Dawson’s Speak
Trent Dawson has seen many contract players come and go during his four years as Henry Coleman on AS THE WORLD TURNS. He may be a recurring cast member, but he plays one of the show’s most popular — and wittiest — characters.
“The fans definitely love him and I think the writers like him a lot,” smiles Dawson. “One of the things I love best about Henry is he calls people on their stuff. When someone is a liar, he calls them a liar. The audience loves that. The writers love it because I can say things about people on that show that no one else gets to say.”
Henry has lots to say now that Katie is in love with Mike and her not-so-dead hubby, Simon, has returned to town. “I am conflicted as to what to do,” offers Dawson in character. “It’s her husband. She’s moved on, but what do you do in that situation? There are a lot of flashes of anger [with Simon], ‘I am trying to help you, now get out of my face because you messed with her.’ At the same time, I like the guy and know how happy Katie would be. And I like Kasnoff, especially since I can push him around a little bit,” he laughs.
Usually, Henry is the one taking a beating. “I am starting to get away from that,” says Dawson. “How many times have the Oakdale police taken me in? I have been beaten up by every man, woman and child on that show except Sage.”
He loves the kinder, gentler Henry, though. “It’s like Mark Collier, Paul Leyden, Terri Colombino (Mike, Simon, Katie) and I have a group,” he beams. “The last couple of years I have been bouncing around from group to group, or it’s just been me and Terri. Collier is the nicest guy in the world. To have Paul back was so great. He was frustrated when he left [a year ago], but his perspective has changed. I think he has gotten a lot of good stuff to do. What has been great for me is that Henry has split allegiances through all of this. It has been so rewarding.”
One constant over the years is Henry’s unwavering devotion to Katie. “The way they have been writing Henry and Katie lately, there is so much more need between them,” muses Dawson. “It’s not just, ‘Henry, I need $20,’ or ‘Henry, I need you to spy on somebody.’ It is a more emotional need, which has been a lot more fulfilling. I know people love the humor of Henry, and I love that element, too. He is unique in daytime. At the same time, it is great to have the heart there to find other places to go.”
Could Henry be ready for romance? “I would love a love interest,” enthuses Dawson. “Enough of his heart has come out lately that people could buy it. I would love to see Katie and Henry on the rebound. The stuff we have had between us lately has been lovely. I haven’t said that in a long time because she has been like my little sister for so long. But I think we have gotten intimate now.”
Not so in real life. “I just got out of a wonderful, beautiful relationship that had run its course,” reveals Dawson. “Very long-term and loving. I regret that it had to end, but it did. I am enjoying life on my own right now.” What’s he looking for? “Someone who is intelligent, healthy, creative. Someone who doesn’t mind getting trashed at a bar somewhere…”
Laughs aside — and there are plenty when interviewing Trent Dawson — the actor turns serious when discussing the burst appendix two years ago that nearly killed him. “I was misdiagnosed for two-and-a-half days,” he sighs. “If you are taking out an appendix, it usually takes about an hour. Mine apparently took six, because when they pulled it out, it was so covered with pollution they had to shoot fluid up into my body and vacuum it out. I was starting to turn septic, which meant that my organs were going into shock. I started to die, essentially. It was mainly the intestines that were shot and couldn’t work. The fevers kept coming, I kept getting sicker and sicker. They couldn’t find a way to make this stop. I found out later they told my family to just pray.”
Dawson couldn’t escape recognition, even in the hospital. “I had two people come in and go, ‘Oh, my God! It’s Henry from AS THE WORLD TURNS!’ Me being the consummate professional, I was like, ‘Right! How do you like the show?’ I would also get, ‘I hear you are an actor? My daughter wants to go into acting. Where should she get her headshots?’ I was sitting there going, ‘Lady, I can’t poop.'”
As he recovered, Dawson wanted his normal life ASAP. “I went back to the show against the advice of my doctors and my colleagues because I was at the place of death so long,” he explains. “It was good for me to be around healthy, living people. My doctors snuck me out one night so I could go to work. It was a stupid thing to do healthwise, but psychologically they knew I needed to get out. When they put on my makeup, the makeup person said, ‘Honey, your skin is eating your makeup because it needs the nutrients.’ I lost 30 pounds in eight days. I had alopecia, so my hair was all falling out. I shot six months of the soap with a cap. It took me a year to recover completely.”
Now that he’s healthy, Dawson is bursting with projects. While his story is picking up on ATWT, he is also starring as Valere in Molière’s THE MISER at Baltimore’s Center Stage through Feb. 8 — which is part of the reason he’s okay with not signing a contract with ATWT. “I have gone back and forth on this,” he admits. “Obviously the recurring situation has allowed me to do other projects more freely than someone who is contractually bound. But I am older now and there is a part of me that wants to try getting a guaranteed paycheck every week. AS THE WORLD TURNS has been very good about working around the schedules. Ideally, I would love to be in Larry Bryggman‘s (John) shoes. It would be nice to have that job security. The juggling, after four years, gets a little frustrating.”
But after seeing all those other actors come and go, Dawson knows there’s no such thing as job security anyway, even with a contract: “What it does for a performer is guarantee a paycheck — until they are ready to let you go!”
Conversation
All comments are subject to our Community Guidelines. Soap Opera Digest does not endorse the opinions and views shared by our readers in our comment sections. Our comments section is a place where readers can engage in healthy, productive, lively, and respectful discussions. Offensive language, hate speech, personal attacks, and/or defamatory statements are not permitted. Advertising or spam is also prohibited.