A lot of your technique has to change in terms of being more internal, more with the eyes, very simple movements and keeping things subtle as opposed to theater where you tend to broaden that horizon a bit and can let yourself go and you can be very animated. For myself, I have never really done much theater. I admire the actors that do theater because I think it’s the most amazing form of art and I think that they are definitely actors among actors. I think too that fear in anything you do should drive you and for me the fear of being onstage really drove me and would drive me to do stuff like that. I also think that every actor has his or her own way. Every actor feels different in different environments. It’s six of one and half dozen of the other.

Nadine: So the location is sort of compensation for lack of an audience? There is just a different motivation there.
Stephen: You’re feeding off of the other talented actors. But for me personally what drove me the most was it was my first time in a very long time doing a series that was completely on location. And first of all, I was very driven by the fact that I had gotten into primetime. That was what I was driving toward, that’s where I wanted to be and ultimately taking those stepping stones that you have to take in this career, in this industry. So for me that’s what really drove me the most. I can’t really say that location made me an actor because that’s not the case.

Nadine: That’s not what I meant at all (laugh). I get where you’re going. Who did you learn the most from at GH? And give me one specific lesson that they taught you.
Stephen: Well I’ll say this that there’s three people in this period in my career so far that have taught me a great deal whether it was a simple comment or whether it was just working with them or not. First and foremost obviously Tony Geary. I think Tony Geary, probably in this industry, in the daytime world, he is the elite. He is such a professional. He is such a brilliant talent that when you do work with him it’s not only that you have to come prepared but he allows you that freedom to experience what it is to be kind of spontaneous and to be in the moment and let that moment kind of take you. The thing that I learned the most from Tony was listening. When you’re an actor and you have that eye contact, and you listen, things just click and it makes sense. And that was when I first realized that, probably in my fourth or fifth month on GH, when I was new and I was green and I was still learning the industry and still learning how to be an actor. When I got that chance to really work with Tony Geary and have Tony really put it straight to me, it really allowed me to trust my instincts. That was really the lesson I learned from him—to trust my instincts. The second person I would have to say would be Linda Dano. Linda Dano would always say ‘Stephen if you stay true to who you are, you’re gonna make it big’.

Nadine: That’s awesome…
Stephen: Yeah, she’s an angel. The third person I would have to say is the first person I ever worked with on a movie set and that’s Charles Durning. I did a movie called Justice which is now called Backlash. When I worked with Charles, he would kind of pull me aside on set and say ‘I wanna tell you something. I know you’re new but you’ve got a lot of talent and if you stay true to yourself, and you trust your instincts you’re gonna do just fine’. Three people who’ve had very reputable careers and done well for themselves. Just to hear a simple word of advice or anything that would be a lesson learned from those kind of people is something that you should take with you every day throughout your career. But I admire Tony a lot for what I’ve learned from him because predominantly a lot of my work was on that show.

Nadine: You used the phrase “make it big” What’s your definition of making it big? Be totally honest.
Stephen: As actors we all have that pipe dream. That dream of being the next Tom Cruise or the next Johnny Depp. When I got into this business, I used to always joke around that I was gonna be the next Tom Cruise. First and foremost, he’s the most untouchable movie star of our generation. He’s the biggest thing there is. Ultimately, I think for me what would be making it big just having longevity and being able to do what I love to do for an extended amount of time and make a great living at it and be happy. For me, I’m thrilled with that level of success. If you really want to take the next step, for me my pipe dream is to be that guy-- to be the next big movie star. Do I think I’m capable of doing it? I think so, absolutely. I think I’m talented enough, I think I have the drive. But in this business, you need a shot and that doesn’t lie in our hands. It’s kind of eerie to think that our careers are based on somebody else’s opinion. But who knows?

Nadine: Well you do sound driven enough to do it. Tell me about those first few days on GH. You were a recast for Tyler Christopher-pretty big shoes to fill- and given the track record in daytime for recasts, tell me what was the predominant feeling that you were having and what were you telling yourself in order to deal with it.
Stephen: First of all, in the past, there have been a few articles where [my opinions about Tyler] were misconstrued. I have never had anything bad to say about Tyler. I think Tyler is and always has done a phenomenal job. When I walked into that character, I was petrified. The only thing I knew was that my Mom watched that show since I was two years old so for me that was scary in itself. Here I am walking on the show and I’m looking at Tony Geary and Genie Francis, and Stephen Nichols and Mary Beth Evans. And not only on my first day did I work with those people but I had to do four shows. And the four shows consisted of about one hundred pages of dialogue and I had never done anything like that in my life! On top of that, I had two love scenes with Mary Beth Evans so I was a little nervous. I think that every few minutes I was turning to the camera and saying, ‘what’s my line?’ I was all over the place and to be absolutely honest with you, I was all over the place on that show for a good four or five months.