Young Texan actor Josh Duhon is one of the newer cast members of General Hospital, playing bad buy Logan. He began his acting career in Dallas doing commercials, and while taking some college classes began auditioning for independent films. He is well aware of the history involved with General Hospital and is enjoying his time learning the finer points of such a demanding job. Josh spoke to BuddyTV about how he got his start, working with his GH co-stars and the thrills of meeting Billy Dee Williams.
Below you will find a transcript of the interview as well as a complete mp3 audio file.
Your Take
bnhHanishewsk2 said: if Josh Duhon leaves the show i leave the show. He is the glue that holds the show together
bnhHanishewsk2 said:
Guest said: could you please tell me who play’s Trevor….I have seen him before….but can’t place him…..thanks….c…
Hi, this is John from Buddy TV, and we’re talking with Josh Duhon from the ABC soap opera General Hospital. Hello, Josh!
How are you, John?
I’m OK. Now, you’re one of the newer cast members on the show. You just started in March, I believe?
No, I’ve been there since about February, beginning at February.
OK, so how are you adjusting to being one of the new guys?
You know, everybody on the set, even the crew, has been very kind to me. The cast that we have on the show are all exceptionally talented actors and actresses, so it’s been a pretty easy adjustment to the speed of daytime. I think it’s the biggest adjustment for actors who cross into this genre, the speed at which everything’s done. Overall, it’s been good.
Where did you get your start in acting?
I started off in Texas. My first official acting job was a Sprite commercials with one of the Mavericks players, a guy named Dirk Nowitzki, that I did a couple of years back, and then I started taking some classes. I was in school for finance, I was working on a finance degree, and it just kind of… it all started from there. Did a few independent films there, did some stuff out of Texas, and you know, coming back and forth to L.A. Having different meetings, different auditions, and then moved out here several months ago.
When you first started, were you familiar with General Hospital at all?
Yeah! I mean, I think everybody, even if they don’t watch it, they’ve heard about General Hospital. It’s been going on for 30+ years, everybody knows the name. I was not an actual day-to-day viewer of the show, but I was certainly familiar with it and knew the history behind it.
Did you have to play catch-up, then? Because there’s a lot of character back story, like how this character’s related to that character, and how do you pick that up?
Well, my character was a brand-new character they were bringing onto the show, you know, it’s not a recast. So my character was specifically supposed to be tied to Lulu Spencer on the show, so I researched a little bit into the history of that character, and her ties on the show, and her relationships with the different characters on the show.
That was primarily my research, and then once I was given my back story on my character, I kind of developed my character from there. But most of my research was done also on the guy who’s going to be playing my father on the show, Kin Shriner, who plays Scotty Baldwin. You know, studied him a little bit, some of the mannerisms you know that he has, and other tendencies he has as an actor. Just before I got on, so I could fit as closely to that profile as possible, that was my research, my homework in the beginning.
And you mentioned with Lulu, there were a lot if different men chasing her, and you seem to be lately on the show the one who’s going to get her. It looks like you’re heading towards more intimate romantic scenes. I’m wondering, as an actor, is that comfortable, uncomfortable, doing a romantic love scene?
You know, love scenes are the kind of thing that you just kind of have to go for 100 percent, ’cause if you do anything less or anything in the middle, it just doesn’t come off right. Your audience is not gonna buy it, so comfortable, uncomfortable or not, you gotta go forward 100 percent. I am pretty comfortable in general with that stuff.
Julie Bernan, the actress who plays Lulu, is exceptionally talented. The stuff I’ve done thus far with her, she’s been great. She’s really professional, a very talented actress. I can’t say enough about her, she makes me look good. So thus far, everything’s going great with that. I think I have a very high level of comfort in reference to stuff like that.
As a new character, are there any… have you been watching the show and following the show, and are there certain actors or characters that you wish you had scenes with?
Well you know, I’ve been fortunate enough so far in my storyline to work with a lot of the actors that I really enjoy watching. I’ve done a lot of stuff with Bradford Anderson who plays Spinelli. I’ve done quite a bit of stuff with Maurice Bernard who plays Sonny, worked with Tony Geary and Jane Elliot. I’ve got a chance to work a lot with Kin Shriner who plays Scotty.
So all those there, that’s the history of this show. You know, what’s been going on for 15, 20 years, so I’ve learned a lot. From all those people, doing a lot of things just the other day with Stuart Damon and Jane Elliot, so a lot of fun working with them just from a standpoint. I have the utmost respect for them and the actors, it’s just a blast working with them.
Yeah, I’ve noticed that watching the show. Usually a new character will come on and then they’ll be connected to one person, and then slowly integrate. But you came in, your character working for Sonny, trying to get with the Spencers, you cover a lot of bases.
I do, I’ve gotten kind of all over the place. I enjoy it because it gives me quite a nice variety of people to work with on a day-to-day basis, I’m just blessed from that standpoint, ’cause it’s not always like that in daytime.
Going with that, you’re also now appearing in the GH spin-off on SOAPnet, Night Shift. How’s it working on two shows at once?
Night Shift was a cool experience. It’s shot on the same set, it’s not all the same cast, but all the same crew. Quite a few of the same cast members. I got a chance to do some scenes with Billy Dee Williams. I’ve been watching that guy forever. I’m a huge fan of Star Wars and that stuff, so I had a blast doing the scenes with him. But the vibe and the feel of the show is a lot different.
My character on the show is the same as on General Hospital, so dealing with a different situation but the same character. It really wasn’t too big of a change, you go to the same place, you work with the same crew, you work with a few of the same cast. I dod a lot of stuff with Julie Berman It was cool, though you get to see some of the other people and have another job, so it was cool, I liked it.
So other than the GH and the Night Shift, do you have any other plans for the summer, what you might do?
Well you know, my time right now, I signed a four-year contract with General Hospital. It’s actually not that tough you know, just really adapting to it. It’s just now, after about six months, now I guess… just now the point where I’m starting to feel comfortable. Really, truly comfortable with what I’m doing on the show, and it’s coming out in a lot of my work.
I’m just getting adjusted to the technical aspects of the daytime: the camera shots, the lighting, that kind of stuff. So I’m reaching some new levels in my work, because now I’m comfortable with the technical aspect, comfortable with the people and everything else.
So this summer is really dedicated in General Hospital usually to the younger storyline. My storyline’s really picking up, a lot of cool stuff going on, and so I’m really focusing on that at this point in time. Really not thinking about anything else other than General Hospital and just doing the best job I possibly can for them
OK, well, thank you very much for talking to us, and I wish you the best of luck in the future on General Hospital.
Thank you very much, John!
-Interview conducted by John Kubicek, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image courtesy of ABC)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.
