Early career

McClain's professional acting career began in 1978 at the age of 9, when she was featured in a commercial for Band-Aid bandages. She went on to appear in over thirty commercials for products including McDonald's, Amtrak, Kenner's "Strawberry Shortcake" dolls, Burger King, Mattel, Barbie, Maybelline, Shout Detergent, Pillsbury Pop 'n Fresh Rolls, Apple Kool Aid, Prell, Texaco and McCain's Chicken.

Among her notable early TV credits was a recurring role on St. Elsewhere, and an appearance on Cheers, when she was 16 years old, as Coach's niece Joyce.

Other TV credits were as Virginia in Emmy Award winning TV movie Who WIll Love My Children, opposite Ann-Margret, Robert Kennedy and His Times, as young Pat Kennedy (with River Phoenix and Chad Lowe), the ABC After School Special Just a Regular Kid: An AIDS story (with Christian Hoff and Dana Ashbrook), Danny Thomas' One Big Family (with Michael DeLuise), Spenser for Hire, (with Robert Urich and Ron LcLarty), Lou Grant, (with Ed Asner) the TV movie Home Fires (with Guy Boyd and Juliette Lewis) and the Michael McKean TV Movie, Town and Gown.

Film

Her first film was in 1982 starring opposite Peter O'Toole in My Favorite Year as Tess, his daughter. She then appeared as a dancer in the Herb Ross film, Pennies From Heaven starring Steve Martin and Bernadette Peters.

McClain later appeared in the independent films Simple Justice, (1989) with Doris Roberts and Cesar Romero, Alma Mater (2008) with Alexander Chaplin and Will Lyman, Retreat (2004) with Michael E. Knight, and Soldier's Heart, (2008).

Soldier's Heart, a film about veterans and PTSD (with James Kiberd, directed by Brian Delate), won the prestigious Best Narrative Feature award at the GI Film Festival in Washington D.C.

In 2008, McClain also appeared in Home Movie with Adrian Pasdar. In the film, McClain plays Claire Poe, a psychiatrist, mother and wife. Home Movie, is the story of a family's descent into darkness. In a Blair Witch style mockumentary we follow the Poe children's violent tendencies and their parents effort to help them. Directed by Chris Denham, it won the Sitgis Film Festival Citizen Cane Award for Best Direction.

Theatre

McClain began working in the theater at a very young age. Her first professional production was as a chorus girl in The Music Man and Finian's Rainbow at Fullerton College. Other small California productions followed such as Wait Until Dark and Dames at Sea. She was cast in a workshop production of the then titled 40 starring Bonnie Franklin, and was brought to New York with the production as part of a pre-Broadway tryout at the John Drew Theater in East Hampton. With lyrics by Judith Viorst, the production title was changed to Happy Birthday and Other Humiliations. She went on to work with Mary Beth Piel and Ron Rains in A Little Night Music at the New York Opera Ensemble, Quiet on the Set at the Westbeth Theater, as Hero in Much Ado About Nothing at the Lincoln Center Stages, Comedy of Errors at the Hudson Theatre Guild, Barefoot in the Park at the Westbury Music Fair, Self Offense with the Cucaracha Theatre Company, Inventions of Farewell at HERE Theatre (a one-woman show directed by Estep Nagy), and The Red Address as Lady, written by David Ives.

She also wrote, produced and acted in a one-woman piece of performance art called Mona 7, which dealt with abuse and its effect on a young woman.

Daytime television

McClain is best known for two high-profile roles she has had on daytime television: the role of Dixie Cooney Martin on All My Children and her role on As the World Turns as Rosanna Cabot Montgomery.

McClain won her first Daytime Emmy Award in 1990 for Outstanding Ingenue on All My Children and in 2004, won her second Daytime Emmy for her portrayal of Rosanna on As the World Turns.

After McClain's stint at As the World Turns concluded, rumors circulated about a return to All My Children. In December 2005, McClain made an appearance on the show, and her popular character returned full-time a few months later. In a surprising turn of events, the character of Dixie was killed off via poisoned pancakes on January 30, 2007, which caused a massive negative outcry from longtime fans and soap opera media. A front page headline on a Soap Opera Weekly cover story quoted McClain as saying, "There was no negotiation."

