Courtesy/ABC

Many daytime fans have been missing the talents of the Trevor St. John from their television screens, where for an amazing eight-year run on One Life to Live he played the role of Todd Manning in a performance that broke the mold in the soap genre. As many know in his last month of the show it was revealed Trevor’s Todd was really Todd’s twin, Victor Jr., and the character was subsequently murdered.  That story is still playing out and resonating on One Life today with many repercussions ahead.

And now, as Trevor focuses on his new projects and endeavors, he is getting rave reviews in a new film from actor-writer-producer, Patrick Wang, called In The Family, which is set to debut in New York City on November 4th hopefully with national distribution to follow.  The inspiring and emotional tale of In The Family features Trevor in a role that his fans have never seen and he have never played before…that of a gay father with a life-partner, and from there the intense drama begins in a motion picture that deals with many social issues of our day.

To say Trevor is elusive, sometime reclusive, a true original, funny, bright, and one of the most powerful actors we have ever seen is just the tip of the iceberg.  On-Air On-Soaps is happy to bring you this interview where Trevor reveals his side of the story on his departure from OLTL, and his thoughts on the reveal of his alter-ego being Victor Jr. and Roger Howarth returning to the series as Todd.  Plus, he opens up about his thoughts on the amazing fans of daytime, and his
co-stars and the soap genre, and how he truly was, “The Accidental Soap Star”.
We begin on our talk with what Trevor had to say about his new motion picture!

MICHAEL:

Courtesy/IntheFamilyLLC

Trevor, your new film, In The Family just got an amazing review in Variety.  And in it, you play Cody.  And part of the set up of the film is Cody and his partner, Joey, (Patrick Wang) care for a little boy, Chip, who is Cody’s biological son.  The backdrop for the film is interestingly Tennessee … and Cody suddenly dies!  How long are you in the film, if you are “killed-off”?

TREVOR:

I am mostly in flashbacks and Patrick kind of does it non-linearly. I get killed in the first 30 minutes of the film, and then you see me in flashbacks throughout the rest of it.

MICHAEL:

How did you come into this role?   Did you know Patrick Wang previously?

TREVOR:

I did not know Patrick Wang before. My agent sent me the script and wanted to know if I was interested in it.  I thought it was a beautifully written script.  And I went in and read for Patrick and that was it.

MICHAEL:

And how was he to work with?  The film sounds amazing on so many levels!

TREVOR:

Courtesy/IntheFamilyLLC

Patrick is really one of the best actors and directors I have ever worked with, and he has got a really risk taking spirit.  He understands human nature and it is born out in his screenplay and the final product of the film.  He knows how to talk to actors.  He is patient and he knows what he wants, and he has great esthetic vision.  He is a very talented guy and he has it all.  Plus, he is a really a good actor!

MICHAEL:

It is a very important social issue of our time, having same-sex couples raising a child.  And this film even brings in another issue, when one of the partners suddenly dies and now there is one single gay parent raising a child.  Was that one of the things that drew you to the role and the movie?

TREVOR:

I think so.  I have never played a gay character before and I am always looking to do something different.  And I knew I was going to have to kiss him (laughs).  I knew that was one of the “oh-gosh-I-don’t-know-about-that” moments.  But, I thought you need to just jump in to whatever you are fearful of or reticent to do.  I always make it a rule to jump right in there and see what it is like.  So that was one of the reasons I took the role, but mostly it is story.  The other stuff is secondary to the story.

MICHAEL:

Well, from everyone I have had the privilege to speak to over the last several years at One Life, they always tell me, “Trevor was the risk-taker!”  And, that you are the one who comes in on set with a twist on something.

TREVOR:

Courtesy/IntheFamilyLLC

For sure, I like a challenge.

MICHAEL:

What will fans that have watched you on OLTL see in your performance of Cody? Clearly, he is much different than Todd/Victor Jr.!

TREVOR:

I would never even know where to begin with that. Cody in In The Family is a real good guy and he is a real good dad, except I realized when I watched the film there is a scene where I go pick up my son and I don’t make him put his seat belt on! (Laughs)  Cody is also a deep feeling person, but then so is Todd.  The difference in character is how they choose to act out on their feelings and however their feelings are manifested.  I never even considered, “Well, I want to play this guy different than Todd.” I think it’s all in the writing, and the writing is so different.  So as an actor if you get out of the way, then the character comes through.

