Natalia Livingson will make her Salem debut as Nicole’s little sister, Taylor, on January 26, and belive it or not, The Emmy-winning GH alum (ex-Emili/Rebecca) had some jitters.

“A little!” she confides. “I was so excited about the character, and so excited to be at DAYS, I had already heard so many great things about it from Tamara [Braun, ex-Ava; ex-Carly et al] and then Alicia Leigh Willis [ex-Courtney, GH] is a really good friend of mine, and she had subbed for Chloe [when Nadia Bjorlin fell ill, though the scenes never aired]. she actually finished her week of taping the week before I was going to start, so we had dinner, and she told me all abou it. She was like, ‘Oh, you’re going to love it there. The people are so nice, and it’s such a great set,’ So I was really looking forward to it. I see why everyone likes it here so much.”

The actress says she was looking to return to daytime when the role came along. “About two months ago, my manager and agent of mine put together a packet of all these magazine covers from the past eight years—just a bunch of photos and they put together a demo reel— and sent it to DAYS,” she explains. “And I know Marnie [Saitta, casting director] put in Gary’s [Tomlin, co-executive producer] desk on Friday. And luckily, he watched the tape and saw the photos. And on Monday morning, I got a call for a meeting with Gary, and got the job after that! So it happened very quickly — one thing after another.”

Livingston has found a welcoming environment on set. “It’s incredible,” she enthuses.”I love every minute here so far. I feel like it’s such a positive attitude here; it’s warm and welcoming and a great work environment. Thepeople have been so friendly, and everyone loves to rehearse, so there’s a real collaborative feeling. Everyone’s knocking on each other’s doors — ‘Hey, you want to run these lines?’ &mdas;h which I really love how efficient it is; there’s a great pace.”

She has already bonded with her new co-stars, Arianne Zuker (Nicole) and James Scott (EJ). “Ari is so much fun; I could not have imagined a better actress to play my sister,” she says. “She is so full of energy. And James has has been showing me the ropes around here, because it’s a little different from GH. He’s making sure I’m comfortable and that everything’s okay. I just think they’re both so talented. I’m really exicted about working with them.”