Fans typically think of Beyond Salem as a way for Days of our Lives to bring back characters who might not fit into the main canvas on Days of our Lives for some reason. Maybe an actor doesn't want to do a full-time stint on DAYS. But Beyond Salem is also a spot where a character can pop up in advance of a move to the main show. That's the case with a member of a new and apparently growing family on the soap.
When we first met Victoria Grace's Wendy Shin, she was caught breaking into Joey (Tanner Stein) and Stephanie Johnson's (Abigail Klein) apartment in Seattle during season two of Beyond Salem. She soon found herself involved in an adventure surrounding prisms that several characters were trying to gain control of, and she was on the receiving end of some romantic attention from brothers Joey and Tripp Johnson (Lucas Adams). Speaking of romance, based on a previously released trailer, we know that she will meet Johnny DiMera (Carson Boatman) when she arrives in Salem. So, it will be interesting to see what happens once these two characters cross paths.
Beyond Salem was Grace's first soap-related gig, and she is thankful that her experience in the world of daytime has been welcoming. "For a lot of TV shows and other projects, people get quite cliquish," Grace tells Soap Opera Digest. "People have their friends and they stick to them. They don't really welcome newcomers. DAYS is completely different. Everyone welcomed me with open arms. I was immediately part of the family. I had a lot of scenes with Lucas Adams [Tripp], who is amazing, Camila Banus [Gabi], Remington Hoffman [Li]...They all taught me everything I needed to know."
Grace learned that she would be heading to the "mothership" after getting cast for Beyond Salem. "It was definitely exciting, Marnie [Saitta, DAYS casting director] called and said they were thrilled with my tape and super excited about my character. She gave me the rundown of how things would work so I wouldn't be too spooked because the process is very different [from other projects]."
Grace also shares an interesting family history with the world of daytime. Her grandfather was Vice President of Hearst Marketing when Digest was first created. "Soap operas was his thing. He was big on all of them. I just know that if he was still alive today, he would be all over this. He would be beaming with joy. Grace also mentions that her mom grew up watching All My Children.
Before joining DAYS, Grace's career consisted of guest spots, shorts, and voice-over work. She voiced the villain Lady Bone Demon in the movie Lego Monkie Kid: Revenge of the Spider Queen and has her own Lego. She also took part in the Sony PlayStation game Last of Us: Part II.
When Wendy arrives in Salem, be prepared to see this character hit the ground running. "Wendy is someone who knows what she deserves, and she's not going to take any less. When she comes to Salem, she's ready to stand up for herself. She's ready to open her brother's eyes because he is her only hope of being able to reason with her father [who didn't give her a promotion]. She's very ambitious and trying to work her way up; really prove that she's on the same level as everybody else."
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