90s Christmas parties: ‘It was a thing’
As if she’s not busy enough, ‘tis the season for holiday parties and we felt we had to ask Tom for tips — after all, her annual Christmas party was once an event of the season in Los Angeles.
“My friend just sent me this magazine that has a ‘Parties of the 90s’ spread, and there was me and my sister at my house at a Christmas party,” Tom shares with a laugh. “It was a thing, and I forget how much of a thing it was until I run into somebody who’s like, ‘I was at your house in 1998!’”
The actress carried on the tradition through her run on One Life to Live, but those wild days are long over.
“I don’t do the big hoard of 400 people at my house anymore,” Tom says. “I tried that one time after my son Zane (12) was born and I was like, ‘Never again!”
That doesn’t mean she’s stopped partying. On Christmas, she now hosts a bash for the parents from her son’s school and this past Halloween, her husband James Achor’s band lured 70 guests to their spooktacular neighborhood party. “That’s not including the 100 people standing out in front listening in!” she adds.
Heather Tom’s secret to planning her Thanksgiving feast: ‘Start prepping a week out’
Tom’s now getting ready for her Thanksgiving dinner, and it’s no small order. She and a pal will be cooking for 40, while another friend makes dessert. The secret to her success? Getting a head start.
“If I’m going to cook for 40, I start prepping a week out,” says the list-maker. “I’m going to have my rentals come two days early and then I’ll get the dining room table staged out. I have a real problem with flatware, dishes, and glasses, so I’m gonna drag it all out and go crazy!
“Even with the cooking, my friend and I create the menu ahead and then we set fire times,” she continues. “It’s, ‘Fire the carrots! Fire the potatoes!’ That last hour is total mayhem, but we are totally on it. I’ll have all my ingredients laid out, labeled, and ready to go so that I can just dump stuff in there.”
Whatever you have in mind for this Thanksgiving or holiday season, Tom suggests you get started, soon.
“Pace yourself when you’re decorating or trying to get something done,” she says. “Always know that it’s going to take longer than you think it’s going to.”
Heather Tom’s secret to having fun as holiday hostess: ‘Get help!’
By preparing and methodically checking things off her list, Tom feels ready for anything at her parties.
“You can always expect things to not go the way they’re supposed to,” she warns. “But if your preparation is solid, when something goes wrong, you can pivot. So be prepared. And maybe make sure there’s a plunger in all the bathrooms!”
Once the party swings into action, Tom’s biggest tip is to make sure YOU get to enjoy yourself.
“There were a lot of years where I did not get people to help me clean up, so I literally stood and did dishes all night long,” she explains. “Now I hire two people, because otherwise I just don’t have fun.
“If you can’t hire someone or don’t have somebody that can help you clean up, make sure you keep it small,” she adds. “Don’t take on more than you can chew, because you won’t have a good time.”
Heather Tom on working with Joshua Morrow’s son Crew Morrow: ‘full-circle craziness!’
Even as Heather Tom is prepping her Thanksgiving feast, she’s also enjoying the drama on The Bold and the Beautiful. Katie and Bill’s son Will has returned as a strapping young man… who happens to be played by Joshua Morrow’s son Crew Morrow.
In other words, Tom is now playing mother to the son of the actor who played her big brother when she was on The Young and the Restless in the ‘90s!
“Weird, full-circle craziness,” Tom admits. “I remember when Crew was born! I tell Joshua as often as I can, ‘You did such a good job with this man.’ It blows my mind, but it’s great.
“I can’t wait to see how Katie reacts to her son coming on the canvas,” she adds. “Will is the only child Bill actually raised, so it’ll be interesting to see how that develops.”
Heather Tom considers Katie and Bill’s future on ‘The Bold and The Beautiful’
As for Katie and Bill, now that Poppy and Carter are out of the picture and their son is back in it, The Bold and the Beautiful fans are wondering if these exes will gravitate back to each other again.
“Bill might not want to be with Katie right now… but he certainly doesn’t want to see anyone else with her,” Tom tells Woman’s World. “And I think she feels the same way.
“They’ve been through so much together, had such huge impacts on each other’s lives, and they share a son, so there’s always something there… which is not to say that they’re going to get back together and live happily ever after,” she hedges. “I have no idea!”
With Tom careful about dropping The Bold and the Beautiful spoilers, we can’t wait to see what’s next for Katie and the budding director/writer who plays her—and in the meantime, we’re grateful to be armed with the soap star’s tips for making Thanksgiving dinner a hit, no matter how many guests we have!
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