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Afternoon Delight: AMC'S Jacob Young (JR)

Soap Opera Digest: Do you remember your very first day on soaps, the day you started playing Rick on BOLD AND BEAUTIFUL?
Jacob Young: Of course. My god, I was just like a wee boy. I was 17. It was a very fun, but very scary experience.Digest: And now, six years later, you’re ensconced at AMC as JR. How’s it going?
Young: It’s going great. I’ve found a stride with the character. I feel like it’s going really well, the way that it’s supposed to.

Digest: How did you adjust to the New York move?
Young: It was a little hectic and crazy, but once I got here, I knew I’d be okay. I had a job to go to, so that’s always a plus. And once I got a social group down, it became home.Digest: How did you go about establishing social connections in the city?
Young: The way I do it is, I try to find people who have common interests within my peer group. Not the same age exactly, but kids who have a lot of ambition and determination. I am definitely one of those people who’s always thinking towards the future and trying to be positive and doing whatever I can to better myself as an actor and a person. There are a lot of things I try to focus on and I try to find kids and young adults who have that same sort of drive, because that only drives me that much more and it drives them more, too, if they see what I have to offer in terms of positive thinking and looking forward.Digest: Has that always been in your nature?
Young: Yeah. I’ve always had that. When I was 17 and started auditioning, I had just as much drive then, a drive to be the best. Whatever I did, I wanted to be the best at it. Whether or not I ever got to be the best at certain things was not important, as long as I knew I was doing my best.Digest: You’ve described yourself to me as “hyper-sensitive.” What are you hyper-sensitive about?
Young: Just about everything. I’m just very aware of people and whether or not they’re an “A” type or a “B” type personality, whether they’re sensitive. I’ll approach people and instantly know whether there’s a danger to them. I’ll know if they’re seedy or dangerous or calming, comforting. I just feel people. I have that radar. I always give people the benefit of the doubt, but I do sense things and I’m never wrong about it. I’m pretty dead-on about people. It helps me weed through people who are coming into my life and to know who has my best interests at heart.Digest: Are you the kind of person that, once you let someone in as a friend, they’re a friend for life?
Young: Definitely. I try to keep people really close to me. I think a lot of people are the same way; you have your base group of friends, the five people, the chosen ones, who are your baseline of defense to the world and they help you through things and you help them through things; you give that true friendship back and forth. And then there are those friends who are acquaintances and one day, they may become as close as the people in the base group.

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