Soap Opera Digest: What were your thoughts when you heard about the foster child storyline?
Ignacio Serricchio: It was all for fun! It might seem strange … like why is Courtney bringing in this kid? But it was funny to have a 17-year-old come in and try to hit on her like he was this player [laughs]. It really was meant to be funny.Digest: You and Alicia Leigh Willis (Courtney) must have had a good time.
Serricchio: We did. She’s great. I screen-tested with her, and we really hit it off.Digest: How about you and Adrianne [Leon, Brook Lynn]?
Serricchio: She’s also really cool. We have great chemistry off-screen, which really helps. The same is true with Ted [King, Alcazar].
Digest: Did you know that Diego would eventually find out he was Alcazar’s son?
Serricchio: No, but I love that! Ted likes it, too, because he wanted a family and he wanted to speak Spanish. Digest: Really?
Is GH okay with that?
Serricchio: Oh, yeah. We’re totally encouraging the writers to add some more Spanish in there. They actually told me that whenever I want something to come out in Spanish to just do it. Digest: What’s it like working with Ted?
Serricchio: He definitely smiles more often off the set [laughs]. He’s very cool. He came up to me one of my first days and said, “If you need anything, you know where my dressing room is.” Everyone was like that. There’s not one person who I don’t get along with.Digest: Do you hang out with your co-stars outside of work?
Serricchio: A lot of us went up to Mammoth [Mountain in CA] snowboarding, and that was fun. It was me, Tyler [Christopher, Nikolas], Natalia [Livingston, Emily], Alicia, Tamara [Braun, Carly], Derk [Cheetwood, Max], Ric [Hearst, Rick] and his family. Ric … I love to death! He’s a surrogate dad to me. We also had a Super Bowl party at Tyler’s house and that was really fun.
Digest: Do you and Natalia speak Spanish to each other?
Serricchio: Oh, yeah. She doesn’t get to speak Spanish [on the show] at all. I speak to her completely in Spanish, so she doesn’t forget and so she keeps her Mexican heritage intact. Tyler’s always like, “What are you saying?”Digest: Have you always been interested in acting?
Serricchio: When I was a kid, my parents would get home from work and I would put on a show. I would dress my sister up as Rambo and I would dress up as Michael Jackson or something [laughs]. All my life, I loved entertaining so much and it was so second nature that I didn’t think of it as a career. I never knew it existed.Digest: How did GH come up?
Serricchio: My agent said, “Do you want to audition for GENERAL HOSPITAL?” and I said, “What’s that?”Digest: Not too familiar with soaps?
Serricchio: Not at all. I did research on it, though, and I just auditioned. They loved my name.Digest: Does it mean anything?
Serricchio: Oh, no way! Everyone keeps asking what my name means, so I made up, “to ignite.” People are, like, “Wow, that’s amazing!” It’s not true, but whatever! Digest: When you’re not at GH, what do you like to do?
Serricchio: A friend and I wrote a movie. It was originally a play and we turned it into a screenplay. It’s a romantic comedy. I write a lot, and I love the beach — I go running almost every day at the beach.
