THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL

In November 1990, 15-year-old Heather Tom was hired as Victoria Newman on The Young and the Restless, a role that would set the stage for the next 35 years of her career.

- BY STEPHANIE SLOANE

Though she had been acting steadily since age 12, soaps were a new world. “I was lucky that my first scenes were with Eric Braeden and then Melody Thomas Scott, because they showed me the ropes,” shares Tom, speaking of the ac- tors who play her parents, Victor and Nikki. “And they didn’t give me a chance to not be at my best, because they just demanded you show up in the scene.”