Catching Up: With Justin Gaston (ex-Chance,Y&R; ex-Ben, DAYS)
JUST THE FACTS
Birthday: August 12
Born In: Pineville, LA
Spot Light: Competed on AMERICAN IDOL in 2010.
Taylor Made: He was the lead in Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” music video.
He’s Taken: Married to Melissa Ordway (Abby, Y&R) since September 22, 2012.
Less Than Six Degrees: Escapee, the movie where Gaston first met his future bride, also starred MURPHY BROWN’s Faith Ford (ex-Julia, ANOTHER WORLD; ex-Muffy, ONE LIFE TO LIVE), who also lived “across the road” from his parents in Louisiana.
The Little Dividends: The Gastons have two daughters, Olivia, 7, and Sophie, 5.
Standing On Ceremony: During Covid, Gaston stepped into the role of Y&R’s Chance to marry Abby, portrayed by his real-life wife, which meant no social distancing was required for the real-life couple. “Now we have a second wedding video,” he chuckles.
Play Things: After they first met, Gaston says he found Ordway’s collection of American Girl dolls creepy. “She still buys them and says there for the girls but I know they’re really for her.”
Once upon a time, Justin Gaston thought make-believe was real. “I didn’t know that was acting on TV,” he relays of his childhood mindset. “I thought those people I was watching actually existed. But LIZZIE MCGUIRE was one of my favorite shows and I started wondering why I didn’t see her around town. Then I started realizing none of those other people were real because I never saw them around, either.”
Gaston’s childhood, nevertheless, was “solid”. “My mom and my dad were always there for me and very loving,” he describes. “They were always really supportive even when I took off for New York when I was 17. I graduated from high school early, and got scouted for modeling, so I moved to give that a try.”
Still, his parents offered some financial help. “They gave me $300 and somehow I lived on that for, like, three months,” Gaston marvels. “I walked everywhere and only ate once a day. New York was such a culture shock. I lived in a little apartment with two other people. I only got into one magazine, so I lasted just a summer there.”
The same modeling scout suggested that Los Angeles may be more to Gaston’s liking, so the now-18-year-old headed West. “It was still way different than Louisiana but a little more palpable,” he concedes. “It’s funny, because I can remember with one of my friends in high school, we were gonna live in L. A. and be skaters. Then I actually moved there but I tore a tendon in my ankle trying to skateboard because I was so bad at it.”
Gaston’s modeling career, however, got a whole lot better. “My first job happened when my roommate got a casting call for Justin Timberlake’s clothing line and that was a big deal,” he recounts. “I went along with him and I ended up in the runway show, which I had never done one before and I wasn’t very good. Someone made fun of the way I walked but I didn’t know what I was doing. I was just repeating something I had seen.” Through that gig, Gaston garnered the right attention. “From that show, I booked a campaign and flew to London. I had never been out of the country before that and then I started getting commercials.”
Gaston was soon appearing in ads for Coke, Christian Audigier, Adidas, International Jock and Hugo Boss, his love for country western music (“I grew up on ’90s country, listening to Tracy Lawrence and Kenny Chesney”), but still had a pull to the stage. Eventually, he landed on Season 6 of NASHVILLE STAR a competition show that was looking for the next big artist. Gaston finished 10th overall out of 12 contestants and was signed by Simon Fuller, artist manager and creator of AMERICAN IDOL and The U.K.’s POP STAR, who wanted his client to be a part on his new show called IF I CAN DREAM. This time, five contenders would live together while pursuing their chosen field of creative arts, sports or fashion. “I didn’t really want to do another reality show but Simon was managing me and I was on his label, so I was like, ‘Yeah, I’ll do it,’ ” he recalls. “When we were promoting it, we went to 10 different countries, so to see the world like that was really cool. I learned a lot and I loved working with Simon.”
Gaston eventually turned his focus back to acting and it was while playing the doomed Kyle on the horror flick Escapee that he became better acquainted with his co-star, Melissa Ordway, the equally-doomed Renee, while they were suspended in a tree for hours as “corpses”. “It was a curious way to fall in love but I’m so grateful to God that I met her,” he enthuses. “We were engaged 14 months later and two years after we met, we got married.”
