Matthew Atkinson (Thomas): “His acting stood out to me from the get-go. He has a very natural style, which I like and I gravitate toward. I thought, ‘Okay, we can be antagonistic toward each other and it will work.’ I initially thought we would be sparring partners for awhile, and I hope they bring that back. Off the set, Matt and I had drinks one afternoon and I ordered an Aperol spritz and he just looked at me and I’m like, ‘Expletive-deleted off [laughs]. Mr. Mountain Man over here with your goatee and sunglasses.’ ”
Obba Babatundé (ex-Julius): “Obba was fantastic. He called me before we met in person to talk about the scenes and work through them, and he gave me some pointers. I did more work with Obba on our scenes together than I think with anyone else. We really went deep, and it was fantastic. He’s a master class in himself and I would love for him to come back more.”
Kiara Barnes (Zoe): “I thought she was very strong in [my] audition before thinking, ‘Oh, she’s so pretty and she has great eyes.’ All that other stuff came second to, ‘Whoa, this girl can act. I hope I book this because I’ll have a strong scene partner. Hopefully we’ll be able to do some good work together.’ The first impression I got from her was that she was a solid, strong, confident actress.”
Scott Clifton (Liam): “Scott is very friendly, especially in asking me what I think. He has been very complimentary. He’s a cool guy. Scott and Matt strike me as outdoorsy guys-guys, which is not me. If I’m being honest, while they’re camping, I’m at brunch. But, I would love to spend more time with them on set and off.”
Thorsten Kaye (Ridge): “Thorsten is a very commanding presence on set and I paid a lot of attention to him. I wanted to learn from this guy. I paid very close attention to how he gets into a scene: how he is during rehearsal, how he preps. He is someone I would like to draw from and learn from. Even in his body language and how he conducts himself on set is something I took note of.”
Katherine Kelly Lang (Brooke): “I spoke with KKL a bunch when I first started and when we had our first scene together, I asked her about everything. Her family has been in the business for generations. Her grandfather [Charles Lang] was an Academy Award-winning cinematographer. I’m from New York, so I know people who’ve been in finance for 100 years, but not Hollywood. It’s been very interesting to hear about her experience growing up, her being on the show for most of her career, her outside projects. She is such a talented actress, and she is just stunning, but her storytelling is what I took away most.”
John McCook (Eric): “He is very sweet, very inviting. He gave me the complete lowdown on the show. He was the first person who made me feel welcomed into the family. He actually took the time to make sure that I was comfortable and because of that, it made our scene work feel comfortable. I really wanted to impress him. I remember my mom calling me after our first scenes aired and her saying, ‘Oh, my God, John McCook! I was so worried, but you stood there opposite him like you’d been there for 30 years,’ and that’s what I was hoping for. There was a little bit of intimidation at first, but he counteracted that completely.”
Annika Noelle (Hope): “In our early scenes, I actually thought we had some [romantic] chemistry there. It was just fluid. We were just able to play ping-pong with each other. I was impressed with her prior to working with her. She’s obviously beautiful, extremely poised, well-spoken, but how she can turn on the tears and the drama is amazing. What I also liked about her is she studies martial arts, and we were able to talk about that, and that was a bonding experience.”
Lawrence Saint-Victor (Carter): “He is a friendly giant. He is an extremely inviting, big dude who likes a lot of the nerdy stuff that I like. We bro-out over the Marvel and DC superheroes. He has a nerd appeal you would not imagine. Every time he works out, I think he has Superman in his mind as a visualization.”
Diamond White (Paris): “Her style is what hit me first. [Auditioning] with her, it was over Zoom and I was like, ‘This girl has some edge.’ She was just fantastic. This is not to supplant how strong she was as an actress but I think she had white hair during the audition, and that definitely hit me first. Then, when we jumped into the scene, I was like, ‘Okay, here we go!’ I told casting I would really like to be able to play opposite her.”
Jacqueline MacInnes Wood (Steffy): “We had a couple of scenes early on and we chatted at length. She feels to me to be a kindred spirit. I’m not into astrology but after we first spoke I said, ‘What sign are you?’ and she said, ‘I’m an Aries,’ and I said, ‘I knew it.’ Our birthdays are very close to each other, and I think we have a similar attitude and temperament.”
