Kassie DePaiva

DePaiva was born and raised in Morganfield, Kentucky. Her birth name is Katherine Virginia Wesley. She was named after two of her aunts.^[2] Her father was a lawyer who practiced all types of law because of the small town they lived in.^[3] DePaiva has two older brothers and one younger sister.^[4]

In her childhood and teens, she sang in the church choir, participated in school plays, and she was involved in class government. She was voted Most Talented in her high school class. After high school, DePaiva attended Indiana University Bloomington and worked at Opryland USA in Nashville, Tennessee. She made her professional singing debut at the Grand Ole Opry when she was eighteen years old, singing two songs. She then decided to transfer to University of California, Los Angeles to study theater.^[2][1]

While attending UCLA, DePaiva landed her first acting job in a television commercial for Wendy's.^[2] She joined a four-part harmony band called Newport. The group performed in the Los Angeles, San Diego, and Las Vegas areas. She dropped out of college to travel with Newport on a USO tour of Japan, Korea, and Okinawa. After returning to the United States, DePaiva became a back up singer for Bobby Womack. She joined him on two U.S. tours and one tour of Great Britain.^[1]

Returning to acting, DePaiva (then using her maiden name of Wesley) landed the role of Bobby Joe in Evil Dead II.^[5] She then joined the cast of the CBS soap opera Guiding Light as Chelsea Reardon, first airing in November 1986. The character was a singer, giving DePaiva the opportunity to perform regularly on the show.^[6] After four years, she decided to leave due to lack of storyline, last airing in January 1991.^[7]

After leaving Guiding Light, she guest starred in episodes of Time Trax, Melrose Place, and Baywatch. An avid golfer, DePaiva hosted The Pro Shop, a syndicated series about the sport.^[1]

DePaiva was cast as Blair Cramer on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live, first airing December 17, 1993. The role had previously been played by Mia Korf, an Asian-American actress.^[8] She received a Soap Opera Digest Award nomination for Hottest Actress in 1998 for her role on OLTL.^[1]

In 2000, DePaiva released her debut album, Naked. She described the music as being very raw and female-oriented.^[9] On February 14, 2002, she and her husband, James DePaiva, starred on stage in A. R. Gurney's Love Letters at Jersey Central Theatre.^[10][11] In 2005, she released her second album, No Regrets, a collection of pop country songs. She also performed a duet with Jim Brickman on his album, The Disney Songbook, singing "Baby Mine" from Dumbo.^[9]

In March 2005, DePaiva received her first Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her role on One Life to Live.^[12] She co-starred with Jack Scalia in the short film Exit, written and directed by Jamie Duneier.^[13] In 2006, she starred in and produced the film Undone, which was directed by her husband, James DePaiva. The film co-starred Heather Tom, Timothy D. Stickney, Forbes March, and Ricky Paull Goldin.^[14] She sang Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas on A Holiday Affair, an album of classic holiday songs performed by actors from ABC soap operas. She also performed with the ensemble on the closing track, We Wish You a Merry Christmas. The album was promoted with a Soapnet special, A Very Soapy Christmas.^[15]

DePaiva released her third album, I Want to Love You, in 2007. She described the album as being more unplugged and bluegrass than her earlier recordings.^[9] In 2009, she co-starred with her husband, James DePaiva, in a Time Life infomercial for a CD box set, The Power of Love.^[16][17]

DePaiva played Blair Cramer on One Life to Live until the final episode aired on ABC in January 2012. That same year, she also made several guest appearances as Blair on the ABC soap opera General Hospital. She then played the role in an online revival of OLTL for several months in 2013.^[18][19] DePaiva played Emma Parker in the thriller film We Are What We Are in 2013. She co-starred with Julia Garner and Ambyr Childers.^[20] In May 2013, she co-starred with her husband, James DePaiva, in the musical 110 in the Shade at the Community School of Naples.^[21]

In January 2014, Soap Opera Digest announced that DePaiva had joined the cast of the NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives as Eve Donovan. The role had previously been played by Charlotte Ross, who left the show in 1991. DePaiva's first airdate was June 18, 2014.^[22][23][24] In September 2015, DePaiva announced that she would be leaving Days of Our Lives. Her final airdate was February 2, 2016.^[25][26] She received a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in 2016 for her role on Days.^[27] DePaiva made a return appearance to Days, airing on December 9, 2016.^[28]

In 2016, DePaiva made a guest appearance on Castle, alongside her former One Life to Live co-stars Tuc Watkins and Darlene Vogel. She had worked with the star of the series, Nathan Fillion, when he was a cast member on OLTL in the 1990s.^[29]

She returned to Days of Our Lives as Eve Donovan, first airing on October 27, 2017.^[30][31] She briefly left the show in October 2018 and returned in December of that year. She once again left the show in December 2019.^[32] DePaiva received a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in 2019 for her role on Days.^[33] She returned to the show for a few months in 2020.^[34]

She appeared in the film Killian & the Comeback Kids in 2020, playing the wife of Nathan Purdee, her former One Life to Live co-star. The film was completed in 2018.^[35][36] She co-starred with Wally Kurth in the short film Common as Red Hair in 2022.^[37] DePaiva made return appearances to General Hospital as Blair Cramer and Days of Our Lives as Eve Donovan in 2023.^[38][39]

In the 1980s, she dated Sam Raimi, who directed her in Evil Dead II. He moved to New York with her in 1986, when she was cast on Guiding Light, and they lived together for four months.^[4]

She married Richard C. Hankins, Guiding Light's art director, on September 10, 1988.^[40] They divorced in 1995.

DePaiva (then known by her maiden name, Kassie Wesley), first met James DePaiva in the late 1980s at the Whaler Bar in New York, where she was singing. They didn't see each other again until 1993, when she was cast as his love interest, Blair Cramer, on One Life to Live.^[41] They were married on May 31, 1996, at the courthouse in her hometown, Morganfield, Kentucky. Kassie has said that she scheduled her wedding in between a dentist appointment and a golf game. They had a more formal ceremony in June 1996 at their home in the Catskills. The second wedding included James' daughter from his previous marriage, who was four years old at the time.^[42]

The DePaivas have one child together, son James Quentin (J. Q.) DePaiva, who was born on May 12, 1997.^[1] When he was twelve months old, they learned that he had been born with an enlarged vestibular aqueduct, an inner-ear abnormality causing him to be completely deaf.^[43] He received his first cochlear implant at eighteen months old and his second at eight years old.^[44][43] In 2007, J.Q. had a recurring role on All My Children as Jason. His character appeared on Erica Kane's talk show to help her daughter, Kendall, deal with the hearing loss of her son, Spike.^[45]

DePaiva is a board member and fund raiser for the League for the Hard of Hearing, a non profit that aids deaf people and their families. She has crocheted a line of hats, called "Happy Hats", and sold them online, donating the profits to deaf charities. She has also lobbied congress to make hearing tests mandatory for newborns in all fifty states.^[43]

In August 2016, DePaiva announced that she had been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia the month prior.^[46][47] In September 2023, she announced that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer a year after beginning treatment for leukemia. She is now cancer free.^[48]

• Naked (2000)
• No Regrets (2005)
• I Want to Love You (2007)

• "Baby Mine" on Jim Brickman's The Disney Songbook. (2005)
• "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" on ABC daytime's A Holiday Affair. (2006)
• "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" (Ensemble) on ABC daytime's A Holiday Affair. (2006)

• Todd Manning and Blair Cramer

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kassie DePaiva.

• Official website
• Kassie DePaiva at IMDb
• Kassie DePaiva discography at Discogs