Exclusive: DAYS’s Cherie Jimenez On Her Real-Life Friendship With Julie Dove

Vivien Killilea/Getty Images; XJJohnson/jpistudios.com

Buddy System: DAYS's Cherie Jimenez (Gabi, l.) and Julie Dove (Connie) forged a fast friendship.

While there is no love lost between Gabi and her would-be killer, Connie, on-screen at Days of our Lives , actresses Julie Dove (Connie) and Cherie Jimenez (Gabi) have totally bonded off-camera.

Off-Screen Dynamics

“Julie has actually become one of my really good friends,” reports Jimenez. “We have lunch at least once a month and just catch up on life. She's absolutely wonderful. Julie brings such a fun dynamic to the set with her craziness and kookiness. We had a lot of fun just going back and forth. Also we kind of started this journey [on DAYS] together. Even though I know that she was on the show prior to me being on it, once I got hired, they instantly paired us up with her being my assistant. We've been there with each other within this whole dynamic of coming into the soap world. So we had a lot of fun and really got to know each other.”

The bulk of it has happened behind the scenes. “Everything moves so fast at DAYS and we’re given so much dialogue, so we always run lines with our scene partners,” says Jimenez. “And so within running lines, for me personally, I like to get to know the person that I'm working opposite. Julie and I have worked together so much that we've gotten to know everything about each other – our [life] journeys, our acting journeys, our family, our pets….”

Jimenez also appreciates Dove’s long path to DAYS. “Julie’s been such a huge fan of the show, and then being an actor and pursuing this industry for the past 15 years…” recounts Jimenez. “Getting the opportunity to be on one of her favorite shows with her, a show that she and her mother watch, is such an awesome thing. So she and I just connected. She'll reach out to check up on me. And I'll do the same with her. We had a lot of fun on set with our characters and our dynamic, and it [developed into] a friendship.”