SANTA CRUZ — Once they make it big, people often try to distance themselves from where they grew up. Not so for Cecelia Specht.
Even with countless movie and TV credits to her name, Specht fondly recalls growing up in Santa Cruz County, from walking summers at the Boardwalk to seeing plays at Cabrillo College, where big stars like John Carradine and Jim Hutton would pop up in productions of “The Man Who Came to Dinner” and “Harvey.”
“There was just such an open feeling there and freedom as a kid,” she said.
That love of the arts has stayed with Specht everywhere she has moved to for projects, whether in Los Angeles, Australia or Atlanta where she currently resides and is in the midst a recurring storyline on the CBS soap opera “Beyond the Gates.”
The show brings many firsts to the world of soap operas: the first new soap opera to premiere on a major network since NBC’s “Passions” in 1999, the first soap with a predominantly Black cast since “Generations” in 1989 and the first soap to be shot in Atlanta.
“When I got it, I knew it was something special,” she said. “The role was just perfect for me. It’s something that’s in my wheelhouse.”
Specht was born at the old Santa Cruz Hospital on Soquel Avenue and lived in Aptos, attending Mar Vista Elementary School, Aptos Junior High School and Aptos High School, where she performed with the jazz band and in the drama department. She credited Music Director Don Keller and drama teacher Justine Zanjani with helping her develop a love of the arts.
“I think there were many a professional jazz musician to come out of the music program, and in my class there were at least three of us that pursued acting professionally,” she said.
Specht remembered the Santa Cruz area as being a place with progressive ideas and artistic influences as well as a feeling of openness.
“You could really enjoy the summers in shorts and barefoot and running around, and you felt very safe and free,” she said.
Despite taking performing arts classes, Specht said she was not sure she wanted to pursue acting as a profession. Instead, she went to UC Berkeley with the intention of getting a political science degree and becoming a lawyer or judge and perhaps even a senator. However, shortly after graduating, she was admitted into a hospital after coming down with a 106 degree fever.
“They never figured out what was wrong with me, but they got me better,” she said. “I thought, Oh my gosh, I could have died. What’s worse is I could have woken up when I was 80 and thought, What did I do with my life? I had been taking an acting class for fun, and I just dared at that moment to say, ‘You know what? I’m going to try it because I don’t want to have any regrets.’”
Specht auditioned for three prestigious New York acting programs and got into all of them. Since 1998, she has had more than 60 roles in various movies and TV shows. Her credits include roles on “Star Trek: Enterprise,” “Criminal Minds,” “Las Vegas,” “Zoey 101,” “Parks and Recreation,” “Dexter,” “Scandal” and the films “Frost/Nixon” and “Darkness Falls.”
One of Specht’s favorite roles was as a spiritualist neighbor in the 2000 Disney Channel movie “Stepsister from Planet Weird.”
“I got to play the second or third female lead, so I had a lot of freedom that I didn’t have to play the romantic lead at all,” she said. “I got to be comedic and broad and have fun.”
Specht’s role on “Beyond the Gates” is quickly becoming a favorite of hers. The show premiered in February 2025, continuing CBS’ soap opera dominance with a daytime lineup that also includes “The Young and the Restless” and “The Bold and the Beautiful,” and centers around the Duprees, a Black family living in a gated Maryland community outside of Washington, D.C.
Since February, Specht has portrayed Dr. Lea Whitman, the chief of staff of Garland Memorial Hospital where the Duprees’ son-in-law, Ted Richardson works. She described her character as “well-respected” but wanting everything done “by the book.”
“I get in the way of some romances of people at the hospital and become a thorn in their side,” she said. “Then you discover that there’s something deeper and darker and more involved with some things that are going on in the background that are creating deep troubles for many of the characters. It’s a web that I keep spinning further and further.”
Specht said Whitmore is a bit of a departure for her, and she has gotten a positive response from people who were impressed she could play a wicked character despite being very friendly in person.
“This is the first time I’ve truly played someone up to no good,” she said. “I think it’s surprised a lot of people, and they seem to be very delighted and entertained by what I bring to her, as opposed to just a straight villain. I have quite some clever lines that are delivered with a dash of comedy. I’ve made her a multifaceted villain.”
Whitmore is part of a 20-episode story arc that will run through May. It is a bit of a full-circle moment for Specht, as her first television role was on the Australian soap opera “Neighbours,” and she also had minor roles on “The Young and the Restless” and “Days of Our Lives.” The fast-paced production schedule of soaps has provided different challenges from other productions.
“You have to be highly skilled at your craft,” she said. “You have to really learn lines quickly, you have to make choices — strong ones — very quickly and commit to them. As a well-trained actor in other facets, I feel that serves me very well.”
Luckily, Specht said the cast and crew of “Beyond the Gates” have been very welcoming.
“It’s one of the most supportive casts and crews I’ve ever worked with,” she said. “Everybody’s so grateful to be working in what otherwise right now in the industry is a very slow time.”
That supportive environment, Specht said, extends to Atlanta. In recent years, the city has received the nickname “The Hollywood of the South” due to the large number of blockbusters that have been shot there, including “Stranger Things,” “The Hunger Games” and many Marvel Studios productions.
Specht moved to Atlanta in 2017 and was struck by how tight-knit the acting community was compared to the competitive nature of L.A.
“You run into people who might be your type or up for the same role, and they find that you got (a role) and say, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s great! Congratulations,’” she said. “Even though we are ‘competition,’ it’s very supportive.’”
Specht has other projects in the works, including a pair of indie films titled “Gentle Giant” and “Gander Man” that are currently in post-production and writing a pilot based on the “Teddy” book series written by her mother Glenn Specht, under the name Amanda Glenn, for which Cecelia Specht has already narrated the audiobook versions.
Throughout it all, Specht said she has been very fortunate to have grown up in Santa Cruz County.
“I hope I never lose touch with my Santa Cruz roots,” she said.
“Beyond the Gates” airs weekdays at 1 p.m. on CBS and can be streamed on Paramount Plus.