Watch your back, George Clooney! There’s a soap star who may just beat your record for most frequent flyer miles!
After over a year of playing the shady and mysterious David Chow on The Young and the Restless, Irizarry was happy to permanently move back to New York in 2008 when All My Children welcomed him back to their show as No. 1 villain David Hayward last year.
For his efforts, Irizarry finally won a 2009 outstanding supporting actor Emmy Award, which he shared with his former AMC co-star, Guiding Light’s Jeff Branson.
However, life proved it indeed has a sick sense of humour, when last fall ABC announced that it was pulling up stakes and moving its entire production from New York to Los Angeles to save on costs.
But Irizarry is used to living the life of a gypsy.
At age 11, the Queens, N.Y., native moved to Lake Grove, N.Y., to study piano, becoming classically trained in the process, then continued his studies at Berklee College of Music in Boston.
There, the personable hunk fell in love with acting while performing in numerous productions with a regional theater company. Irizarry later decided to move back to New York to sow the seeds for a career as a professional actor, soon winning a full-time scholarship with Lee Strasberg at his Theater Institute.
After becoming an overnight sensation in the breakout role of Lujack on Guiding Light in the early ‘80s, Irizarry left daytime TV to pursue the bright lights of Hollywood. After a few guest stints on nighttime TV and an unmemorable role on Santa Barbara, Irizarry returned home to New York to create a new GL role, Nick McHenry, before assuming arguably his darkest and most complex role to date, Dr. David Hayward on AMC.
And Irizarry, 50, has never looked back since.
TVGuide.ca caught up with the charming actor on Mike Gold’s Soap Cruise this past month to discuss working with the likes of the late, great Beverlee McKinsey, why AMC’s David Hayward is his most favourite role, where he keeps his Emmy Award, and why his Y&R stint was doomed from the start.
TVGuide.ca: All My Children’s N.Y.-L.A. move is over. How was it?
Vincent Irizarry: Not bad. Obviously, there are variables that are out of our hands. We’re working with an entirely new crew. We were working with an entirely new format now that we’re HD. The cameras are different. The lighting is different. So that’s taking some time to adjust to. Our crew in N.Y. worked so hard to make our show look seamless despite our lack of time. But that took 25 years. Alchemy needs to be formed in L.A. first. But our new L.A. crew is wonderful.
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TVG: Adjusting to a new crew must be akin to dealing with a recast. You need to develop a new rhythm and trust. Is it surreal working on the left coast but all the sets and actors are the same?
VI: Yes, it’s very surreal. Rebecca Budig and I taped AMC’s first scenes in L.A. on January 5th — the show’s 40th anniversary. Taping the 40th anniversary of a show with an entirely new crew on a different coast and new sets was the very definition of surreal. Wildwind is an entirely different set, by the way. But I love that David lives there. |
TVG: How’s it like working with Lorraine Broderick again?VI: I love Lorraine! I don’t think a lot of people know this but Lorraine created my character. David was originally intended to be on the show for only three months. Six weeks into working with Lorraine, Megan McTavish came in. Every time I see Lorraine, I run up and thank her for creating this character but I haven’t spoken with her since she has come back. Any time our show was struggling with bad writing, I’d always ask [executive producer] Julie Hanan Carruthers why she wasn’t trying to seduce Lorraine into coming back to
AMC. Just like Agnes Nixon, Lorraine knows the history of the show. As you know, Lorraine handles
AMC with respect and affection. It was odd. Lorraine is an artist. I was lucky to work with her on
GL for a period of time as well.
TVG: Were you happy with how former head writer Chuck Pratt Jr. wrote David?
VI: I know people had issues and problems with his writing but I can’t complain. Chuck wrote David very well. So, personally, I can only talk for myself and not for anyone else. And I’m grateful to have worked with Chuck. As a result, I won an Emmy Award with his writing, so you’re not going to hear me bash Chuck.
TVG: Well, let me interrupt and just say that you won your Emmy Award. Writing helps, but in the end, voters judged your acting.
VI: Well, thank you very much. That’s nice to hear, but you never want to bite the hand that feeds you [in show business]. But you’re right — at the end of the day, I did have to come up with the goods no matter what the writing was like. That’s our job as soap actors.
TVG: You’re great at subtext. And that can make mediocre writing sparkle.
