This article originally appeared in Soap Opera Digest

DARK ANGEL
 By Adam Kelley

 It's so important for children to have good role models. Take Jade Harlow  She might never have wound up on Passions as Jessica if not for  Linda Blair, the pea-soup vomiting, in-tongues-speaking cutie-pie  possessed by Satan in the 1973 scarefest The Exorcist. She's my  idol," the actress confesses. "She was definitely an inspiration to me  when I was little and got me interested in acting. I just  lovedLinda Blair in The Exorcist. It's like, some little  girls have flowers and dolls all over their bedrooms. I had  Exorcist and A Nightmare on Elm Street stuff everywhere." 

To her credit, Harlow, who is now 17, seems to understand how odd that  is. "That's just what I was like," she shrugs. "When I was young, I would  be really dramatic at school. One time, I was in kindergarten--I don't  remember this, but I've been told--and something upset me, and I was like,  'Fine, I'll just stick a pair of scissors in my head.' And, of course, all  the teachers started flipping out, and I had to go to the office. Then  they called my mom, and she was like, 'No, don't worry about it, she  watches horror movies, you can't take her seriously. She's not suicidal,  she's just being Jade.'" 

Naturally, there was some debate among the teachers in the Las Vegas  public-school system as to whether a kindergartner should be watching such  movies. ("It wasn't as bad as it is nowadays, though. Nowadays, everything  is so censored.") For her part, Harlow maintains that she was never  traumatized by what she saw. On the contrary, the macabre became her muse.  "In fourth grade, we had to do a report on a famous dead person, and I did  mine on [accused murderer] Lizzie Borden. And my cousin was really into  the horror movie thing, too, so we'd go into the back yard and play  Nightmare on Elm Street. It just never scared me." 

What does scare her--in retrospect, at least--is her fashion sense  during adolescence. "I was a total dork," she groans. "I wore  Cyndi Lauper shirts until eighth grade"--which was well into the 1990's  folks-- "and not because I didn't have anything else to wear, but just  because I was a total nerd, and I thought I was cool. I crimped my hair or  else I wore it in a side ponytail. And I was chubby too, but I did not  realize I was chubby, so I wore leather pants." In other words, she was a  true E! fashion emergency. "I look back and it's like, 'Jeez, no wonder  you ate lunch all alone behind the portable classroom in the field. Think  about it.' " 

But enough about fear and clothing in Las Vegas. All self-deprecation  aside, Harlow's school years don't sound nearly as cringeworthy as she'd  have you believe. "I did have some good friends," she nods, "misfits like  me, class-clown types. But I've still remained friends with most of those  people. They've stuck by me. And now I realize that, looking back, if I  ,had been popular, I probably wouldn't have the friends that I have  now. So I'm happy with the way it all worked out." 

Indeed, it's all worked out very well. Harlow, a classic right-brainer  (artistically gifted, arithmetically challenged), graduated from high  school ahead of her peers, thanks to three intense years of accelerated  home-schooling. Consequently, she had some spare time on her hands, and  while a part-time job as an engraver at the memento chain store Things  Remembered took up some of it, there was plenty left for acting, as well.  Alas, professional opportunities in her hometown were somewhat limited.  "The most auditions you could go out for in Vegas would be, like, a  commercial for MGM Grand." 

With one such spot on her resume, the actress decided to try pilot  season in Los Angeles. Her first foray into the fray failed, but the  second time around, after more acting lessons and a bit of an attitude  adjustment, things started to click. "I really gave it my all, and then I  got an episode of 3rd Rock from the Sun," she grins. "I had the  highly coveted role of Student No. 1."

 Around the same time, Mary Elizabeth Winstead left the role of Jessica on  Passions. The show decided to recast and brought Harlow in for an  audition. "The breakdown said the character didn't like boys or makeup  yet," Harlow recalls. "I figured she was a real tomboy, so I wore cargo  pants, a baseball shirt and a ponytail. But when I got there, all the  other girls had on platforms and stockings!

 "So I do my reading," she continues, "and afterward, they're like, 'Okay,  we want you to come back--but when you do, please try to look a little  more feminine.' " In short order, she did so, aced the screen test, got  the job, chopped "three or four" inches off her auburn hair and dyed it  dark to better resemble Winstead's. She also rented her own pad in Sherman  Oaks (see sidebar)--a big step for someone who's still technically a  minor. "But my mom calls and visits all the time," she adds, "and also, I  mean, I don't want to sound conceited or anything, but I've never allowed  myself to be sidetracked. I don't even date. I'm responsible. I'm a good  kid." 

And besides, the good people of Passions keep tabs on her, too.  "Everyone I work with is so great, so supportive," enthuses Harlow, who  thinks it would be nice if her on-screen alter ego had as many close pals.  "She should at least have a couple of friends or boyfriends or something."  She pauses perhaps daring to dream big, given that the shows creator and  head writer, James E. Reilly, did his own Exorcist storyline during  his head-writing stint at Days of Our Lives. "You know," the  actress finally says, "it would be so cool if, out of the blue, she  developed some weird supernatural power. I mean, hey, everyone else has  one."

  SWEET DREAMS ARE MADE OF THESE
 Now that she's got a place of her own, Harlow has plenty of wall space to  hang certain treasured possessions--like her framed Robert Englund  autograph, which she got in 1994 when she spied the A Nightmare on Elm  Street star (a.k.a. Freddy Krueger) at a cineplex ("We were going to  see Forrest Gump") and asked him to sign the bottom of a popcorn  box. "He did the Freddy voice for me and the Freddy laugh," she reports.  "And I've got a bunch of Exorcist things, as well," much of it from  when she pilgrimaged to L.A. for a Linda Blair personal appearance. "When  I finally met her, I was so excited, I bawled like a baby," she admits.  "It was very emotional. She was like, 'Oh my God, you drove all the way  from Vegas just to see me?' She was so sweet." Having already seen the new  and improved Exorcist re-release twice ("It's so much scarier"),  Harlow is now anxiously awaiting the upcoming Freddy vs Jason which  purportedly pits Nightmare's razor-fingered joker against Friday  the 13th's hockey-masked lunatic. Not surprisingly, she's betting on  Freddy. "All I have to say is, Jason has to fall asleep sometime."