It wasn’t long after the “I do’s” that Ordway booked the role of Y&R’s Abby and the following year, Gaston was cast as Ben on DAYS. The gig didn’t last but his portrayer continued booking TV movies. Despite their busy careers, the duo adopted Olivia in 2016, and were surprised when they became pregnant with Sophie, who they welcomed in 2017. Establishing a family helped the actor find true purpose. “When work becomes your identity, it can get a bit treacherous,” Gaston notes. “But I feel that marriage and kids grounded me. Family has become my true north.”
Which is why Gaston can empathize with the character he’s playing in his new movie, God’s Country Song. The project also allowed him to meld two passions, acting and singing. “I’ve done movies before where my character is singing and for some, for some reason or another, you’re not allowed to sing the songs,” he discloses. “So, this was nice because I was able to use my own singing voice and get into character that way.”
Although Gaston has written and released his own songs, he didn’t compose any of the music for his latest movie; however, he has a new tune that was just released. “One of my close friends from high school, Ben Schofield, is an extremely talented artist and producer and he was even up for Grammy [for Best Gospel Performance/Song],” Gaston relates. “So the song we did is called ‘The One’. I was thinking about the weight of being a dad, as well as this movie, and the first line is that I can’t run away from my mistakes like I used to. When you’re younger you can get away with more, but now as a father, my mistakes have generational effects. So, it’s about wanting the best for your children.”
With his burgeoning music career in Nashville, Gaston splits time between there and L.A., where Ordway’s soap job is based. The couple is currently building a house in Tennessee. “We’re excited about it and, God willing, it all works out,” he chuckles. “I love, L.A. and that’s where we’re raising our kids but we also enjoy the small town feel of Nashville. It’s the best of both worlds for us.”
And if a new soap came calling, “I would love it,” Gaston shares. “It’s a great working environment and a job you can do and still be a big part of your family. Plus for an actor, it’s consistent work. I’m just waiting for the call [chuckles].”
Noah’s Arc
In God’s Country Song, which started streaming on June 16 on PureFlix, Gaston plays Noah Bryan, a rising country music singer who’s poised for superstardom. “He’s about to get his big break and then he finds out he’s the father to a four-year-old boy, whose mother, a woman Noah hardly remembers, has died,” the actor explains. “So he’s at this crossroads in his life. Does he pursue his dreams or will put that on hold to step up and raise this child?” Noah decides on the latter but realizes he needs help with being a dad, so he moves with the boy, JJ, back to the Arkansas farm life that he ran away from. “Noah also deals with some addiction issues and he sort of gets into some trouble,” says Gaston. “He’s got a lot of past trauma — he lost his brother and he has an estranged relationship with his father because of how he left. When he goes home, he’s still wrestling with all of these demons, so he’s trying to find himself and his faith.”
Being a dad in real life, it was a challenge for Gaston to play someone who doesn’t know the first thing about child-rearing. “I already know all of the TV shows and games that kids like and how to talk to them, so I had to take a different approach with Noah and forget everything I’ve learned,” he explains. “So I remembered what it was like with [first daughter] Olivia. When you have a newborn you’re like, ‘What am I supposed to do with this?’ They’re so fragile and you’re afraid you’re gonna break them. So, I could imagine what that was like when I didn’t have kids and JJ [Miller], who plays my son, was a great little actor.”
During shooting, Ordway brought their daughters to watch Dad work. “Because of what Melissa does, they sort of know what’s pretend,” Gaston points out. “They’ll say to her, ‘That’s your fake dad,’ and ‘your fake husband’, but on the day they were visiting me, I was in a fight scene and the girls did not like that, especially Sophie. We tried to explain that it was pretend like what Mommy does is pretend, but she wasn’t haven’t any of that. But they loved meeting JJ and we’ve had a little premiere in Arkansas, which they had fun attending.”
There is just one downside to the experience. “Olivia wants to be an actor now,” Gaston sighs. “We’ll see where that goes.”
