Sadly, the clone grew up, as clones have a habit of doing, and Lenz's short-term job came to an end. But as quickly as the clone aged (and Zimmer resumed the part), TPTB at GL began searching for a new part for Lenz. "After my first week on the show, they were talking about trying to find a way to bring me back," Lenz shares. "Then they said they were going to bring me back as Rusty or Roxie's long lost daughter. So that's what I thought I was going to end up doing, but I was also in Los Angeles shooting a TV pilot. By the time we found out the pilot didn't get picked up, the writers said, 'We changed our minds. That's not the storyline we're going to do. Never mind.' "

When it was mutually decided between the soap and actress Rebecca Budig that she would vacate the part of Michelle Bauer, the door was finally open for Lenz to join the cast. "I had been looking for work on other soaps, and then [GL] called me back and said, 'Would you like to play Michelle?' I said, 'Of course.' And here I am." Now the New Jersey high school student is busy shuttling between the Garden State and GL's Manhattan studio. "Once you're sixteen, you don't have to have a parent with you on the set," shares Lenz. "I'm pretty independent. I take the bus in." But perhaps not for long. "I'm probably going to be getting an apartment once I turn eighteen, which was [my mom's] idea... This is the greatest group of people here. She trusts everyone on the set. It's like a big family."

Below, the actress dishes about Michelle, her love life and a certain dead body.

Soap Opera Digest Online: First up, where are you from?
Joie Lenz: I was born in Hollywood, Florida and we lived there for three years and then we moved up to New Jersey and I've been here six years... I also lived in Texas for eight years. Actually, Ryan Brown [Bill] and I went to the same elementary school. He was in sixth grade and I was in first grade. We didn't even know we went to the same school until the first day I met him at a photo shoot. I said to him, "Hey, I read a bio on you and I learned you lived in Arlington [Texas]. I did, too." We talked about different places there and then he asked me, "Where did you go to elementary school?" I said, "Pope." He said, "No, way!" What a small world!

SOD: What do your parents do for living?
Lenz: My father was a history teacher in Texas and he also worked at a mental health clinic as a therapist. My mother worked for Word, Incorporated, a music label, and she did personnel management down there. Both of them got job offers up North. My grandmother had died so her house was available. We just all moved up and my father has a job at a mental health clinic, and now my mother is an entrepreneur and does all these different type of businesses. She worked with au pairs from Norway and Germany for a little bit, and she had a cooking business for awhile where she would go into peoples' homes and cook them a week's worth of meals that they could then freeze. She's also my manager.

SOD: So how do your fellow high school students react to you being on a soap?
Lenz: It's been a pleasant surprise. I thought it would be a little awkward. I thought I would constantly be asked questions by people who didn't know me well. My friends know me well enough that they know if I want to talk about it, I'll talk about it. If I don't, I don't. It's not that important anyway. I act, they play soccer. Same difference. The pleasant surprise is that people who don't know me say things like, "Hey, I saw you on the cover of a magazine. That's pretty cool." And that would be the extent of it. I'm very grateful for that, because it's nice to have that element of privacy.

SOD: What was it about acting that prompted you to pursue it?
Lenz: I don't know what it is. I guess it just fits with my personality. Every since I played Scout in To Kill A Mockingbird when I was ten at Irving Community Theater in Texas, it just set me off. Once we moved up to New York, I was auditioning constantly. It took me about three years before I actually got anything. It's just a passion I have.

SOD: Since you took over the role, Michelle seems a bit more intense or vulnerable. Is that something that Guiding Light directed you to bring to the character?
Lenz: That was something they asked me to bring. Actually, it was sort of a combination of both. So far, I'm trying to keep her at the vulnerable level, the level that she is a Bauer and it's kind of odd that she's hanging out with the kids she's with: Drew and Jesse. They're kind of, so to speak, from the wrong side of the tracks. And if the Michelle character develops into a much stronger person or a more devious person, I think that will be way down the line.

SOD: Which direction do you think she'll go in, especially in light of her involvement in Mick's death?
Lenz: [Laughs] I don't know. They won't tell me.

SOD: Michelle has turned down Jesse's marriage proposal. How does she really feel about him?
Lenz: I think Michelle is a strong enough person that she could say no, because she knew that as much as she loved him, it seemed there was a possibility, [marriage] was just a way for them to move in together. I think she was holding back on that because she doesn't know down the line how it's going to be. She's just playing it real safe. As much as she is completely in love with him, she wants to be as careful and as smart about this as she can.

SOD: What is the status of her feelings for Bill?
Lenz: I think because they haven't exactly discussed when he kissed her, there's still that bit of discomfort between them. But it's something they both ignore for the moment. I don't know if they're having Michelle and Drew discuss and deal with whatever is there or not.

SOD: With Mick out the picture, his brother Danny [Paul Anthony Stewart] has come to town. How will he relate to you and the gang?
Lenz: He's blown into town just intimidating everyone. Danny seems to have a very vengeful spirit. He wants to find out what's happened to his brother, so he's taking this job at Millennium. He sees that Michelle is the weaker of the four in the sense that she is the most honest. Not that being honest is being weak, but in the situation that they're in, considered among the other four, she's considered weakest. I mean, it was Drew's idea to lie in the first place. Jesse went along with her. Bill was kind of reluctant. Michelle was the very last to agree to it. I think Danny sees in her that she's honest and that is what draws him to her. He really thinks that she's going to be the one to help him. He knows she knows something. And wow, Paul Anthony Stewart is an amazing actor, one of the best I've ever worked with.

SOD: Do you pal around with Ryan, Tammy Blanchard [Drew] and Paulo Benedetti [Jesse] in real life?
Lenz: Oh, yeah. I'm glad we all get along. Before we started, I was nervous about how they would respond to me since I was replacing a good friend of theirs. But Tammy and I completely click. We're always on the same wavelength. We don't even have to tell each other what we're thinking. She's a riot. And when Ryan and Paulo are together, they're the funniest thing. [Laughs] Sometimes we have to say, "Okay, we have to get serious, guys."

SOD: What do they do that cracks you up?
Lenz: They do Beavis and Butthead all the time. They just go off on it -- every time they are together! I don't think I've seen them together once when they haven't done that.

SOD: Did you watch any of Rebecca Budig's work as Michelle?
Lenz: No, I didn't. I watched a bit to catch up on the storyline before I started to air, but I haven't seen before that. I started watching in August or September when I knew I would be taking on the role.

SOD: Have you ever watched any soaps?
Lenz: Yes. My mother was always into All My Children. I remember coming home from school and watching some days with her. Since I was seven, I've been watching that show off and on.

SOD: Who has been especially helpful around the set in helping you learn the ropes?
Lenz: Lisa Brown [ex-Nola; ex-Iva, ATWT]. She helps all four of us. She's really been instrumental in helping me get in touch with the character and her emotions when rehearsing. A lot of times, I'll be reading [a scene] and I'll feel uncomfortable with it. I'll [think], "I don't understand what's going on here." Lisa will explain it to me in ways I wouldn't have thought to look at it, and it really helps me.

SOD: When you played Clone Reva, who helped you understand that very difficult character?
Lenz: I talked to Kim Zimmer [Reva], and Bruce Barry, one of the directors, really helped a lot, too. I remember him just talking a lot about the character and little nuances that Kim has. I remember watching Kim's old tapes, so a lot of that blended together and helped me out.