In Print
Follow the linksto 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.
Main Section
Interview
Carolyn's Corner
Soap Opera Weekly
by Carolyn Hinsey, Published September 18, 2007
This week's guest is Thorsten Kaye, who plays Zach on All My Children.
Carolyn: There's a lot of
crying on soaps,
but you often
make a different acting choice. Why does everybody cry in all
your
scenes except for you?
Thorsten: I am crying.
I'm crying on the inside.
That's why I'm so bloated.
Carolyn: Can't you ever say to the actors
in your scene,
"Let's get through this without anybody crying"?
Thorsten: Then you know what
happens? You get a
note from someone upstairs saying, "There is a lot at stake here," and
wanting someone to cry. Then I will have to say, "Yeah, but
can we
not play result all f---ing day? Can we
play hope?
Can we maybe play that we are bigger than this and that we can make
it?"
It's like a dog that knows when y ou are scared, so you've got to try
not
to be. You've got to try to be strong for people.
But for some
reason, soaps always want to show weakness. You saw the Emmy
tapes!
Everybody was crying. And the best cries won.
Carolyn: Which is so funny to me because
actors always
say that crying is the easiest thing to do.
Thorsten: It is. I don't even
know what the hardest
thing to do is.
Carolyn: Remember your lines?
Thorsten: Yeah! No, make the
scene about somebody
else and not make it about you for once. When you watch
Kendall now,
it's always about her. "I can't live with him not being able
to go
to school" or "I can't do this." It's about a kid.
It's not
about you. I want to see some strength. But that's
me.
Carolyn: Stacy Haiduk is coming back as
Hannah.
What do you think of her?
Thorsten: She's great. She
reminds me of Lynn Herring
(ex-Lucy, Port Charles).
Carolyn: Why?
Thorsten: Because she's one of the
guys. She doesn't
take any of this stuff too seriously. She tells a story and
goes
home. There are no tears. I like actors that don't
expect to
get to a certain place. Just get there. It's more
natural.
Also the disappointment factor doesn't come into play, because you're
not
sitting there like so many actors going, "I didn't get to where I
wanted
to go." How did you know where you wanted to get
to? This is
the first time this ever happened, so how come you had a
plan? That's
the theory of acting.
Carolyn: You should give a class.
Thorsten: You'd be my only
student. And you
probably wouldn't show up. Hey, what do you think of what
we're doing
with Spike's hearing loss?
Carolyn: I think it is an interesting and
timely story,
unlike Zarf the transsexual, which I don't think spoke to a lot of
viewers.
Thorsten: Let's just hope Spike isn't
transsexual.
Do you think if Zarf had been deaf it would have been a
better story?
Carolyn: Yes. I also think if I
had been blind it
would have been a better story.
Thorsten: (laughing)
That's f---ed up!
I like the story but I hate playing every scene in the
hospital.
It's worse when you have to play a doctor. Poor
Joe!
Oh, my God, I never really worked with Ray MacDonnell (Joe Martin)
before,
but that guy is solid. He knows his stuff and he's
funny. I
don't know how old he is but I'm guessing he is older than I am.
Carolyn: He doesn't look older than you.
Thorsten: I know. I've tried to
explain this to
you before. Life has not been kind to me.
Just put something
nice about him in the magazine because he really is good. And
he
has a good sense of humor about everything. He hardly ever
cries.