McClain confirmed via a blog entry on her official site that she would return to her Emmy-winning role of Rosanna on As the World Turns. McClain returned to the screen July 30, 2007, when her character woke up from a two-year coma. After a six-month run, McClain decided to leave the show again. Her last air date was January 28, 2008.

McClain then returned to All My Children on May 2, 2008 for six weeks as a ghostly Dixie to help guide Tad Martin (the character's former lover and husband) to their daughter Kate. She departed the series on June 12, 2008.

On March 2, 2009, McClain confirmed in her blog that she had agreed to return to As the World Turns for another six-month contract beginning May 20, 2009. When it was announced that ATWT was canceled in 2010, she returned again for the show's final episodes.

McClain returned once again to All My Children in March 2010 for a short stint as a ghostly Dixie to help son J.R. fight his battle with cancer. She again returned on April 20, 2010 to welcome Palmer Cortlandt to heaven at the end of a tribute episode for James Mitchell.

She was wooed back to All My Children one last time by the new head writer Lorraine Broderick in October 2010. Unfortunately, the show was canceled before she could complete negotiations on a year-long contract. She did agree to return for the last summer of the show's airing on ABC, from May to August 2011. She has recently agreed to appear on the show's online revival, much to the delight of fans. When asked about it, she wrote in her blog: "Since word got out that AMC/PP contacted me, I thought it was best to wait a bit until I confirmed it out of respect for the fact that I am still sorting out the details of the situation. However, I feel confident in telling you that I will be part of the AMC Internet Re-boot."

Following the second cancellation of the series, it was announced in February 2014 that McClain would join the cast of The Young and the Restless as Kelly Andrews, replacing original actress Cynthia Watros.

Blog

In 2006 maintained a blog on the ABC website entitled "Confessions of a Mad Soap Star," which earned over 2 million hits. After she left AMC, she continued to blog on her own website. Her blog is widely respected and has received a strong fan following. She also has a YouTube channel where she posts V-blogs, videos of her music, and comedy sketches. She has also frequently contributed to PolicyMic, where she writes about pop culture and social issues, collaborated with liberal columnist Matthew Rozsa, and maintained live news feeds about current events, including the 2013 Golden Globe and Grammy Awards. She has also brought attention to new artists, including cooks Craig Thornton of Wolvesmouth and Kevin and Amanda of KevinandAmanda.com. Her autobiography Murdering My Youth is due out later this year.

Personal life

McClain was born in Burbank, California, and was raised in Laguna Niguel, Newport Beach, Irvine and Los Angeles. She attended high school at Corona del Mar High in Newport Beach, University High School in Irvine and Hoover High School in Glendale, California.

McClain moved to New York City when she was seventeen. She lived there for twenty-five years before moving back to Los Angeles in 2012.

She is a painter, writes poetry and articles for the internet (Policymic.com, HLNTV.com, Parade.com), and plays guitar. Her website, www.cadymcclain.com, displays artwork and collages she has created as well as links to her articles. She released two books of her poetry and art in 2008, Conversations with the Invisible, and Licked. In April 2014 she will be releasing her memoir "Murdering My Youth" via Amazon.

In 2006 she released an album, Blue Glitter Fish.

In 2010 she released a live album of her music, Club Passim, recorded at Club Passim in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

In December 2012, McClain announced her engagement to actor, director, writer, and former co-star, Jon Lindstrom. They married on February 14, 2014.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1982	My Favorite Year	Tess
1983	Who Will Love My Children?	Virginia Fray	TV Movie
1989	Simple Justice	Janet DiLorenzo
2002	Alma Mater	Gwen Knight
2004	Retreat	Paige
2008	Soldier's Heart	Linda
2008	Home Movie	Clare

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1983-85	St. Elsewhere	Erin Scheinfeld	5 episodes
1985	Robert Kennedy & His Times	Young Pat	TV mini-series
1987	One Big Family	Paige Baker	Episode: "The Tutor"
	Cheers	Joyce Pantusso	Episode: "The Godfather: Part 3"
	ABC Afterschool Special	Nicole	Episode: "Just a Regular Kid: An AIDS Story"
1988	Spenser: For Hire	Laurie	Episode: "To the End of the Line"
1988-2013	All My Children	Dixie Cooney
2002-10	As the World Turns	Rosanna Cabot
2004	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Alice McCain	Episode: "Outcry"
2014-15	The Young and the Restless	Kelly Andrews

[ Source: Wikipedia ]