Post by jag11 on Jul 15, 2008 18:46:21 GMT -5
When Chris Engen walked on to the set of The Young and the Restless five months ago and into the shoes of character Adam Wilson, he had done a little homework, but not much.
Not because it wasn't a breakthrough role for a young actor -- his character's real name turns out to be Victor Newman Jr., making him the prodigal son of the daytime soap world's most venerable and villainous scion, Victor Newman, and thus the focus of many scenes -- but because it's just how he does things.
In fact, the 28-year-old Californian hadn't much watched the show -- daytime's Number 1 soap opera, with about 5.3 million daily viewers -- and didn't know all the characters, much less their story lines in the 35 years that Y&R has been on the air.
So when you ask him how he prepared for the role, you're surprised to hear:
"Well, I didn't, not really, but I did spend time with [Hope] and I think that gave me some idea."
Signy Coleman plays his character's mother, Hope Wilson Adams, who was blind and briefly wed to the nine-times-married Victor Newman, and who died on the show this year but not before telling her son that Newman was his father, thus making him one of several offspring now struggling in the considerable shadow of the enigmatic and controlling patriarch.
(If you think that sounds confusing, try watching it.)
Engen, who was in Vancouver on the weekend for the annual Y&R fundraising tea, says it was intimidating, at first, working with a veteran actor like Eric Braeden, who's played Victor Newman in his distinct abrasive way for 28 years, but the fit with the show, and the 30-plus castmates, seems to be working.
If Engen's dark good looks are his soap opera currency -- and with his five-o'clock shadow, mussy hair and easy smile, he's just one of many young hotties on the set -- his resume is also part of the package.
Before Y&R, he appeared in a number of movies, and as recurring characters on primetime hits like CSI: NY, Saints & Sinners and Felicity.
He says he's signed a longer-term contract with Y&R, but that doesn't bring any guarantees, and he just hopes the cool intrigue he's bringing to the character, the is-he-good-like-mom or evil-like-dad conundrum, will keep viewers interested.
As for where his character is headed, with Heather and Sabrina especially, well that's another story.
And if he knows, he sure isn't telling.
Not because it wasn't a breakthrough role for a young actor -- his character's real name turns out to be Victor Newman Jr., making him the prodigal son of the daytime soap world's most venerable and villainous scion, Victor Newman, and thus the focus of many scenes -- but because it's just how he does things.
In fact, the 28-year-old Californian hadn't much watched the show -- daytime's Number 1 soap opera, with about 5.3 million daily viewers -- and didn't know all the characters, much less their story lines in the 35 years that Y&R has been on the air.
So when you ask him how he prepared for the role, you're surprised to hear:
"Well, I didn't, not really, but I did spend time with [Hope] and I think that gave me some idea."
Signy Coleman plays his character's mother, Hope Wilson Adams, who was blind and briefly wed to the nine-times-married Victor Newman, and who died on the show this year but not before telling her son that Newman was his father, thus making him one of several offspring now struggling in the considerable shadow of the enigmatic and controlling patriarch.
(If you think that sounds confusing, try watching it.)
Engen, who was in Vancouver on the weekend for the annual Y&R fundraising tea, says it was intimidating, at first, working with a veteran actor like Eric Braeden, who's played Victor Newman in his distinct abrasive way for 28 years, but the fit with the show, and the 30-plus castmates, seems to be working.
If Engen's dark good looks are his soap opera currency -- and with his five-o'clock shadow, mussy hair and easy smile, he's just one of many young hotties on the set -- his resume is also part of the package.
Before Y&R, he appeared in a number of movies, and as recurring characters on primetime hits like CSI: NY, Saints & Sinners and Felicity.
He says he's signed a longer-term contract with Y&R, but that doesn't bring any guarantees, and he just hopes the cool intrigue he's bringing to the character, the is-he-good-like-mom or evil-like-dad conundrum, will keep viewers interested.
As for where his character is headed, with Heather and Sabrina especially, well that's another story.
And if he knows, he sure isn't telling.