"I feel a
responsibility to the community I reach, which is why I'm happy to be able
to portray a positive image," says beautiful Bianca Ferguson, who plays
the role of wealthy and sparkling Claudia Johnston on General
Hospital.
Claudia, although in the stratosphere when it comes to
bucks, is still a helpful and caring person; a good girl who doesn't forget
her obligations to humanity and does volunteer work at the Free Clinic and
new Sports Center. And although in real life Bianca was humbly-born in the
steel-city of Gary, Indiana, as opposed to Claudia's heritage of money, the
resemblances between character and actress are many: they share the same
good looks, good heart, and good luck!
Bianca originally had plans
to become a lawyer, and after graduating from high school in 1973, went to
Spelman College in Atlanta to pursue this dream. But it didn't take long for
her to realize that the theater was her greatest ambition, and using the
prize money garnered from the halfdozen beauty contests she won (she's a
former Miss Black Expo), she attended the prestigious Goodman School of
Drama in Chicago. Success in television commercials gave her a great
professional boost: you've seen her in ads for everything from Avon,
McDonald's and Thom McCann to Hallmark Cards. Then roles in the prime-time
series What's Happening! and the TV-movie Roots: The Next
Generation paved the way for her ultimate triumph as the first black
actress on any of the daytime soap operas shot on the west coast.
Bianca Ferguson is very shy in real life, but that doesn't stop her
from pursuing both business and leisure-time goals. In business, she's
president of Bianca Braids Products, which sells "Bianca's Egyptian
Mist," a hair care product inspired by the braided hairstyle worn by
Bianca in her role as Claudia Johnston. And in leisure, Bianca spends her
free hours dancing, swimming, and zooming around roller-rinks disco-style.
She's happy- no wonder!
