“It’s been wild the past couple of months,” marvels B&B newcomer Delon de Metz, who was tapped to play Zende Forrester during the show’s hiatus. “Pretty much everything was on lockdown and [when] my agent sent it to me he said, ‘Hey, these guys are working, you might have a lot of fun with this, take a look at the sides.’ I said, ‘Let’s take a shot,’ and three rounds of auditions later, I get the go-ahead. I’m very excited to join the team.”
The auditions were done over Zoom with Casting Director Christy Dooley and Kiara Barnes (Zoe). “It was very interesting,” de Metz relays. “This is the first time I had used Zoom with casting, or with an actress for a chemistry read, so that part of the process was definitely interesting and a unique experience for me.”
The New York City native — and Harvard honors grad — reveals he never intended to pursue acting, but the opportunity came his way thanks to his mother. “I was a sophomore in high school, probably around 16, and she wanted me to go see an acting coach in advance to prep for college interviews,” he explains. “She had me see a coach in New York, her name is Susan Batson, and after my first session, I was like, ‘Mom, this is really interesting. I think I might want to pursue this as a career.’ She said, ‘Delon, you get into Harvard, work hard, get a degree and then you can do whatever you want.’ That was pretty much the agreement: Get in, go, do my thing, and then if I wanted to pursue acting, I’d have the full support of the family.”
De Metz has already appeared on CBS in the prime-time show ZOO, but soaps are new territory for him. “I am not as literate in the soap world as I could be, and I am definitely doing my homework now, getting up to speed on the character,” he shares. “But my mom watched the show for maybe 20 years. When I told her, she completely freaked out so we definitely have B&B in the family.”
Mom will come in handy with her Zende knowledge, he reports. “Because my mom is a fan of the show, she is first and foremost my research go-to for this,” he notes. “I’m going to have to get familiar with what Zende has been through, and everything that’s been created to do the character justice, but of course, I do want to put my own spin on it. Hopefully you’ll see my own colors come out, but I do think it’s important to do right by the show and by the character and let all of the past experiences inform the performance.”
Now that production has resumed, de Metz is looking forward to seeing fellow newcomer Tanner Novlan (Finn). “I’ve known him for years,” de Metz reveals. “We’ve bumped into each other in Los Angeles for a long time now and I’ve actually auditioned against him for a couple of roles here and there, so I sent him a message on Instagram like, ‘Dude, how funny is this?’ I’m very excited for him.”
