Jesse and Angela "Angie" Hubbard are fictional characters and a supercouple from the ABC and The Online Network daytime drama All My Children. Jesse is portrayed by Darnell Williams and Angie is portrayed by Debbi Morgan. Jesse first appeared in Pine Valley in 1981 as the nephew of Dr. Frank Grant, who assumed custody after the death of his sister (Jesse's mother). Angie first appeared in 1982, as the daughter of a well-to-do Pine Valley couple. Shortly after Angie's first appearance on the show, they were paired with one another. Jesse and Angie were best friends to fellow supercouple Greg Nelson and Jenny Gardner. They are daytime television's first African American supercouple, and arguably the two most popular African American characters in soap opera history.
Angie also appeared on Loving and The City. Along with her son Frankie Hubbard and former heiress Skye Chandler, she is one of only three individuals who have been regular characters on three ABC soap operas.
Background
Casting
Actress Debbi Morgan was working in Los Angeles, California on an episode of Trapper John, M.D. when she saw that a new storyline was being introduced on All My Children, which involved actor Darnell Williams in the role of Jesse Hubbard. Morgan's feeling that Jesse might need a love interest, as she expressed as much to her agent in New York, matched that of the show's producers, who were searching for a young woman to fill the role of Angie Baxter. When Morgan read for the part, she acquired the role within the same day.
Williams was a regular dancer on Soul Train in the mid-1970s. Later that decade, he was a cast member of the Broadway musical Your Arms Too Short to Box with God. This, before acquiring the role of Jesse.
Writing
All My Children creator Agnes Nixon was able to intrigue male and female audiences of all ages by focusing on young adult romances that included not only romance and sex but their issues in growing and learning as individuals. Social issues were also applied. This specific formula caused All My Children'''s popularity to rise in the 1980s. The Jesse and Angie pairing, as well as fellow supercouple Greg Nelson and Jenny Gardner, were one notable aspect of Nixon's writing that prompted young high school and college students to race home just to view the soap opera.
When characters Jenny and Jesse were killed off instead of being recast by new actors once the actors decided to leave their roles, it was so that no other actors could portray them. To Nixon, these actors were the characters. Morgan saw Jesse's death as bittersweet. She pointed to Williams leaving the series as one of her toughest moments as part of the cast, but how it also provided interesting story. "It really affected me more from a personal standpoint than from an actor's standpoint," she said. "From a personal standpoint, Darnell and I were like hooked at the neck or the back or something; we'd gotten to be such good friends. But from an actor's point of view, it didn't really bother me as much because I knew that it would just open up so many more avenues for Angie to take."
Jacob and Angie
For years, All My Children fans clamored for the reunion of Jesse and Angie. However, the nature of Jesse's death (an on-screen death in the hospital as the result of a gunshot wound) made this all but impossible, even by soap opera standards. Eventually, fans got the next best thing.
In 1993, Morgan joined the cast of the soap opera Loving, reprising her role as Angie (who settled in Corinth, Pennsylvania). In 1995, Williams joined the cast as a mysterious stranger named Jacob Johnson. Jacob, whose actual surname was Foster, bore an uncanny resemblance to Angie's late husband Jesse and was revealed to be a relative of Jesse. Originally, Angie resisted any type of relationship with Jacob, despite her attraction to him. In 1995, Jesse's spirit visited Jacob just prior to Angie's marriage to Charles Harrison and convinced him to pursue a relationship with Angie. Angie and Jacob ultimately fell in love and emerged as the core couple when Loving was relaunched as The City, eventually moving to New York City's SoHo district (along with Angie's son Frank), marrying, and adopting a daughter.
After The City was canceled, Williams returned to All My Children four years later as "Jesse", but as an angel.