Full Court [Im]Press How an onscreen breakup, and off-screen hookup and a storyline shakeup have made GH's ALW downright upbeat.

If you're thinking that GH"s ALW is all about being blonde, beautiful, buff, and a big-time (on-screen) butt kicker, well, you'd be wrong. For on this day - this beautiful, sunny, perfect day in S. Cali - the actress in not only indoors, giving up some of her precious time off to do a phone nterview, she is simultaneously tacking two pressing issues: housecleaning and laundry.,

"I'm doing 50 tings right now," she haughs, half-apologetically for any distractipon on her part. (She's also trying to curb her cat's enthusiasm for lying on said laundry.) "It's so rare that I have free time. I have to get this stuff done!"

Not that Willis is complaining about her work schedule that keeps her not only front-burner, but working hard most weekdays - quite the contrary. She's in that proverbial happy place that so many people seek, esp. in her professional life, digging on the 180 that her character has done since arriving in PC in 2001. (Stripper pole? What stripper pole?)

"It's cool becasue I feel like my character has really grown up and come into her own," she reflects. "I like the fact that she's able to have a more serious side, but she's also still the same Courtney. I love that she's able to laugh at herself and she can be goofy at times. And I love that they're showing that she's capable of doing something more than just waiting tables and Kelly's."

Or constantly making up/breaking up with Jason. While most actresses would fear the dissolution of the power romance that brought her to prominence on a show, Willis actually embraced the idea of Courtney/Jason split. "They had been breaking up and making up and breaking up," she sighs. "After a while, Steve and I were btoh like, 'Okay, if they're doing the same thing over and over again, the audience isn't going to care anymore. You've gotta change or it becomes monotonous and boring. As much as I want to work with Steve, change is good."

Romantically, as we've seen, that change has come in the unlikely form of the anti-Jason - cockey playboy Jax. "I love working with Ingo," Willis grins. "He's hysterical and we have a lot of fun. It's actually turned out to be a really good thing, becasue my character was always upset and crying. It's just nice for her to get back to a happy place."

Whcih has also translated into, in case you haven't noticed, a move away from Courtney, the kick-boxing babe. "I loved the scenes where I had to defend muself," she notes of her character's previous penchant for left hooks and roundhouse kicks. "There would be two guys and I would get to beat them up. It was hilarious! And I had no problem when she was kicking Faith's butt. When she was defending herself, getting into a fight was fine. But people really don't go around beating other people up. And you know walsking down the street and running into a Quartermaine and deciding to punch their lights out is not the most civilized thing to do [laughs]. They wanted me to deck Tracy in an episode and I was like, "I can't just hit her!" And I love Jane Elliot; she's so funny. So we worked it out to where I pushed her. Later, we were laughing becasue she said that one of her friends had seen the show and said, 'oh, my Gog, did that hurt?' I was like, 'Can you imagine if I punched you [laughs]?"

A sophisticated, new wardrobe has aslo helped spiff up Courtney's image as a take-charge charity maven - not that it's had any influence whatsoever on the actress's real life sense of stule, she cracks. "It's so funny because when I walk into work. I ahve no makeup on, my hair is up and I look like I just came in from the beach. And all of a sudden, I'm in an Armani suir. It's pretty random. It's like when I first dtarted on the show. I was supposed to e this tough girl from Atlantic City in this big, oversized Army jacket, combat boots adn this beat-up old car. But then, of course, my hair's like long, and blonde and I had perfect lip-gloss on and my makeup all done. I felt like Army Barbie! It just cracks me up now."

Another topic guaranteed to bring a smile to Willis's face is her boyfriend, John. The clothing-company owner, Willis professes, is the "perfect guy. We started dating around late December (2003). We wen out and eer since then, we've been inseperable. He's the most amazing guy I've ever met. He's so caring and thoughtful. It's hard for me to get up in the morning and go to woek, and he's always making me coffee, getting me ready for work. I mena, just little things like that. I'm just very, very lucky. We have so much fun together." (Including a shared love of travel, whcih the're taking continental next months when they head to see the Olympics in Greece then see sights in Italy.)

As for the future of that other great romance in Willis's life, the actress is hopeful that Jason and Courteny will one day reunite. "I love that story," she stresses. "I think it's such a great love stroy and I think it was good that they gave it a break. So if they do put them back together, it gives the audience something to root for. But I think what we're doing now is really good, too. I'm having a lot of fun. I think Kelly (Monaco) is great and she and Steve work well together. You never know what's going to happen and that's one of the best parts of working on this show. I have to say, it's been a pretty amazing year. I can't even describe what this year has been like. Everyting has just been incredible. My life has changed, probably as much as Courteny's has."

Did you know?

1) Courtney was originally intended for Jax. Willis did her screen test with Ingo.
2) When Willis first started working with now-close friend Tamara Braun, " I was so intimidated becasue she's such a good actress."
3) Is she someday weds her current boyfirend John, Willis's name will be Alicia Leigh Oswald.
4) She rarely draws on a painful personal eperiences for especially emotional scenes on GH.

Just the facts:

BirthDay: March 1
Four-Taught: "Working with Tamara and Maurice and Steve...I learned more from them in the last 2 years than I did in all my years in acting school.
Mob Hit: "I don't watch much TV, but if I do, I like the Sopranos."
Page Discrimination: "I love reading books. I'm always reading, esp. at work. We had courtroom scenes and you couldn't peel the book out of my hands."
Recently reading: "Veronica Decides to Die but Paula Coelho. It sounds kind of depressing, but it's more uplifting.
She works out: "At least twice a week. I used to work out every day, but I got sick around March. I'm trying to get back into work-out mode."

This is Really How We Do It In THE O.C.
As a long-time resident of California's Orange County (located just south of L.A.), Willis reveals whether or not she gives the "O.K." sign to the eponymous hit Fox drama "based" on life there.

"I know a guy who works at Fox and he had actually sent me [a tape] of the first show before it aired," she reveals. "He wanted to get my opinion. He was like, 'You've got to tell me if this is anywhere near what [the actual O.C.] is really like.'"

And? "I have to say I was surprised," she smiles. "I expected it to be a bunch of dumb surfer dudes... but it was actually pretty good. They have some good acting and they have a pretty good cast. It's all exaggerated, b ut there is some truth to it. And it's funny. I love the kid with curly brown hair. He's so cute [laughs]!" August 3, 2004, Soap Opera Digest.