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Interview!

ICYMI - Ingo Rademacher Interview

Ingo rademacher 18
Credit: Gilles Toucas/Courtesy Of Bell-Phillip Television Inc

Two months after his B&B debut, Ingo Rademacher admits that he’s still settling into his new gig as Thorne. “Because I came in right before the holidays, there was a lot of time off,” Rademacher explains. “I actually had to ask our publicist for directions back to the studio again because after the first break, I’d forgotten how to get here. Then, we had two weeks and I took the family back to Hawaii, and I forgot the elevator code to our building when we got back [to L.A]. I suppose my memory is going with age!”

Getting readjusted to the pace of daytime has presented its own challenges. “I’m just trying to catch up,” he says. “I’m still getting into a rhythm. My memorizing is way better now than it was. You’ll hear actors say that it’s a muscle, and it really is a muscle that you continually have to work. The first three weeks, I was really having a hard time memorizing all the dialogue, but I’m getting back into it now. As long as I’m memorizing the dialogue, that’s definitely the most important thing in my working life right now. Plus, I’m just starting to get familiar with all the character names, so that helps.”

He’s also familiarizing himself with his new alter ego, and doesn’t mind that Thorne has been played by three other actors before him. “It’s actually a lot of fun not playing a new character coming on to BOLD AND BEAUTIFUL,” Rademacher declares. “I mean, it is almost like playing a new character because of the fact that he’s coming on with a major attitude change and a new outlook on life. There are great points about him being Eric’s true firstborn son — and he is not letting anyone forget that. I don’t want him to be a downer, but it seems like he was always [slighted] and he took it. Now, he has changed, and I have the chance to make him a new character.”

But that doesn’t mean he’s ignoring everything that happened before he joined the cast. “Knowing the history of the character and what his movements were and what it was like during that time, those are all very important things that I need to know as this story unfolds,” he points out. “But then again, he has come back now with such a ‘take the bull by the horns’ attitude that it’s a new playing field. When the producers spoke to me about it, they basically said, ‘You are not taking s–t from anybody.’ So yeah, the backstory, sure it’s important, but telling the story now is the more important part.”

While navigating the ins and outs of his new role, Rademacher is seeking balance off-screen, as well. In 2013, the Rademachers moved to Hawaii, where the actor and his wife, Ehiku, run Mahiku Activewear. But now that they’re spending more time on the mainland, “I’m not really juggling it well right now,” he chuckles. “We hadn’t been back [to Hawaii] for a long time, so now we’re going to take trips back more often, whenever we get the chance. There are always things to do when you have an acre property with multiple houses on it, so I was working on that over the last break I had with B&B, which wasn’t really a break.”

Family time is also key for Rademacher, who is the father of two boys, Peanut, 9 and Pohaku, 5. “We’re making the most of the opportunity of being in L.A and doing a lot of extra activities with the kids,” he shares. The Rademachers home-school their sons, and, he says, “When they’re home-schooled, you have to keep them busy. They’re both in swim team and other than that, we just try to keep them busy around L.A. We’ve got passes to all the museums. We’ve got a season pass for skiing this year, so we’re going to start skiing up in Mammoth. You can’t do that in Hawaii.”

As Rademacher embarks on this new chapter at B&B and looks back at the road he’s traveled since first landing in daytime as a young bachelor over 20 years ago, he reflects, “For me, it has all fallen into place the way I’d hoped it would and I couldn’t be happier, to be honest with you. You forget those last 20 years very quickly when you have a family, and you don’t remember what you did when you were single — and honestly, I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

Just The Facts

Birthday: April 22

Hails From: Born in Germany; raised in Australia since age 10.

Family Man: Wed wife Ehiku on October 3, 2009. They have two sons: Peanut, born July 11, 2008, and Pohaku, born May 13, 2012.

Soap Suds: His other soap roles included Jasper “Jax” Jacks on GH, on and off, from 1996-2017; ex-David, TITANS, 2000-01.

Award Shelf: Rademacher won two Soap Opera Digest Awards for Hottest Male Star in 1997 and 1998.

Warm Welcome: Rade-macher participated in a B&B fan event shortly after his debut and felt welcomed. “People haven’t seen me on TV for a long time, so they seemed stoked that I’m back on something. If they were watching GH, obviously they like soap operas already and I’ve had a lot of comments from people who’ve said, ‘Yeah, I want to tune in and see how you’re doing.’ So, the response has been great. Daytime fans are the best.”

Business Sense: He and wife Ehiku have an activewear line, www.mahiku.com. “It’s constant work dealing with social media because if you don’t post, you don’t sell.”

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