Michelle Stafford has left Genoa City, and there's a new Phyllis in town.

Stafford played the frequently (but not always, since this is a soap we're talking about) villainous Phyllis Summers for 19 years, but suddenly left the role last year.

Her character was put into a coma at the time, but fans didn't give up hope that she'd emerge from it again in dramatic, soap opera fashion.

And indeed she will, but she'll look a little different. The series has cast another daytime veteran to take over the role: Gina Tognoni. She previously played Kelly Cramer on "One Life to Live" and Dinah Marler on "Guiding Light."

Stafford's departure may have seemed sudden to viewers, but she's been so busy since that it's clear she had an exit strategy ahead of time.

Devoted daytime TV fans may have noticed her in the cast of "General Hospital." She joined it earlier this summer, playing Nina Clay.

But they may have missed the fact that Stafford has also launched her very own web series, "The Stafford Project," in August of 2013, just three days after her final episode of "Y&R" aired.

As you might guess by the title, "The Stafford Project" is clearly a labor of love for the actress, and not just because she's the star.

It's a sort of parody of her own life, in which she stars as a (mostly) fictional soap opera diva. She convinced a number of other soap stars to appear in it, also often playing thinly veiled versions of themselves for laughs.

The show appears on YouTube and can also be found on her personal website MichelleStafford.com. The first season ended in December with another on the way soon.

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