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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Rescue Me
Like the valiant doc he plays on PC, Thorsten Kaye slays us with his eloquence and humility
Soap Opera Weekly
by Joanne Gallo, Published February 6, 2001
Even
among the overcrowded ranks of idealized soap heroes, Port Charles' Ian
Thornhart can make a girl's head spin. Is it that killer
combination of brains and brawn, as he formulates life-saving serums
one minute and knocks out evil millionaires the next? Is it
the way he inhabits a baggy shirt and three days of stubble lie a coat
of shining armor? Or is it the passionate soul that shines
through under the most stressful circumstances? Any man who
waxes poetic on the green fields of Ireland or Eugene O'Neill while
trying to break out of captivity is no run-of-the-mill soap hunk to be
sure.
Blessed with the constitution of a true warrior, Ian gives 110 percent
to those in greatest need without a second thought - whether it's the
African children Harris caused to die or his pal Lucy, who was injected
with a deadly virus. Most recently, Ian's chivalry has been
directed toward Eve, and whether she can resist him remains to be
seen. Meanwhile, fair maidens are lining up for his help, as
mysterious newcomer Arianna has enlisted him to keep her safe.
Needless to say, Dr. Thornhart is too busy to be vain or self-absorbed,
and much the same can be said about his portrayer, Thorsten
Kaye. Like his character, Kaye possesses a rare combination
of intellect and muscle. A former rugby player with an M.A.
in theater from Wayne State University and a passion for Shakespeare,
the down-to-earth Irishman*[1] keeps his mind first and foremost on his
work. Kaye doesn't revel in celebrity and rarely gives
interviews. So we took this special opportunity to ask the
soap hero how he views Ian and himself, whom he admires and what
inspires him to do his best work.
It's rare to
find a soap
actor who doesn't like to do interviews. Why do you shy away
from the spotlight?
The reason I don't like doing interviews is very simple:
There's
nothing I could say that hasn't already been said more eloquently by
someone else. When I answer questions I feel like a little
boy coming out of the rain, so to speak, with nothing better to
do. I have no insight. And for an audience waiting
for something that will change the way they feel, there is no grand
experience. I don't shy away from the spotlight: I
shy away from the responsibility that it illuminates.
Are you
comfortable with
the attention from fans?
When I was working in England, an old director friend said to
me that
if I am to read reviews of my work, I have to believe all of them or
dismiss all of them. Attention from people who watch the show
needs to be measured the same way. Unfortunately, not
everyone will love you or understand what it was you were trying to
with a particular scene - or worse, someone will tell you how wonderful
you were and how you're the only one who could have brought out the
qualities in the other actor. The next thing you know, you
get a nice corpulent ego standing in your way, tell you how
clever you are. And the minute that happens you've lost the
one thing that made you a competent performer: The ability to listen,
and to trust the other actors in the scene.
What do you find
most
rewarding about your work?
What I enjoy most about working, and not just on soap operas,
is the
work itself. I don't watch a lot of television unless it
involves some kind of ball or puck, and living in L.A., I rarely go to
the theater. So more often than not my creative incentive
comes form watching my "brothers in arms." Julie Pinson (Eve)
and I were working on a scene today, and she was given a tremendous
obstacle: A mediocre scene that was pivotal to her character.
I won't tell you what the scene was, but she created something honest
and wonderful out of nothing at all. And I saw her do
it...that's my fun.
What qualities
do you
most admire in Ian? What similarities do you find between
yourself and him?
Ian Thornhart doesn't shave on a regular basis, he never wears
a watch,
and prefers baggy clothes. He also seems to have a problem with
authority. What that means to me is that he spends more time
looking at other people's faces, chooses clothes that allow him to do
his best work, and is convinced that the time is now.
Similarities? We both have a brother named Patrick. (Kaye
played Patrick Thornhart on One Life to Live from 1995-97.)
Who
first inspired you to become an actor?
I was pretty much inspired
by anyone who used
language with imagination and taste, but I do think there is a reason
why
the works of one William Shakespeare have generated such a current of
derivative
literature. His ideas about women, religion, law and war were
treated
in 1,564 items of literature in a single year...maybe he was on to
something.
Which
of your fellow actors do you most admire?
A few of us went to Super
Soap Weekend in Orlando
last year, and although I had met Mr. John Ingle (Edward, General
Hospital)
once before, I'd never spent any time with him or his lovely
family.
He is a wonderful actor with a great natural charm, tremendous
charisma,
and a firm, warm voice. So I couldn't help but be impressed
by him.
But when I saw this man with his wife and children in the middle of a
crowd
of people wanting his autograph, and I saw how calm he was and how he
never
lost track of his wife of his kids, I knew that this was an actor I
could
look up to.
What
would you like to achieve?
I'd like to be part of the reason
why Port
Charles stays on the air, so I personally invite readers to
come and
visit. I never figured out why some shows are supposedly
better than
others. We have all the elements, and they're coming together
nicely.
As far as the critics of the show, they don't interest me because
they're
concerned with what's past and done, while we're concerned about what
chapter
is next.