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Interview!

TBT - Vincent Irizarry

Vincent
54684_21_18 (2003) Vincent Irizarry who plays "David" on ABC Daytime's "All My Children". Photo credit: ©2003 ABC, Inc./Yolanda Perez Credit: ABC

This interview originally appeared in the December 21, 2004 issue of Soap Opera Digest

The Perfect Score

AMC’s Vincent Irizarry Is Ending His 20th Year In Daytime In A Prime Position

It was 20 years ago that Vincent Irizarry (David, ALL MY CHILDREN) burst onto the soap scene as GUIDING LIGHT antihero Brandon “Lujack” Luvonaczek. Through his popularity with daytime viewers continues to this day, for the first half of 2004 his anniversary year didn’t seem poised to be an especially auspicious one. After six years of consistently front-burner storyline, David was barely registering on the Pine Valley radar — and with only one blood relative (Maggie) left on the canvas (mother Vanessa and brothers Leo and Trey were long gone), no love interest to speak of since the 2003 departure of Finola Hughes (ex-Anna) and his contract on the verge of expiration, many fans feared that some highly unpleasant writing was on the wall.

“I know the audience was having a hard time,” Irizarry nods. “There was a lot of, ‘What’s with David? What’s going to happen to him?'” And frankly, Irizarry had his concerns, too. “I love to work a lot,” he says, “and nobody wants to see their character floundering, especially one that for so long had been so well-written and so exciting to play. There was a period of time when they were obviously laying off the character, but in the midst of all that, I re-signed my contract. And I was very happy that [AMC] was committed to continuing the character.”

Continuing him, yes — but in what fashion was still up in the air, for even after Irizarry inked a new deal, David’s story remained skimpy. Not that the actor was biting his fingernails, mind you. “I was given some assurances [by higher ups], but the show was in transition and I understood that,” he explains. “I’ve been around long enough to know that whenever there’s a shift in the hierarchy [as when AMC’s executive producer, Jean Dadario Burke, was replaced by Julie Hanan Carruthers late last year], there will be changes and you have to be patient and hope that whatever direction they come up with for your character you’ve established. If it’s not, you have to go down and say, ‘I’m having a hard time with this.’ But I never felt that way, not at all.”

And then, in June, the tide turned: It was revealed that David had fathered Krystal’s daughter Babe, and presto! — David was back in the storyline saddle. “In daytime, obviously, the more family ties the better,” Irizarry notes. “And now I’ve got a family! And with Bobbie [Eakes, Krystal] and Michael [E. Knight, Tad], a great triangle that’s beginning. As far as I’m concerned, Megan [McTavish, head writer] is giving me some of the best writing I’ve ever had. It was a tough year, but now things are slammin’!

And if Irizarry has any say in the matter, he’d make AMC his home for the next 20 years. “There’s a trickle-down effect in this business where talent is concerned,” he says. “Our marquee player is Susan [Lucci, Erica], obviously. And if Susan was a different type of person, it would produce a different type of atmosphere. But I have never been on a show where the actors are so encouraging of each other and so close-knit,” he beams. “To some degree, I’m not at the center of that because I have a family and live outside of the city, but I still feel that center of support. I started in this medium at the same age as many of the younger actors on our show, and they’re very fortunate to work in an environment like this. It’s exciting to see them come in and shine in this atmosphere.”

But things aren’t just slammin’ at AMC — they’re slammin’ on the home front too. Irizarry’s wife and kids are all flourishing, and the actor just hit the 45-year mark — and with zero angst, thank-you very much. “I’m one of those people who thinks that to freak out about your age is just an act of futility,” he grins. “Why bother? I mean, you can’t stop it, so why not just be grateful for the days and years that you have? You have life — celebrate it?”

The Winners Circle

This year not only marks Irizarry’s 20th year in daytime — it’s also the 20th anniversary of his Soap Opera Digest Award nomination. Back then, he was up for Exciting Male Newcomer; he is nominated this year as Outstanding Supporting Actor.

“I had just been on the soap for a few months and when I got nominated the first time,” Irizarry recalls, “I thought, ‘Wow that’s really cool.’ Then, I went out to dinner in L.A. a few weeks before the show with a group that included a woman who wrote for Soap Opera Digest  years ago. She says, ‘I’m so excited. I’m not supposed to tell anybody this, but I just found out that a dear friend of mine, Michael Leon (ex-Pete, DAYS) won a Digest Award!’ [In the award show’s early days, winners were revealed in advance.] So I go, ‘Hey, that’s great!’ And then I start thinking, ‘Wait — I think he’s in my category!’ So,” he chuckles, “I realized I didn’t win and I didn’t go to the show, but the night of the awards, I happened to stop at a bar with a friend and they were showing my category on the TV. Later, when I saw the list of winners, I realized that DAYS won every award it was nominated for, so I said, “Okay, I can’t take my loss too much to heart.'”

So, Digest can’t help but wonder, when Irizarry finally did take home a statuette (as 1999’s Outstanding Villain), did he have Michael Leon on the brain? “Oh, you know it!” he jokes. “I was like, ‘In your face Michael Leon!'”

Did You Know?

  • When Irizarry moved from California to New York in 1991 to take on the GL role of Nick, Michael E. Knight (Tad) and his wife Catherine Hickland (Lindsay, OLTL) moved into Irizarry’s Venice Beach home.
  • When the actor started on soaps, his address was listed in the Manhattan phone book. “I had people standing outside my window in the middle of the night screaming, ‘Lujack, Lujack!'”
  • Irizarry and Bobbie Eakes’s (Krystal) sister Shelly, were born within an hour of each other on the same day in the same year. “Isn’t that freaky?” he marvels.

 

Just The Facts

Birthday: November 12

Children: Siena, 14; Aria 7; Elias, 3.

Music To His Ears: Irizarry’s older daughter, Siena, loves the same music he does (Led Zepplin, The Doors, The Rolling Stones). “It wasn’t the same with me and my parents,” he chuckles. “I wasn’t running home to listen to Englebert Humperdinck CDs.”

What Will He Sing At AMC’s 35th Anniversary Celebration? “I don’t know that I will be singing — it depends on whether I can find time to work with a coach and get back into my voice.”

How Else Might He Contribute, Then? “Mime? Selling at the concession stand? Ushering? I could do a street performance before the show….”

The Movie He Most Wants To See: “Sideways. I want to see it with friends — it looks like a great buddy movie.”

What He Did Yesterday: “Took Elias in a train ride. (“He’s obsessed!”) for his third birthday.

What He Did This Morning: “Hit Elias’s nursery school to read a Thomas the Train story to his class.

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