First off, we think you’re doing a fabulous job as Victor! “Well, thank you. When you first take over a character like that, a lot of the diehard fans are like, ‘But that’s not Thaao [Penghlis, ex-Victor]!’ But after a while, like with all soap characters that have been around for a while, you kind of gradually make it different and make it your own. He’s such a fun character that I think people enjoy Victor no matter what actor is playing him.”
It’s been fun to see him interact with more and more characters. “Yes, it sort of grows and grows each week! I’m still struggling to figure out who everyone is. Do I hate them? Do I like them? Are they trying to kill me? Am I trying to kill them? Have I slept with them [laughs]? It moves at breakneck speed. When Victor shows up for Thanksgiving at Alexis’s house, it was like a bevy of Cassadines. Everyone’s there and tension is high and Victor is surprisingly back from the dead, and it was quite fun trying to figure out who everyone was and how I was related to them. But they’re definitely having Victor interact with more varied people now, which is nice.”
So, thanks to Scotty’s creative lawyering, Victor is now a free man. Your scenes with Kin Shriner (Scott) were a lot of fun, as well. “He’s great! I remembered him from back in the day when I was on DAYS [as Shane] and we’d see each other at events. We have a mutual friend who lives in Canada, so when I first got on GH, I sought him out and said hi and we chatted briefly in the green room. So to actually do scenes with him was great.”
We haven’t spoken to you since it was revealed that Victor has a bouncing baby boy in the form of James Patrick Stuart (Valentin). “Right! Funny enough, I did a support role in a Hallmark movie [2012’s A TASTE OF ROMANCE] that he was the lead in with Teri Polo [ex-Kristin, LOVING]; they were both chefs and I was a food critic. I have to remind him of that! But playing his father is great. He’s a great guy. We really enjoy working together. Because of Covid restrictions, you can’t really hang out the way you could in the old days, when you could just go into someone’s dressing room and run lines. We have to meet in the green room and sit at a distance. So, we don’t get the chance to hang out during the day, but when we work together, I really enjoy him. He’s very funny, very good.”
When you first worked with Tristan Rogers (Robert), did you remind him that you had crossed paths before during your first GH run as Alistair? “Oh, I didn’t have to remind him, he remembered. We’ve seen each other a couple of times over the years and we’ve always remembered each other. That was so much fun, to work with him; those antagonist scenes are always fun. Establishing these power dyamics and relationships with everyone — you know, I’m sort of discovering Victor as I go and making choices that I hope are right. You sometimes make a choice then get the next script and realize it was completely the wrong thing! You just hope it works. But the power dynamics with Tristan are fun to explore. Same with Marcus [Coloma, Nikolas] and Finola [Hughes, Anna] and with James, this whole new dynamic now that we’re father and son — and Valentin isn’t happy about it!”
