Actor Roundup

Maurice Benard (Sonny, GH) “About a year ago, I was supposed to do this movie in New York. It was a great role, cool movie, and I was the lead and they wanted me to do it in one day. I knew that it was crazy [to try to pull off] and I had to work, like, every day on GH, but I decided to do it. I worked on it and worked on it to the point of obsession, and it got me. I had this anxiety that was just horrendous and I had to cancel. So, I didn’t do the movie and to top it off, the next week, I found out my wife [Paula] had cancer. As you can imagine, everything was just horrible. How I bounced back was, first of all, Paula is one hundred percent fine, thank God. That helped. And meditation, a lot of praying and a lot of breathing exercises. That’s the truth!”

Peter Bergman (Jack, Y&R) “When I was fired from ALL MY CHILDREN [as Cliff] and when I was hired at YOUNG AND RESTLESS.”

Bryan R. Dattilo (Lucas, DAYS) “It was the first time I was let go from DAYS. It was the hardest one to deal with, because I felt like I let people down. I felt like I didn’t do my job well enough to stay there. I realized that I needed to stop beating myself up and know that, if the opportunity came back again, I would try to do my best.”

Ian Buchanan (James, B&B) “That’s a very good question. I do not allow myself to get discouraged a lot. I can, but you have to choose not to play into it. When that spotlight shines bright, it’s warm and welcoming, but when it goes out, it becomes dark and cold and lonely. I have touched upon that, but in those times, I focus on how full and interesting my life really is, apart from the business, and so I don’t allow myself to go there. It is indeed cold and lonely when the phone no longer rings and people no longer care, so the answer of how to bounce back is to focus on all the positive and do not dwell on the negative. Just remember, there is always something new out there to explore.”

Scott Clifton (Liam, B&B) “I can think of two. One was when I was young and stupid and unaware that there were politics involved in the work environment, and I made some politically stupid choices. I somehow escaped the consequences of those choices by the skin of my teeth, and thankfully, I learned my lesson and had a completely different work ethic from that point on. Bouncing back involved balancing the creative with the political, and learning how to be a good employee, one that a boss would want as part of the team. To my credit, I think I’ve done that and I am a good employee now. The other was when I learned the hard way how important it is that you know your lines. You can’t not know your lines, and there was a day when I did not. I held up production, which cost the studio money, and that was unprofessional. That was another experience where I survived and I immediately learned my lesson of, ‘Never again.’ ”