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INTERVIEW

Meet GH's Dan White

Dan White is having a blast playing the thorn in “Mike’s” side in Nixon Falls, the slippery Elijah.

White, who played a doctor for a day on Y&R in 2016, notes, “This is certainly my first sustained role in daytime TV, so it’s super-exciting. I like to refer to it as the jackpot I hit. When I found out who I was going to be spending my time with” — namely, Daytime Emmy-winners Maurice Benard (Sonny) and Cynthia Watros (Nina) — “I was like, ‘Wow!’ To step into this role with Maurice and Cynthia is just fantastic. Like many people, I watched soaps with my grandma, so I knew Sonny Corinthos as the gangster we all love. I knew that coming in, and that was really exciting. I had heard wonderful things about Maurice’s work ethic and how much he likes to play with other actors. He’s so gracious and it’s been so cool to get a chance to work with him. And Cynthia is so generous, checking in to see if I’m okay, asking me if I want to run lines or discuss the scenes beforehand. She’s made me feel very welcome. She’s just a lovely person. She’s kind and giving and open and gives you a lot of energy in a scene. It’s wonderful to act with her.”

The actor is thrilled that Elijah has turned out to be a central player in the Port Charles expats’ storyline. “I was cast in January and I started shooting the second week of February,” he says. “I had my first two scenes, when Elijah was trying to buy the Tan-O and it being foiled. We find out we’re on hold [to shoot another episode] about 10 days before, and we find out we’re booked about six days before. As soon as I got done [with my first show], I found out I was on hold for two more episodes. The audition said two episodes, maybe more, and I’ve already done episode 16! I’m so happy about it, and I feel like I have my training at CalArts and my wonderful acting coach, Gloria Gifford, to thank. I had a series on Showtime years ago based on the Barber Shop movies and we shot one episode a week. We had a lot of time —and several takes! So, stepping [onto a soap] with two big-time actors, it’s definitely been a challenge, but one that was welcome.”

Coming from a family of soap fans, White beams, “This has been and continues to be the highlight of my career. My grandma and all my aunties watched [GH]. Every day I walk past my grandma’s picture and I see her smiling. This is exactly what she wanted me to do when I moved out here, and I’m fulfilling that promise. Everybody in my family is so happy, but my daughter, who’s 7 — I’m the voice of the Principal on CLARENCE on the Cartoon Network, and she’s more impressed with the cartoon voice than GH [laughs]. She’ll watch one scene to pacify me, but my fiancée loves it! This success is my family’s success as much as, if not more than, mine. My mom calls me after every show to talk about it. She said, ‘We’ve been waiting for this for a long time!’ The success on this show has meant so much to me, but I think the biggest reward has been the joy that I’ve seen it give to the people I love.”

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