In Print
Follow the links to our archive of Thorsten's print interviews and articles about the characters he's portrayed.
Above: On the cover of the June 26, 2007 issue of Soap Opera Digest.
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Gold Star
Thorsten Kaye (Zach) is this issue's standout performer
Soaps In Depth
Published October 12 2004
Whoa! Did someone actually make us start to feel sorry for Michael Cambias? Thorsten Kaye, beginning with Zach’s confession to Maria – that he is Alexander Cambias, Jr., whose death was faked years ago – has offered a captivating insight into the mysterious casino owner and his unresolved feelings for his brother. “Do you think that garbage was part of God’s plan? Because that’s where they buried my brother – covered in filth and waste. Left to rot.” That account of the ersatz grave site showed us Zach’s distaste for what Pine Valley did to Michael, as well as the guilt Zach feels for not being there to save the brother who saved him by staging Alexander, Jr.’s, death.
Family Reunion
To really explore his character’s mindset, Kaye shared quiet scenes
with William de Vry, playing Michael as a figment of Zach’s
imagination.
Appearing in his condo as Zach was perusing childhood photos, Michael
led
his brother to question many things. “I should have taken you with me,”
Zach said, lamenting that they both should have played dead to escape
Alex,
Sr.’s scrutiny.
He then asked Michael about Bianca’s rape. Acknowledging the hell that their father surely put the unfavorite son through after Alexander, Jr.’s, demise, Zach asked, “Did you try to hurt someone to take your pain away?” Michael, of course, contended that Pine Valley was out to get him. “I never should have left you,” a guilt-ridden Zach sighed. “First Father, and now this entire town.”
Zach Makes Excuses
The “reunion” was interrupted by Maria, distraught to see Zach
obsessing
in his fiendish brother’s condo. When she said the rapist was unworthy
of such remembrance, Zach wielded a picture of young Michael. “Look at
that smile. It’s not the face of a monster,” Something in Kaye’s eyes,
though, let us know that Zach, even with Michael there “at his side,”
barely
believed what he was saying. “Maybe the sex was consensual…maybe she
was
confused,” Zach proposed, grasping at straws.
Upon Maria’s exit, Kaye gave a new tone to Zach’s dialogue with Michael, one more accusatory than sympathetic. “Did you do this? Did you rape Bianca?” he barked at his brother. This time, Michael’s canned response did not reach Zach. As de Vry’s character pleaded, “Please, don’t do this. I need somebody to remember me,” Kaye’s alter ego turned his back, tucked the file on Michael back into a drawer, then returned to the sofa with no sign of Michael to be seen.