Above: Kate Orsini got introduced to acting at Birmingham’s Summerfest Musical Theatre and has gone on to have a successful career in movies, television and writing.

By now, fans of ABC’s “Nashville” are well aware of the fate of Jeff Fordham, the ne’er-do-well agent who plummeted to his death an episode ago while actually trying to do something noble.

It was a surprise death, a somewhat fitting end for a man who had brought little but misery to Rayna James, Juliette Barnes and a host of others on the country-music-themed drama.

But one character’s death means a Talladega actress’ good fortune. Kate Orsini comes to “Nashville” this week (Wednesday at 9 p.m. on ABC) as Fordham’s sister, Kate, who arrives to help clean up his affairs. Orsini’s character has a run-in with Layla Grant, Jeff’s girlfriend and client who has had nothing but bad luck during her run on “Nashville.”

“I come in from New York to collect all of his things and stay just long enough to decimate poor Layla,” says Orsini, who got her acting start with Birmingham’s Summerfest Musical Theatre and director James Hatcher. “I think she’s pretty much decimated already, what with the dead boyfriend, but I don’t help any.”

Oliver Hudson, left, is Jeff Fordham, and Talladega’s Kate Orsini is his sister, Kate.

The episode was directed by Eric Close, who plays Rayna James’ husband, Teddy, on the show. Orsini did her filming with Aubrey Peeples, who plays Layla.

“She’s lovely and couldn’t have been nicer,” Orsini says. “She’s so nice. It’s time to give Layla a break.”

Orsini, 40, has been working fairly consistently since age 13, thanks to a friendship with Lisa Paden Gaines, an actress and Summerfest regular who lived next door to Orsini in Talladega.

“Kate is a brilliant woman who happens to be beautiful inside and out,” Gaines says. “I think it’s her amazing intelligence that makes her acting so powerful and her theatrical instincts so strong. … I got to watch Kate grow up. She was a delightful, inquisitive and charming child who could warm your heart.”

It was a summer with Gaines that convinced Orsini of her career path.

“When I was 12 years old, she took me to Birmingham and let me stay in her hotel with her while she was rehearsing for ‘South Pacific,’” Orsini recalls. “I was in wardrobe fittings, I was in music rehearsals, choreography sessions … It was the most generous thing to give a kid who is inspired like that a really intimate look behind the scenes.”

The next year, Orsini started taking classes in Birmingham twice a week. At age 13, she was cast in Hatcher’s production of “The Wiz.” “I don’t think I’ve had a year since then when I didn’t do anything,” she says.

Orsini’s shows at Summerfest included “Fiddler on the Roof,” “Camelot,” “Damn Yankees,” “Peter Pan,” “Cabaret” and “Big River.” She and her mother would stay in Birmingham during Summerfest, and the rest of the year they would commute for classes and shows while Orsini remained a student at The Donoho School in Anniston.

Orsini’s mother, who died last year, “would always recall driving back to Talladega with the car light on so I could do my homework in the car,”Orsini says. “Every single time I book a job I think of her.”

And that’s often.

After graduating from Vassar College, Orsini moved to New York for a year, but the bulk of her career has been in Los Angeles. Her resume includes roles on TV (“Criminal Minds,” “The Bold and the Beautiful,” “Bones,” “90210,” “Monk,” “Gilmore Girls” and many others), in small movies and as a writer.

“I’ve been doing it for a long time,” says Orsini. “I’ve had some great roles and had some good success with writing.”

Still, “Nashville” marks something of a first.

“In all the years I’ve been working, I’ve never done a part in a show that I watch religiously,” Orsini says. “I’m a superfan nerd of ‘Nashville.’ This isn’t by any stretch a huge part, but it was fun.”