MICHAEL:

Do you know people in your own life that are in a same-sex relationship that have raised a child?  I have met many couples over the last few years that are looking to adopt a child and raise it, and there are still a lot of struggles for same-sex couples to be chosen, or sometimes accepted in this society as “fit” parents.

TREVOR:

No, I don’t, but I have a four and half year old son now myself.  However, I feel strongly about this.  I don’t know if I would necessarily say it’s ideal to have a mother and a father, (and that would be fine), and you have a masculine and feminine type of situation going on, but I don’t think it’s necessary.  I think that is one of the least important parts for a child being raised.  A child should be raised by loving and respectful parents who are considerate of their child’s growth, and a woman or a man, or two women, or two men; neither of those has a monopoly on this or knows better than anyone else.  You can have a mother and a father raising a child and have it be the worst situation, and you can have a same-sex couple doing the same thing and have it be really wonderful.  Great parenting is not a function of your sex or your sexuality, and that is just a fact.

MICHAEL:

Courtesy/IntheFamilyLLC

So it sounds to me from that we are going to need our hankies for In The Family!

TREVOR:

Yeah, you might need it.  I know there were people on the set who were crying during scenes. There is some moving stuff in it.  Patrick really allows things to happen, and you really take a ride and it’s very intimate.  He lets the actors really go.  So the audience gets really sucked in by it, so you might shed some tears.

MICHAEL:

You have done many feature films and television roles in addition to OLTL.  Would you say that this role in In The Family is one of your favorites?

TREVOR:

This is one of my favorites.  It is a departure from every thing else I have done.  And I don’t’ know if it was my favorite role, but it was my favorite experiences acting.  And it was of my best performances I feel, that is for sure.  I am really proud of it.

MICHAEL:

Now that you have experienced, playing gay, would you play a gay role again?

TREVOR:

Yeah.  Gay or not, it’s all about the script and the story.  But yeah, sure I would do almost… … well, but I do have limits… but it’s mostly about the externals, now of course they effect your psychologically and all of that.  What I am trying to say is it’s all just a character.  It has nothing to do with you.  So why not play a gay character?  Why not play a killer?  Why not play a ridiculous person?

Courtesy/ABC

MICHAEL:

Your fans from One Life to Live miss you terribly.  What did you think of the plot twist during the end of your run when you were revealed to be Victor Jr., and that you and Roger Howarth’s Todd, were twins?  Many in the audience of course were all hoping for many episodes of the two of you going head to head over the business, woman, children, and every issue imaginable.  Since you had made the role of Todd your own over the last eight years, when you heard Roger Howarth was coming back were you like, “What? or “How cool!”

TREVOR:

I thought, “Oh cool” and I was really excited about it and one of the reasons is I like taking the risks.  But on the soaps, and this is not a diss of the writers or the people who are making creative decisions, but they can be a little redundant sometime.  Simply because of the nature of the stories they can tell, and it’s on every single day.  So it can be a little repetitive.  So anytime I got the opportunity to do something different, I was like, “Oh great!  Completely new circumstances and completely new relationships, and I revel in it and I was really thrilled by it.  And I have been asked the question a lot of, “Did I feel possessive of Todd?”  Not even a little bit.  And, I even thought I might when I heard Roger Howarth was coming back.  I was thinking, “I am sure he will play Todd.”  But I thought it was great!

MICHAEL:

Fans were witness to some amazing scenes with you and Roger in Viki’s study at Llanfair, when Irene was with the two of you.  You could see how much the two acted like twins.  Did you feel like you would have liked to see where all of that would go?

TREVOR:

I was a little confused about why they chose to structure that plot the way they did.  Most of the time was spent on the discovery of who was who, rather than the repercussions.  And I think it was the repercussions that the people wanted to see.  I am not saying it was wrong; I just don’t why they would do it that way.

MICHAEL:

Courtesy/ABC

You had posted a blog informing your fans that it was soon going to be your last day at One Life and thanking them for all of their love and support. What from your perspective were the circumstances surrounding your departure from the series?