VI: That’s the reason why I love playing David — he’s so complex. There is so much to work with as an actor. He’s so broken. I do believe that David has goodness in him. And once in a while, David’s humanity comes through. Those moments are precious because it throws the audience off balance. David’s just a human being starving for love, truth and acceptance.
TVG: I wish the show would explore and explain David’s inner demons more in-depth as Young and the Restless does with Victor Newman or One Life To Live’s with Todd Manning.
VI: I thought they did when AMC brought on Marj Dusay as David’s mother, Vanessa. When I returned to AMC the first time, well, it’s funny because I went up to [former ABC Daytime President] Angela Shapiro months and told her I hated that David was just an annoyance to everyone in Pine Valley. David was in everyone’s face. I told Angela that the audience didn’t know anything about his past, except for Allie, and we need someone from David’s past to come on to show. We need to know why David acts the way he does with women.
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TVG: David has major issues with the opposite sex!
VI: Yes, major issues! Angela agreed with me and created Vanessa with Marj Dusay. My favourite scene ever is when David first sees Vanessa. At the time, the audience has no idea that Vanessa was David’s mother-from-hell. Later, Vanessa runs out with Erica and suddenly has a heart attack! Erica asks David for help, but all you see is David looking at her like, “You bitch!” Instead of helping his mother, David just stepped over her body and left! That said a lot. It was such a rich story. In that story, we learned David’s father committed suicide in front of him. David’s clearly starved for love. The only person who loved David put a gun in his mouth and blew his brains out. What does that do to a human being? David has major abandonment issues. And a relentless, infinite anger against life —and maybe his father — for leaving him with this psychotic woman.
TVG: And Marj played your on-screen mother twice —once on Guiding Light and then on AMC. Not bad. Most actors familiar in other roles can’t pull that off — but you and Marj did.
VI: I know! I was so lucky to work with Marj twice.
TVG: You know why it worked? Marj and you are actors. You didn’t replay Nick/Alex on AMC.
VI: Thank you. That was an important goal of ours. |
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TVG: Not to take anything away from the marvelous Marj Dusay, but you got to learn acting from the master — Beverley McKinsey on GL.
VI: Oh my God. I love, love, love Beverlee McKinsey. That’s why I mentioned her in my Emmy acceptance speech. She was at the top of the list. She had such a significant effect on me as a young actor. I was 23! When they told me GL was bringing on McKinsey as my mother, I had no idea who she was because I didn’t know the medium. Everyone came up to me and said, “Oh my God — you’re so lucky. Beverlee is an icon.” We clicked immediately. I adored her. I respected her professionalism. In fact, to be honest, she defined that term for me. She knew her lines, was always prepared.
As I grow older, I realize it’s people like Beverlee who have had the biggest impact in my life. Angela Lansbury is another hero in my life. I did a guest spot on Murder, She Wrote. I learned from Angela that you have to make it fun for the crew to come in to work. And they did have fun! Oh, they did. Show business is a team effort. I don’t understand why lead actors have to be jerks on set. Remember when Lansbury explains everything at the end of the episode of Murder, She Wrote? She did it all in one take. And the crew appreciated that, let me tell you. James Mitchell was another hero of mine.
TVG: Did you ever think you’d end up an Emmy-winning soap actor/superstar?
VI: I never watched a soap in my life. This is one of the great ironies of my life. When I was a teenager, my older brother and sister got hooked on General Hospital’s Luke and Laura storyline — and I’d always make fun of them for watching it! Every day, I remember walking through my house where my grandparents were watching either Days of our Lives or General Hospital, but I never sat down and watched with them. I didn’t think anything of it other than teasing my brothers and sister for watching soaps. Twenty-five years later, I’ve made a career out of the soap medium. So who’s the loser now, right [Laughs]?! |
TVG: How did you feel when CBS cancelled Guiding Light?
VI: Terrible! Especially when they announced they were replacing this iconic TV series with a game show. It all comes down to business. Robert Newman said that he’s happy
Let’s Make A Deal was critically panned and didn’t draw in huge ratings, but it’s cheaper to produce. That decision has tarnished the CBS brand. It’s the New Coke syndrome.
TVG: You are one of those rare actors in the business who created not one but three breakout roles. GL’s Nick and Lujack, and AMC’s David. What happened on The Young and the Restless with David Chow?
VI: When [former Y&R chief] Lynn Marie Latham found out I was leaving AMC, she brought me on. Lynn’s always wanted to work with me. So she gave a role that was only mentioned on camera and was never slated to be on camera. That’s why I was stuck with the name of David Chow.
