Thanks for that link BoyHowdy...
I've pasted it below so we don't lose it:
-------------------------------------------------------
Where There's a Will... There's a New Actor
At the ripe, old age of 20, actor Jesse Soffer is already a daytime veteran. He played Max on Guiding Light in 1999, and, this month, takes over the role of Will Munson on ATWT. SoapCity sat down with the young actor simply to chat about what's coming up for Will and his blended, dysfunctional clan. But then, we realized a fascinating coincidence.... Jesse (as Jesse Lee) played the role of Bobby in The Brady Bunch Movie and in A Very Brady Sequel. Advertisement Advertisement The role of Greg in those films was played by Christopher Daniel Barnes. Who, as C.B. Barnes, played the role of Paul Ryan on ATWT from 1985 to1986!
And let's not even talk about the fact that Colleen Zenk Pinter (Barbara) presides over a real-life Yours, Mine and Ours brood of six kids at home while, on ATWT, Barbara at one point was mom/stepmom to Paul, Jennifer, Will, Nikki, Adam and Parker!
Just call it The Munson Bunch, cue The Twilling Zone music, and bring on Jesse!
SoapCityAlina: So how does a six year old just up and decide to be an actor one day?
Jesse Soffer (Will): I was six years old, living in New York. I was watching TV one day and I told my mom I wanted to do commercials. My mom kind of blew me off, but, a few days later, I was at a BBQ and a manager gave me her card. So my mom contacted them and I got a few commercial auditions. My first job was a Kix cereal commercial.
SCA: And how did you get from that to being Bobby Brady?
JS: I auditioned for The Brady Bunch Movie along with the rest of the country when I was ten. Callback after callback after callback, and I eventually got the part. They sent me tapes so I could study up on how corny you can be. It was all just ripping on happy-go-lucky kids. I learned how (Bobby) held his hand in his pocket a certain way, and the way when everyone runs into the room their heads bob back and forth. Shooting that movie was awesome. We went to Hawaii, I worked at Paramount Studios. It was the most fun I ever had in my life.
SCA: And then you went on to television?
JS: I did Two of a Kind with the Olson twins, and then I did Guiding Light. Daytime hit me hard. It was really difficult. I was also in school at the time, so between work and school, I was learning my lines the day of (taping). It was really taxing on me. I was only fourteen at the time. Eventually school became a priority, so I got out of acting. My grades were dropping and I wanted to finish strong and go to college. I'm in (college) now. I'm taking some night classes. I'm going to continue doing that. I'm just going to get my degree a lot slower than the other kids, because I have an amazing opportunity on my doorstep. Daytime is great, because it lets me stay in New York, and gives me the chance to audition for other stuff.
SCA: What was your audition for the role of Will like?
JS: The audition was amazing. I walked in and I read the scene they gave me. It was some lines for another character, it wasn't the character of Will. Then, (Casting Director) Mary Clay (Boland) handed me another packet of lines and told me to learn them. She gave me five minutes to do it. She came back, I read it for her. She said: hold on a second. She went and got (Executive Producer) Chris (Goutman). He came in, I read it, and he says: Is this something you want to do for a while? I said: Yeah! He shook my hand and I walked out and my agent called me while I was still in the lobby. She said: you got the part!
SCA: That's pretty fast! What do you think you did at your audition that blew them away like that?
JS: It's all about making choices. That's what brings out a character. I think Will is troubled. All of his psychoses come from his mom. I think he's a really good guy, trying to bust out, trying to get away from his mother, but he's walking in her shadow, and it's tormenting him. I think deep down he wants to be a good person, but no one will give him a chance after what happened with Rose. He's just trying to get away from it all, but he's having a lot of trouble because he's been marked as a pre-teen murderer. Who knows, maybe he'll be cured. Or maybe he really is psycho.
SCA: Which actors have you worked with so far?
JS: I worked a lot with Colleen. She showed me around the set. For the first two weeks I was just getting background from her every day: who's this? do I know them? I've worked with Roger Howarth (Paul), Jennifer Ferrin (Jennifer), and Randolph Mantooth (soon-to-be-Hal). They all make really distinct choices when they're acting, which makes it easier for me to know where to go with myself, because they've been doing this for so long. You kind of just feed off of them.
SCA: Why the name change from Jesse Lee to Jesse Soffer?
JS: It's a whole different business when you start acting young. Your mom handles stuff, and you really don't know what's going on, you don't handle your finances. Now I'm on my own. I haven't worked in a long time, and if this is really what I want to do with my life, I'd like it to be who I am and use my real name. Acting used to be a hobby, but now it's my career. It used to be something I did for fun, but now it's my future .
______________________________________________
|