Starr Manning
Starr Manning is a fictional character from the daytime drama One Life to Live. Born onscreen on January 8, 1996, the role was initially portrayed by infant children. In 1998, Starr was rapidly aged when young actress Kristen Alderson debuted in the childhood role, which retconned the character's birth year to 1992. Following the cancellation of One Life to Live and its conclusion in 2012, Alderson carried the role over to ABC's last remaining soap opera, General Hospital, winning a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series for the portrayal in 2013. Alderson is the second One Life to Live actor after Gerald Anthony to win an Emmy for a crossover role to General Hospital.
Starr is the oldest child of Todd Manning and Blair Cramer. Starr is one of the only characters biologically related to both longtime One Life to Live rivals Victoria Lord and Dorian Cramer Lord. The character's most significant storylines featured her dealing with her parents' volatile relationship, her early adolescent friendship with Matthew Buchanan, portrayed by Alderson's real-life brother, Eddie Alderson, and her close friendship with Langston Wilde, as well as her romantic relationships with Cole Thornhart and James Ford on One Life to Live and Michael Corinthos on General Hospital.
Casting and creation
The role of Starr was originated by child actors, Ariella and Natalie Jamnik who appeared in the role from in January 1996 upon the character's birth onscreen. The Jamnik sisters departed from the series in January 1998 and Meghan Rayder briefly appeared in the role throughout February 1998. Kristen Alderson first made her debut in the role of Starr Manning on March 20, 1998, on One Life to Live. After a 3-year stint, in April 2001, Alderson signed a 5-year contract making her at the time the youngest performer in daytime television to appear in a contract role. In the spring of 2009, rumors began to circulate that Alderson was about to leave the series due to her not getting along with co-star, Brandon Buddy who played Cole Thornhart. However, Alderson later revealed in an interview that both rumors were completely false.Upon the serial's cancellation, it was announced that production company Prospect Park would continue production of the series, along with ABC's other cancelled soap opera All My Children as web series. In October 2011, it was reported that Alderson was in negotiations to continue with the soap opera online. However, Soaps In Depth later confirmed that Alderson and her brother, Eddie, had declined the offer to continue with the series, and would be relocating to California. Two days before the airing of One Life to Live's series finale on ABC, the network announced that Alderson, and several other co-stars including her onscreen parents Kassie DePaiva and Roger Howarth would be reprising their roles on the last remaining ABC soap opera, General Hospital.
Alderson began taping her first scenes on January 27 and several days later revealed through Twitter that she had signed a three-year deal. It was then announced that Van Hughes would briefly reprise his role as Cole. Alderson would make her first appearance during the week of February 20, with she and Hughes first appearing on February 24.
In January 2013, news broke that Alderson and other One Life to Live co-stars who had been airing on General Hospital were to depart or "at least temporarily exit". One Life to Live was in the process of being brought back by Prospect Park's The Online Network, and according to Zap2it, "Prospect Park realizes these three characters could initially help draw fans to the new One Life There are ongoing talks between ABC and Prospect Park about the characters returning to General Hospital at some point, which could be fine with as they eventually want to go much younger with their soaps." However, it was confirmed that Starr would not appear on either soap opera until a contractual agreement is signed. At the time, Prospect Park owned the rights to all One Life to Live characters; TV Guide reported that because ABC does not want to risk any further legal disputes with Prospect Park concerning the characters, the only way to avoid such disputes may be to have the former One Life to Live actors portray "characters that in no way resemble the current ones" in order to stay on General Hospital. As a result, Alderson made her final appearance as Starr on General Hospital on March 20, 2013. She later returned to the series in May as Kiki Jerome.
Development
Characterization
As a child, Starr is known for her mischievous behavior, exacerbated by her parents' chaotic relationship. Still as strong-willed as ever, Starr nonetheless settles down during her teen years. Alderson described Starr as being very stubborn when she does not get things her way or when someone goes against what she honestly believes is right; very much like her parents. "When Starr was younger, she was a brat and if she wanted something, she would fight until she got it," Alderson said. Though Starr mellows out during her teen years, a 2010 storyline in which another girl threatens her relationship with Cole forces the character to revert to her old ways. Alderson said, "Lately, we haven't seen that side of her because it hasn't had to come out. The fans were missing that spunk and backbone, so they'll be excited to see Starr back in her element. She's going to fight for what she believes in." In a 2009 interview, Michael Fairman highlighted that Starr changed a lot after becoming a teenage mother. Alderson said that the storyline helped her mature personally, and also allowed the maturation of the character. Starr shares similarities with both her parents. Very much like her mother, when Starr is very distraught, she leans on the nearest man. This is displayed on two separate occasions when Starr falls for other guys due to her relationship with Cole being in shambles.Musical element
In 2007, the series produced "Prom Night: The Musical", a number of musical episodes focusing on the Llanview high school prom. Cole and Starr are the center of attention as it features songs performed by Alderson, Buddy and several other cast members. The episodes began airing on June 15 and concluded on June 20, 2007. The cast members also appeared ABC's The View for a performance of the song, "We Belong" written by Pat Benatar. In 2008, after forgetting Starr's 16th birthday, her family throws her a surprise birthday bash featuring R&B superstar, Mary J. Blige. In 2010, the series produced a sequel to the original musical, named "Starr X'd Lovers" to coincide with May Sweeps. Within the series, the title is actually a musical written by Starr's best friend, Langston, based on Cole and Starr's love story. According to head-writer Ron Carlivati, the night is very significant for Starr as it is her senior prom. Though the original musical focused mainly on Starr and Cole, the 2010 revival featured more characters allowing Alderson to share her performance of Benatar's "We Belong" with co-stars, Underwood, Kelley Missal and Meghann Fahy. Alderson performed on eight of the nine songs featured in the episodes. Some critics accused the series of trying to "rip off" the very successful Disney franchise, High School Musical and the Fox musical series, Glee. Alderson defended One Life stating that the show had always had a rich musical history, and that what set them apart from the things they were being compared to was the unique characters and storylines.In summer, 2011, One Life to Live returned to musical themes for the character of Starr by having her develop a friendship with college DJ Baz Moreau. The two began writing and recording music together, much to the dismay of her then-boyfriend, James. The relationship is complicated even further when Baz suddenly kisses Starr and she rejects him. When Baz wants to sign a record contract with former adult film producer turned music mogul, Rick Powers ; Starr is hesitant due to his part in blackmailing James's ex-girlfriend, Deanna Forbes into doing a porn scene with her sister Danielle's boyfriend, Nate Salinger. Alderson as Starr later shot a music video for the song featuring James. Rick, fearing Starr's original video was not racy enough capitalizes on Starr's recent arrest for helping Todd escape jail, and convinces her to record the song "Jail Bait" and another video featuring Nate fueling rumors that they are sleeping together.