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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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Lord Of The Dance
Thorsten Kaye Looks Forward To Gliding Through Many More Years On AMC
Soap Opera Digest
by Mara Levinsky, Published June 12, 2007
Thorsten Kaye (Zach, AMC) is always game for a chat with Digest - it's just that doing it on the record sometimes has him reaching for his internal mute button. Recently, however, he welcomed our AMC editor and her tape recorder into his dressing room, which he's decorated to pay tribute to his family (he and longtime love Su san Haskell, ex-Marty, ONE LIFE TO LIVE, welcomed daughter No.2, Marlowe, in January; firstborn McKenna is 4) and his beloved Detroit Red Wings. Stacy Haiduk (ex-Hannah) was also present; she came by to debrief with Kaye about the scenes they'd taped that morning and stuck around to watch Kaye hold court. As for Digest? We just pressed "record" and tried to keep up.
Thorsten Kaye: So, what are we gonna talk
about?
Chicks dig
me.
Soap Dpera Digest (to Haiduk):
Chicks totally dig him.
Stacy Haiduk: Oh, I can tell! People say to me, "Oh,
he is handsome."
Kaye: And?
Haiduk: And charismatic.
Kaye (to Digest): Can I add more
stuff later?
Digest: Let's generate a list together. Handsome,
charismatic,
great head of hair.
Kaye (patting his hair): Oh,
stop.
Hajduk: Good arms, good chest.
Digest: Muscular.
Kaye: Great singing voice. A lot of people don't
know that;
I'm not ready yet, you know, to share that with the world. Also, I'm a
classically trained dancer. Classical jazz, yeah. I like to tell story
through dance. Sometimes you see it on set and you're not even aware of
it, but it's there. I used to do a lot of dance on radio. DANCING WITH
THE STARS ... How about DRINKING WITH THE STARS? You start out with a
shot
of Jack Daniels, then work yourself up. What are your questions?
p>Digest: I'm sorry, I was still thinking of
stuff for
the list.
Kaye: You know what it is? If it was just
us, it'd
be easy.
But I think she [gestures at Haiduk] gets so
intimidated by no knowing
things she should know, I don’t want to bring up ore stuff.
Digest: How gentlemanly. Let’s add gentlemanly to
the list.
Kaye: Let’s!
Digest: Now let’s talk about AMC. You
recently
renewed your
contract. Are you a happy camper?
Kaye: I am happy. Without sounding completely corny,
I think
we have a good core of people and that we have the chance to do a lot
better
than we did [this past year]. I could probably find another job
somewhere,
but I think we have the possibility to do something great here.
Digest: Anything I your contract about rehearsal
space or a
ballet barre?
Kaye: That’s the thing about my dancing: It’s very
organic.
I never rehearse it. I never know when it’s going to start or when it’s
going to stop.
Digest: Does it ever stop?
Kaye: ABC asked me to stop. Yeah. Yeah, so it’s kind
of tough
to talk about that now.
Digest: If you had decided to leave, there would
have been protest
letters stacked sky-high in my office.
My mother likes to write a lot of those. It’s
hard to
talk her out o fit. She’s a writer; she likes to express herself. And
besides,
I tell her what to write. No, I think [the show] is going to be all
right.
We didn’t get a lot of [Emmy] nominations this year, which I
understand.
I think all of us can do better.
Digest: Do you think you didn’t do great work that
deserved
a nomination?
Daye: Oh, I know I didn’t do great work. I did okay
work, buy
you don’t get Emmys for okay work; you get Emmys for great work. I got
a little lazy this year, but a lot of us weren’t challenged. I mean,
look
at GENERAL HOSPITAL, Tony Geary [Luke] and those guys over there. They
get some great stuff. And I think it’s coming; I think we’re gonna get
some good things too.
Digest: Do you feel that the phenomenon that is
Kendall and
Zach has limited the way the writers have used you?
Kaye
(mock scolding): It’s Zach and Kendall, not Kendall
and Zach. But
yeah, it’s hard to think that on a soap opera, you’re only going to
have
sex with one woman for six years. I mean, that’s why guys sign on!
Digest: Let the record reflect that Mr. Kay is being
sarcastic.
Kaye: Yes, of course.
