She chose her children rather than her career !
By Joan Mac Trevor, Ciné Télé Revue, 1990	Home   Cette page en Français

Discrete, sweet Kerry Sherman stayed only two seasons in Santa Barbara. However, she marked by her sensitivity and her talent the televiewers of the whole world. The death of her character, Amy Perkins, in the fire of a restaurant, upset the public as that of Mary DuVall who was played by Harley Kozak. Since her departure of Santa Barbara, in 1987, the actress Kerry Sherman preferred to do a break in her career, but not because of a lack of proposals : tender Amy in Santa Barbara wants to devote a maximum of time to the education of her two daughters, Erin (5 years old) and Kate (3 years old).

"If you wish to have children, you must know that they completely upset your life", Kerry Sherman prevents, recently married for the second time. "Thanks to my daughters, I learned that I will perhaps never be a good actress, nor a personality, but I know that now I am someone very generous, very patient who give a lot of love. And my daughters return it to me. I like to know that they need me. I would like to have others !"

The actress had her first daughter, Erin, when her character, Amy Perkins, gave also, in Santa Barbara, birth to a baby. But the fiction did not join reality : Kerry Sherman did not marry the father of her daughter, Jack English, a camera operator. Five weeks after the childbirth, the courageous actress took again the way of the studios, in company of little Erin. "She accompanied me on the stage of Santa Barbara, because I nourished her with my breasts. That lasted for four months, then Jack stayed at home to care of her. He stopped working for one year to raise her. He is a formidable father. He did everything, fed her, changed her coats..." But when her companion returned to work, Kerry Sherman felt terribly guilty to give up her daughter to the however expert hands of a baby-sitter. "I phoned the house several times per day to take news of her. I never spent only one weekend without Erin. I took her along everywhere I went, to winter sports as in the restaurant !"

It is this guilt feeling that pushed Kerry Sherman to give up her role of Amy Perkins. To work in a daytime soap is not really compatible with the education of a child. Since she left Santa Barbara, Kerry Sherman besides gave rise to a second daughter, in 1987, a little after her departure. The actress is not in a hurry to return on the screens. For the moment, she quietly enjoys the joys of the family in her ranch, located near Malibu, caring of her children, her horse Big Red and the animals of the neighbourhood.

Born in Honolulu, thirty three years ago, Kerry Sherman is the daughter of Peggy Ryan, an actress famous for her roles in the musicals of the 40's and the 50's, and Ray McDonald, a dancer. It is thanks to her mother, who directs today a dance school in Las Vegas, that Kerry Sherman began on scene. But, the comedy did not interest her immediately : she first worked like a chambermaid before trying the cinema ! She appeared in the movies Cannery Row and 48 Hrs. before finding the celebrity thanks to Santa Barbara. However, the most significant for her is not her career, but her life of mother and the good being of her children. "To give birth to my two daughters is the best thing I ever made !"