Posted on Mar 1, 1997

Verner Roalsvig '90

A dream came true for Alexandra Verner Roalsvig '90 when, four years ago, a friend told her about an opportunity to join the production staff of the soap opera “As the World Turns.”

Having watched the show since she was eight years old, Roalsvig was “salivating” when she heard about the internship.

She landed the internship, which lasted three months. As with many who enter show business, she held a number of different jobs-working at a camp for
the performing arts, at a dubbing house, and even as a nanny-before she became part of the permanent staff in 1994; today, she is a production assistant and a new member of the Director's Guild of America.

Roalsvig admits that at first she was nervous and intimidated by the actors. She then realized that they were normal people, she says, and
that now they are “one big happy family.” She even impressed old friends when a couple of actors from the show attended her wedding in 1995.

Today, her job doesn't allow her the time to be intimidated. Always busy, she alternates between days on the set (which begin at 6:30 a.m. and end by about 8 p.m.) and days in the office. On the set, she is responsible for
the timing of the show, making sure that it fits the allotted forty minutes. She works closely with the director and the actors, “basically coordinating all aspects of the production on production day.”

It is clear that Roalsvig loves what she does. “It's a blast. It's a lot of hard work with long hours, but I'm really happy with what I'm doing now.”

Roalsvig has always had an interest in television and entertainment, even during her Union days, when she showed videos in the Reamer Campus Center. She began her career working in Lake Placid, doing sports television, which she didn't find satisfying. She decided to move to New York City and try her luck; happily, her sister-then in New
York wanted to move north. “So I got her apartment and she got my car.”

Roalsvig admits that moving to a new city without a job probably wouldn't be the right decision for everyone, but she thinks that her experience is not unusual. “If you really set your mind to it, you'll find a way to get what you want,” she says.

Today, she is happy in her work, but “it's still show business, and things can change at any moment,” she says with a laugh.