Soap Opera Digest: You've got a full plate! Tell me about your upcoming movies.
Crystal Hunt: I actually just finished one, Brooklyn To Manhattan [which was filmed] in New York, and this past week I've been doing rehearsals for Sydney White. I start shooting that tomorrow.

Digest: In Brooklyn To Manhattan, which has been described as a thriller, you play a rich girl named Hannah who gets caught up in drugs. What was that like?
Hunt: It was great! I played this Upper East Sider high-school student. She's kind of the Barbie doll and the sheltered little girl, and yet she's a pill-popper. It's kind of funny because it's totally opposite of me or anything I've ever played.

Digest: Did that make it challenging?
Hunt: Yeah! Definitely, because it's something new, and it's exciting to do something you've never done before.

Digest: And Sydney White is a comedy — the complete opposite.
Hunt: I play a girl from Dallas, Texas. I have a thick accent and big hair, big Dallas hair. It's going to be comical. I'm really excited to be able to do it. If I had told you how I planned out my future, I definitely wouldn't have said I'm going to hop from film to film, but I would never change the way it's happening because I love it! Film is definitely a whole different animal than daytime. I always just thought I was going to do a sitcom or something because I love comedy and that would be just a dream.

Digest: Do you still keep in touch with anyone from GUIDING LIGHT?
Hunt: Yeah! I talk to Tom Pelphrey [ex-Jonathan] every now and then ... he's been busy. I talk to John Driscoll [Coop], gosh, almost weekly. I still talk to Grant [Aleksander, ex-Phillip]. And I'm really good friends with one of the producers, Alex Johnson.

Digest: Did you get a chance to hang out with them while you were filming in New York?
Hunt: I actually didn't! Crazy hours we were shooting. We'd go in to work at like 2:30 or 3 in the afternoon and would not get done until like 7:30 in the morning. It was just strange. I was like, "I don't know if I like this schedule!"

Digest: Are you still dividing your time between your home in Florida and New York?
Hunt: Right now I'm dividing my time in Florida between Orlando and Clearwater.

Digest: What's your favorite thing to do when you're in New York?
Hunt: Shopping! Bergdorf Goodman! I get my hair done there, I get my shopping done there, buy my makeup there. Everything!

Digest: Do you prefer Florida or N.Y.C.?
Hunt: Ever since I was a little girl, my acting coach has been in New York, and every summer I lived in New York, so it's really all I've ever known. I think I might go out of my mind if I was just in Florida. I can't imagine one without the other. But yet I can't imagine a concrete jungle all the time either because I love my sun, my sand, my grass, my car, my family. I have an enormous family here who I'm tremendously close to.

Digest: Would you ever consider returning to soaps?
Hunt: I would never say no to that. It was a great experience in my life and I thank them so much for the experience they gave me and the knowledge I learned from it.

Digest: What did you learn the most?
Hunt: I think everything! You think you're a good actor when you go on a soap, and then you go there and you're like, "No, I'm not [laughs]! Look at all the stuff everybody else knows! I don't know any of that!" But you actually acquire it. How to be comfortable on camera, how to be comfortable on set. Your focus skills really strengthen. And the biggest thing, your memorization skills ... crazy!

Digest: What else have you been up to?
Hunt: Well, I've been working a lot on my high-end pet boutique in Florida. [My Pet's Dream]. I started doing it this year, and when you're doing a business you have to start filming commercials and running advertising and stuff. It takes a lot of time. And my clothing line is Roxy Hunt Couture.

Digest: How did the idea for the businesses come about?
Hunt: Well, Roxy Hunt Couture came about when I was on [GUIDING LIGHT]. Roxy was wearing outfits on the show and everybody wanted to know where I got the outfits from, so I created the line. And one thing led to another and it turns out that this boutique I'd shopped at since Roxy was a baby had opened up — the partnership had opened up — so I just jumped at the chance to be able to take over. I love it, and my partner is amazing. She's a crazy dog lover. She loves pets and she really runs it very well when I'm not here. We have a pet bakery .... we have ice cream for people and pets to have and sit out on our patio.

Digest: Do you design the doggie clothes yourself?
Hunt: It's basically like me and my mother. When we go shopping, we go, "Oh, my God, that is so cute! I wonder if I can make that for a dog?"

Digest: What kind of things do you have?
Hunt: There's tons of silk taffeta dresses and hoodies, tuxedos, vests, coats and school-girl dresses and a lot of little jammies sets.

Digest: Ever consider designing for humans?
Hunt: I think that if I ever started designing stuff for people it would probably be purses. It'd be a dream because I'm just in love with handbags. I mean, purses are just my thing!

Digest: What else do you see for yourself down the road? Another boutique perhaps?
Hunt: I would like to sit on this one and see how it goes for a little bit. I'd like to have one in like New York and I'd like to have one somewhere in Los Angeles. If somebody can buy from my line and have it in their store in Peru, anything's possible!

Digest: What about television acting?
Hunt: I'm going out for different things here and there. But in the meantime, for the next two months of my life, I'll be in Orlando shooting this movie.

For more information about Crystal Hunt's clothing line, visit www.roxyhuntcouture.com.