User:Livelikemusic/Dinah Marler

Dinah Marler is a fictional character on the former CBS Daytime soap opera, Guiding Light.

Casting and creation
On February 1, 1995, Star-News published that Dinah was to return to Springfield, this time under the portrayal of Wendy Moniz. The role was Moniz's first daytime role. She made her debut on February 17, 1995. In late 1998, Moniz announced her decision to not renew her contract with the series, as she wished to pursue other acting opportunities outside of the series. She departed in January 1999. In April 2004, it was announced that actress Gina Tognoni has been hired to be the fourth actress to portray the role of Dinah. Tognoni previously portrayed the role of Kelly Cramer on the ABC soap, One Life to Live from 1995 until her exit in 2002. The move to hire Tognoni in the role was said to be because of the newly appointed executive producer Ellen Wheeler and her decision to potential refocus the series on its core families and characters. TV Guide revealed that former General Hospital actress Sarah Joy Brown was also up for the role of Dinah, before the show went with Tognoni. Brown subsequently joined As the World Turns as Julia Morrisey Larrabee.

On April 2, 2009, Guiding Light received its official cancellation from CBS. That June, it was reported that Tognoni has received several offers for her post-Light career. One of those deals included reprising her role of Kelly on One Life to Live, as well as new jobs on The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful. Days later, it was announced that One Life had passed on signing Tognoni back to the series, reportedly because Tognoni asked for "too much" money to guarantee her return. That same month, it was announced that Tognoni's contract had expired with the series, and that the actress was unable to come to agreements on a contract extension, leading to Tognoni's early exit from the series. The following month, CBS confirmed that despite the end of her contract, Tognoni had pre-taped all of her final scenes, allowing for the character of Dinah to appear for the remainder of the series' run on the network. Both Tognoni and Dinah last aired on the show's series finale on September 18, 2009.

For her first post-Guiding Light series, it was announced that Tognoni had joined the cast of the online web series, Venice: The Series, co-executively produced by her former co-star Crystal Chappell. In September 2009, Tognoni confirmed her return to One Life to Live as Kelly Cramer.