![](\"https:\/\/img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net\/tenant\/amp\/entityid\/AA1XMbOC.jpg\")
<\/p>\nSANTA CRUZ \u2014 Once they make it big, people often try to distance themselves from where they grew up. Not so for Cecelia Specht.<\/p>\n
Even with countless movie and TV credits to her name, Specht fondly recalls growing up in Santa Cruz County, from walking summers at the Boardwalk to seeing plays at Cabrillo College, where big stars like John Carradine and Jim Hutton would pop up in productions of \u201cThe Man Who Came to Dinner\u201d and \u201cHarvey.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was just such an open feeling there and freedom as a kid,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
That love of the arts has stayed with Specht everywhere she has moved to for projects, whether in Los Angeles, Australia or Atlanta where she currently resides and is in the midst a recurring storyline on the CBS soap opera \u201cBeyond the Gates.\u201d<\/p>\n
The show brings many firsts to the world of soap operas: the first new soap opera to premiere on a major network since NBC\u2019s \u201cPassions\u201d in 1999, the first soap with a predominantly Black cast since \u201cGenerations\u201d in 1989 and the first soap to be shot in Atlanta.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I got it, I knew it was something special,\u201d she said. \u201cThe role was just perfect for me. It\u2019s something that\u2019s in my wheelhouse.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Specht was born at the old Santa Cruz Hospital on Soquel Avenue and lived in Aptos, attending Mar Vista Elementary School, Aptos Junior High School and Aptos High School, where she performed with the jazz band and in the drama department. She credited Music Director Don Keller and drama teacher Justine Zanjani with helping her develop a love of the arts.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there were many a professional jazz musician to come out of the music program, and in my class there were at least three of us that pursued acting professionally,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Specht remembered the Santa Cruz area as being a place with progressive ideas and artistic influences as well as a feeling of openness.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou could really enjoy the summers in shorts and barefoot and running around, and you felt very safe and free,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Despite taking performing arts classes, Specht said she was not sure she wanted to pursue acting as a profession. Instead, she went to UC Berkeley with the intention of getting a political science degree and becoming a lawyer or judge and perhaps even a senator. However, shortly after graduating, she was admitted into a hospital after coming down with a 106 degree fever.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey never figured out what was wrong with me, but they got me better,\u201d she said. \u201cI thought, Oh my gosh, I could have died. What\u2019s worse is I could have woken up when I was 80 and thought, What did I do with my life? I had been taking an acting class for fun, and I just dared at that moment to say, \u2018You know what? I\u2019m going to try it because I don\u2019t want to have any regrets.’\u201d<\/p>\n
Specht auditioned for three prestigious New York acting programs and got into all of them. Since 1998, she has had more than 60 roles in various movies and TV shows. Her credits include roles on \u201cStar Trek: Enterprise,\u201d \u201cCriminal Minds,\u201d \u201cLas Vegas,\u201d \u201cZoey 101,\u201d \u201cParks and Recreation,\u201d \u201cDexter,\u201d \u201cScandal\u201d and the films \u201cFrost\/Nixon\u201d and \u201cDarkness Falls.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of Specht\u2019s favorite roles was as a spiritualist neighbor in the 2000 Disney Channel movie \u201cStepsister from Planet Weird.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI got to play the second or third female lead, so I had a lot of freedom that I didn\u2019t have to play the romantic lead at all,\u201d she said. \u201cI got to be comedic and broad and have fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
Specht\u2019s role on \u201cBeyond the Gates\u201d is quickly becoming a favorite of hers. The show premiered in February 2025, continuing CBS\u2019 soap opera dominance with a daytime lineup that also includes \u201cThe Young and the Restless\u201d and \u201cThe Bold and the Beautiful,\u201d and centers around the Duprees, a Black family living in a gated Maryland community outside of Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n
Since February, Specht has portrayed Dr. Lea Whitman, the chief of staff of Garland Memorial Hospital where the Duprees\u2019 son-in-law, Ted Richardson works. She described her character as \u201cwell-respected\u201d but wanting everything done \u201cby the book.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI get in the way of some romances of people at the hospital and become a thorn in their side,\u201d she said. \u201cThen you discover that there\u2019s something deeper and darker and more involved with some things that are going on in the background that are creating deep troubles for many of the characters. It\u2019s a web that I keep spinning further and further.\u201d<\/p>\n
Specht said Whitmore is a bit of a departure for her, and she has gotten a positive response from people who were impressed she could play a wicked character despite being very friendly in person.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the first time I\u2019ve truly played someone up to no good,\u201d she said. \u201cI think it\u2019s surprised a lot of people, and they seem to be very delighted and entertained by what I bring to her, as opposed to just a straight villain. I have quite some clever lines that are delivered with a dash of comedy. I\u2019ve made her a multifaceted villain.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whitmore is part of a 20-episode story arc that will run through May. It is a bit of a full-circle moment for Specht, as her first television role was on the Australian soap opera \u201cNeighbours,\u201d and she also had minor roles on \u201cThe Young and the Restless\u201d and \u201cDays of Our Lives.\u201d The fast-paced production schedule of soaps has provided different challenges from other productions.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to be highly skilled at your craft,\u201d she said. \u201cYou have to really learn lines quickly, you have to make choices \u2014 strong ones \u2014 very quickly and commit to them. As a well-trained actor in other facets, I feel that serves me very well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Luckily, Specht said the cast and crew of \u201cBeyond the Gates\u201d have been very welcoming.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s one of the most supportive casts and crews I\u2019ve ever worked with,\u201d she said. \u201cEverybody\u2019s so grateful to be working in what otherwise right now in the industry is a very slow time.\u201d<\/p>\n
That supportive environment, Specht said, extends to Atlanta. In recent years, the city has received the nickname \u201cThe Hollywood of the South\u201d due to the large number of blockbusters that have been shot there, including \u201cStranger Things,\u201d \u201cThe Hunger Games\u201d and many Marvel Studios productions.<\/p>\n
Specht moved to Atlanta in 2017 and was struck by how tight-knit the acting community was compared to the competitive nature of L.A.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou run into people who might be your type or up for the same role, and they find that you got (a role) and say, \u2018Oh my gosh, that\u2019s great! Congratulations,’\u201d she said. \u201cEven though we are \u2018competition,\u2019 it\u2019s very supportive.’\u201d<\/p>\n
Specht has other projects in the works, including a pair of indie films titled \u201cGentle Giant\u201d and \u201cGander Man\u201d that are currently in post-production and writing a pilot based on the \u201cTeddy\u201d book series written by her mother Glenn Specht, under the name Amanda Glenn, for which Cecelia Specht has already narrated the audiobook versions.<\/p>\n
Throughout it all, Specht said she has been very fortunate to have grown up in Santa Cruz County.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope I never lose touch with my Santa Cruz roots,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeyond the Gates\u201d airs weekdays at 1 p.m. on CBS and can be streamed on Paramount Plus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SANTA CRUZ \u2014 Once they make it big, people often try to distance themselves from where they grew up. Not so for Cecelia Specht. Even with countless movie […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1264,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/parkmania.pl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/parkmania.pl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/parkmania.pl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkmania.pl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkmania.pl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/parkmania.pl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkmania.pl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/parkmania.pl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkmania.pl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkmania.pl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}