TREVOR:

The case was, I was not going to stick around if the show had not been cancelled.  I had told them back almost a year ago that I was not going to continue on and then the show got canceled.  I will just tell you this because I am sure people want to know. It has nothing to do with the quality of the show, or the circumstances, or the people there.  It was just that eight years for my personality, and this is all me not the show, that for my personality and other reasons, I was looking to do other roles and take risks, because I didn’t become an actor to do the same thing over and over again.  I mean, if I wanted to do that I would have chosen another profession.  Now some actors love it and they love to play the same part and have the security of a long running role, but that is just not my personality.  It was eight years of doing the same role and I can’t do twelve.  And that is what it would have been.  I really adore the people I worked with over there, and I miss them.  I miss them quite a bit.  I love a lot of them, too.  The only thing I want to do, as the same thing longer than 8 years, is being married. (Laughs). Everything else I can’t take.  It was not about a “grass is greener” thing either.  It was simply about something different.  A lot of people think I am thinking, “Well, Trevor wants to go on to bigger and better things.”  No, no.  Not bigger and better.  Just different.  So that’s the reason.  And then the show got canceled and I went to the powers-that-be and I said, “If it would benefit the show, I would be happy to stick around until the last episode.”  And this was before Prospect Park came into the picture and all of that.  I said, if you would like to play that story out, and would like to go another four months, I could certainly go another four months. Let the repercussions play out and if you think it would be helpful to the show, I would be happy to do it.” So my contract ended on July 31st and July 22nd was my last day.

MICHAEL:

There have been conflicting reports that OLTL had wanted you very much to stay, but it became a timing issue.  Do you think it was because they had planned the story already so far ahead that when you had informed them you would be interested in staying, that they just couldn’t go back and re-script from where they were at the time?

TREVOR:

No, from my perspective I think they could have definitely changed it.

MICHAEL:

Courtesy/ABC

You have been labeled “difficult” by some.  Do you think that is a fair assessment?  It seems like very creative and talented individuals at times often face this same “tag” in the industry.

TREVOR:

There is no doubt about it, because I know what I want.  And I mean, I am not a jerk about it, but the reasons the fans of the show like what I am doing is because I am willing to take those risks.  I am willing to fight for those choices and whatever.  And on a day to day basis, it can be a grind.  My dear friend, Dan Gauthier (Kevin, OLTL) told me, “Trevor, if you weren’t playing Todd, you would have been out of here so long ago.” And I said, “I know.” (Laughs) Look, this is a business, and I get where they are coming from.  Who wants someone going, “No. I don’t see it that way.  This is what I want to do,” on a day to day basis.  In life and professions most people on the day-to-day want everything to be so easy.  The irony here is that this is the reason that people are commenting and appreciating my work, I think, is because of my approach.

MICHAEL:

So did you know they were going to shoot you as Victor Jr.?

TREVOR:

I don’t think they knew what was going to be the end for my character yet, and there were so many variables.  But they did tell me a couple weeks before I taped the episodes that I was going to get shot.

MICHAEL:

Courtesy/ABC

What do you think of the way he died?  I thought it was in particular very bloody!

TREVOR:

It was bloody.  It was fine, and it was really about, who did it? Who shot Victor Jr.? You come to really accept what they give you.

MICHAEL:

What was it like working with Florencia Lozano (Tea)?  TNT fans want to know!

TREVOR:

I love Florencia, man; she is a bit of a risk-taker herself.  And working with me can be challenging because I will let myself go.  I have always thought that the mark of a really professional actress is to be able to say, “Yeah. You can go wherever you want as long as I don’t get hurt and I know when my line is coming.  Do whatever you wish.”  And that is what I tell all the actors I work with.  You can do whatever you want. You can yell, cry, scream, whatever you want, as long as I don’t get physically hurt and I pretty much know when I am supposed to talk and then you can do anything you want.”  I think that creates a situation that is fun for the fans, because if you don’t know what is going to happen, then the fans don’t either, and they are going to be on board with you.  Florencia is willing to go there and is willing to allow that because she is a pro.

MICHAEL:

By the way, it looks like coming up, and from online rumors, that Tea thinks she might be pregnant with Victor Jr’s child!

TREVOR:

Oh, no kidding?  Wow, I wonder why they would do that? (Laughs)

MICHAEL:

Courtesy/ABC

How about your other leading lady, Kassie DePaiva (Blair)?

TREVOR:

Kassie is great!  I will tell you she is one of the lucky people.  She is such an interesting person.  So she does not have to try very hard, and when she doesn’t try very hard she is really brilliant.  I mean really brilliant!  She has all the talent.

MICHAEL:

And how was it working with Roger Howarth (Todd)?

TREVOR:

I like Roger, I really like Roger.  He is a sweetheart of a guy to talk to and have around. He is very open and a little bit like Florencia … willing to turn things on their head. Roger is a very talented guy.

MICHAEL:

What was your favorite Todd moment?  I loved the ending when you played Victor Jr. so in denial over what transpired, that you were saying you were Todd and wanting to take the family to Hawaii!   I say “Emmy” great choices!   But also what sticks in my head is the death by lethal injection execution scenes.  What are you most proud of?