You want to be part of
something good
and it is good, the two of them together. I just think it takes a good
writing team to keep it going. Soaps are all about relationships. You
always
have to be involved with somebody and if it’s this same woman the whole
time, that’s great. But you still need a story.
Digest: Out of
curiosity, have you seen
Patrick’s
son on ONE
LIFE? (Kaye played Patrick to Haskell’s Marty from 1995 – 97. Marty,
recast
with Christina Chambers, returned with teen son Cole in November 2006.)
Kaye: Yeah.
It’s tough to tell that story without
Susan Haskell
in that role, first of all. But it’s fine. They talked to Susan about
it,
as you know, and she got pregnant so she didn’t end up doing it,
obviously.
But you know, wait for her! The story is important, but the actors and
the characters are important, too. If you have a story that’s okay and
a character that was interesting because of who played it, it’s only
when
you put them together that it works.
Digest: Speaking
of Susan, how are the kids?
Kaye: They’re great. I love being a dad.
The
12-week-old is
kind of quiet, but she’s starting to smile, starting to get a
personality.
And [McKenna], she’s good. She’s having a bit of a tough time; part of
it is being a big sister and part of it is being 4.
Digest: What do you two talk about?
Kaye: We talk abut a lot of things. I
don’t want to
say she’s
my best friend because it sounds corny – and it’s not true: I’m not
supposed
to be her best friend, I’m supposed to be her dad. It’s hard sometimes
because she does things that are fun – and I can see that they’re fun –
but I’m supposed to tell her, “no.” So, I try to have Susan tell her [laughs].
I’ll be the bad guy soon enough, trust me, when boys come in.
Digest: I love your scenes with the
little girls who
play Spike.
Kaye (eyes lighting up): Cool,
right? They’re so cute,
just great. They were on THE SOPRANOS the other day. They did all
right.
Digest: Do you give them notes?
Kaye: I give everybody notes. That’s
probably why I
don’t stay
around very long at any of these shows. People get bored with me. Those
girls are great, though I don’t know how long we can keep them, because
Spike is a boy and they’re getting prettier and prettier. The good
thing
is, Spike’s not Zach’s child, so if he does get
pretty, we can blame
Cameron [Mathison, Ryan]. Cameron is very pretty.
Digest: If you got to choose what came
next for
Zach, what would
it be?
Kaye: That’s a tough thing to ask
somebody; that’s
like going
into a bar and saying, “I’m gonna look for the redhead,” [when] it’s
about
finding someone you connect with. For me, it would be something that
makes
sense, that’s character-driven, that hopefully involves other people
who
I enjoy as actors and as people. I can’t sit here and go, “Oh, it would
be great if he hit the bottle!” and all that actor bullshit. I don’t
mind
being in the crowd if it’s interesting.
Digest: Who are the folks you most look
forward to
sharing scenes
with, not to say that you don’t love everyone you work with?
Kaye: I don’t! I think you know that. This
is a
place of work.
I didn’t come here to make friends. It’s not that I like or dislike
people;
I don’t like laziness. Being an actor is a privilege. If I see people
being
lazy because they’re pretty or somebody told them they were pretty, if
they come here unprepared and hungover because, “Oh I had to go to that
party last night,” that I don’t like. But to
answer your question,
I love working with Michael [E. Knight, Tad].
Digest: Who’s funnier, you or him?
Kaye: Uh,
have you been sitting here?
Digest: Let me rephrase: Are you the
funniest man in
America?
Kaye: Well, I have a following of
people who love
comedy – and
dance – and that’s the thing about dance, too. I hate to go back to it
--
Digest: I wasn’t aware we’d left!
Kaye: …but language is not a barrier for
me. I can
dance in
Hindu. And I have. But is Michael funnier than me? No, he is not. Walt
[Willey, Jack] is. That’s why I don’t like working with Walt [laughs].
Digest: Anything else we should cover in
our time
together?
Kaye: Just…[to] people who we may have
lost in the
last year
or so, you gotta give us another shot. I get paid the same either way,
but I think we’re a better show than people give us credit for. I
signed
up because I think the product’s gonna be good. I know it sounds corny,
but at the end of the day, that’s what gives you satisfaction – when
you
think, “You know what? I told a pretty good story.”