TVG: [Joking] Because you look so Asian!
VI: I know, right [Laughs]! David Chow wasn’t one of those characters that was fully formed or thought out. Heck, I was still airing on AMC when I signed on with Y&R.
TVG: Where did LML fall in love with you? Was she a soap fan?
VI: Before my three-month contract expired, Lynn took me out for dinner to convince me to stay on Y&R. She told me she saw me audition for a show she was creating, Homeward Bound, and she really wanted me for one of the parts because I blew away the audition but the network didn’t think I was right. But Lynn told me she never forgot my audition, which was quite flattering to hear. It was between David Schwimmer and a few other big names. Clearly, I lost the role.
TVG: For a fan, she didn’t write for you very well on Y&R.
VI: In the beginning, I had a lot of fun working with Victoria Rowell. She was like a raw nerve, Victoria, you never knew what she’d do on set or with her character, Dru. I love working with actors like that. Y&R was trying to find David’s footing but then the writers’ strike happened. So things changed. Ultimately, the new head writers made David a gambling addict and killed him off the show. But I have to say David’s exit storyline was my favourite. Those last five months on the show were a pleasure because Y&R had finally fleshed out the character.
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TVG: David’s exit storyline is still impacting the Genoa City canvas till this day.
VI: I know. Which I think is so cool. What I loved about David is that he wasn’t a heartless figure. He was a tragic figure who couldn’t win against his addictions because they governed every aspect of his life. Personally, I really believed David loved Nikki. It was ironic because just as I was leaving Y&R, I finally felt like I could sink my teeth into David. And I think the audience was coming around and finally enjoying David Chow as well.
TVG: When did AMC contact you to reprise David Hayward?
VI: I think it was the last day I was taping Y&R. |
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TVG: And now you’re commuting back and forth between L.A. and New York for AMC! Do you feel like life is playing a little joke on you because when you filmed Y&R, you were commuting as well?VI: I never expected that. The best part of coming back to
AMC is that I wouldn’t be away from my children. Ten months later, after 40 years, ABC announced we were moving to L.A. I had no idea how that was possible. I was in shock. So that night, I bought an expensive bottle of red wine and told me wife, “Honey, I’m going to be commuting again.” She was like, “Are you kidding me?’ We decided to stay in New York because we didn’t want to uproot our children’s lives. I got a nice-sized apartment in Santa Monica, Calif., so my kids like to come with me and visit L.A. Commuting can be really tough on your body because of the time difference, but if you’re in L.A. for at least four days, flying back to New York isn’t as tough on your system. Less than four days, it begins to wear on you.
TVG: Finally, what’s the reaction to AMC’s new HD format? Are certain actors scared?
VI: Some people were worried. I had already shot in HD on Y&R so I was prepared. I keep constantly telling people it’s fine. Everything is new.
TVG: Where’s the Emmy Award?
VI: It’s in my bedroom! I didn’t want to display it in our living room. I wanted to hide it a bit and have the award blend in. Once my office is finished, I’ll probably move it in there. But the Emmy means a lot to me because I felt like I was winning it in Beverlee's honour. The fact that Beverlee never won an Emmy always bothered me and defies logic. I felt bad for Beverlee because I convinced her to put her name up for consideration and when the industry didn’t nominate her, I was heartbroken that the system failed. So when my name was called, I could feel that she was smiling down from the heavens.
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Nelson Branco is a Toronto freelance entertainment journalist, who regularly contributes to Hello! Canada, The National Post, The Los Angeles Times' theenvelope.com, TV Guide USA, tvguide.com, Inside Entertainment, OUT, and fab magazine, along with spearheading the soap coverage for TVGuide.ca's popular daytime TV hub. After graduating from Ryerson University in 1997, he moved from Toronto to New York in 1998 to take on the roles as senior news editor at Soap Opera Update. Branco first freelanced for Soap Opera Weekly as an intern in 1994, and after leaving Soap Update to help create and launch Bauer Publishing's In Touch Weekly in 2003, Branco continued to freelance occasionally for its sister publication, Soaps In Depth. Most recently, he helped create and launch Canada's first celebrity magazine, Weekly Scoop in 2005 as its news and entertainment director. Branco is also a contributor to a new TV show titled Planet Soap to air in Canada and America.
