Find out how Ros Gentle snagged the DAYS role.

Ros Gentle is known in Australia for her roles in Home and Away, Neighbours, and Prisoners. Over on the stateside, she landed the part of the Woman in White, aka Rachel Blake, on Days of our Lives. In a new interview, Gentle explained why she loves playing crazy roles.

Playing an Iconic Role

Pat Delaney first played the role in the late 90s. Gentle had some big shoes to fill. In an interview with Soap Opera Digest, she explained how she landed the role. DAYS is her second American soap. (Check out the soap opera comings and goings.) In 2023, she played a judge on The Young and the Restless. Gentle landed her recent role through her manager.

She thought she was going through a typical audition process. So, she sent in her self-tape. Gentle assumed that she didn’t get the role. Her friend, who was up for the same role, got a callback, and she didn’t. Then, Gentle’s manager informed her the next day that she got the job. “So it was a funny experience of, ‘Oh, I lost it. Oh, I got it!’”

Gentle knew nothing about the role. She had to learn about Rachel’s story on her own. But that didn’t stop her from exploring the character. Gentle loves playing “crazy” characters. She can relate to the outcasts. “They’re sort of where I fit well. My first job out of drama school was in a show called Prisoner Cell Block H. It was like the ’80s version of Orange Is the New Black, [set in] a woman’s prison. I played a character with multiple personality syndrome,” Gentle explained.

Getting Her Start

On that show, she played a character who worked as “a prostitute, a librarian, and a socialite.” Prisoner Cell Block H. is where Gentle got her start in Australian soaps. She feels that these roles are better suited for her. “I seem to excel at those roles that I have a little bit of an edge and a little bit of crazy,” Gentle shared.

However, she’s nothing like that in her personal life. Gentle explained that she’s more of “a conservative sort of normal person.” She would rather channel her inner crazy in acting. Elsewhere in the interview, Gentle shared that Australian soaps are slower than American ones.

“They’re not quite as [fast]-paced as these. I mean, 10 shows a week is a lot. They moved fast, but I don’t think they moved as fast as DAYS.” The difference between American and Australian soaps is that American actors spend most of their time in the studio. Such was the case on Y&R when Gentle’s character had to reveal Phyllis’ (Michelle Stafford) verdict. Gentle feels that the production behind American soaps “really is fast. You just have to commit and go for it.”