TREVOR:

I do remember the whole Hawaii thing and trying to convince them I was Todd.  I think that was right near the end after the reveal I was Victor Jr.  I also liked the lethal injection.  But there were some moments on One Life to Live that I thought were really lovely, that weren’t very dramatic, and I don’t mean it was underplayed or something.  I just mean that it was not all that noteworthy because it wasn’t as intense as the execution scenes or something like that.  It’s one of those moments that happen when probably the directors or anybody noticed it, and it went right over their heads, and that is the stuff that I really love.  As far as the story; the execution story was a lot of fun, and this Victor story at the end was a lot of fun because it was so different.  It had a real beginning, middle and end.  You can hold on to that and sink your teeth into something like that.

Courtesy/ABC

MICHAEL:

The emotional scars that your character Victor Jr. must have suffered from the brain-washing, and the face altering, and what his mother had done to him, and finding out he is not Todd, was all so horrific! I mean, the guy would then have had to become really fractured about it.

TREVOR:

I know!  That is what I thought.  It would have been nice to get the information out of who I am and then see what happens.

MICHAEL:

Would you even entertain going back with One Life to Live when it goes online via Prospect Park?

TREVOR:

I would think about it. (Laughs) You never say never to something like this, but it would really depend on the circumstances, and all the variables.  That is what all the NFL quarterbacks say when they retire! (Laughs)  But as I said, it was never about the quality of the show or anything like that, it was just needing to do something different.  So with Prospect Park, it would really depend on the level of obligation.

MICHAEL:

Is it weird not being there at One Life?

TREVOR:

Courtesy/ABC

No, its not.  But I do miss my friends who I laughed a lot with on the set.  I laughed with Michael Easton (John) a ton, and we were ridiculous on the set!  We would laugh with Florencia, and Kassie, and Kristen Alderson (Starr) and everybody.  I mean, anybody who happened to be on the set when I was there.  I had a hard time taking it seriously. And again, I don’t mean that because it’s ridiculous, I mean because you can’t.  If you want to be any good, you can’t take everything so seriously.  The more seriously you take it, the worse your performance gets.  So I kept loose by being silly.

MICHAEL:

Were you surprised One Life got canceled by ABC?

TREVOR:

No, but there were so many good people who depended on it and really needed and wanted it to be there, and family men and women who thrive there.  So hopefully the Prospect Park deal will keep them afloat.

MICHAEL:

What would you want to say to your One Life to Live fans that miss you terribly?

TREVOR:

I will tell you this, man.  I was always so impressed by them, and so appreciative.  I felt a great deal of affection for them and I hope that they will continue to follow what I am doing and I hope they will continue to support One Life to Live.  And I want to say to them it would really be a great gesture to me if they can continue to watch the show even if I am not on it, because of the people who I care about, who are still trying to make a living there, and who are trying to make their way there.  So it would be great favor to me if they would continue watching the show.  And also, to check me out and see what I am doing, and go see In The Family.  But, I would like to say that I can’t thank them enough and I hope they are proud of who they are, because I was always impressed by them.  I think they are always, always smarter than the industry gives them credit for… much more on the ball!  I would go into these fans events, and they would come up with these things and I would go, “Man, you’re right!  That is very interesting!”  They are just a lot more savvy, perceptive, and intelligent, than they were given credit for. 

MICHAEL:

Courtesy/ABC

Todd was so complex and tortured.  Were you able to just go slough it off when you would leave the studio to go home to your wife at the end of the day?  Or, did it stay with you and he was difficult to shake?

TREVOR:

I would slough it off because I am not the kind of guy who stays in character.  That doesn’t work for me.  It was easy, because I never really associated myself with Todd, but it was personal when they yelled “action” and it wouldn’t have been any good if it wasn’t personal, but it wasn’t my identity.  There are a lot of folks who wrap up their identity in their character in this business, and I never did.

MICHAEL:

What do you want to do with your career now?  Where are you kind of at with it?

TREVOR:

Just to be in projects where there is interesting writing and be a part of interesting material.  Now I need to make a living, of course, but that is secondary, too.  Obviously it’s secondary, because if I just wanted to make a living I would have just stayed on the soap.  It’s more interesting to me to be exploring different things than to be comfortable.  Unfortunately, that is my personality and sometimes I wish I would be the guy who wants the Manhattan apartment and the second home upstate and just be interested in having my weekends off and my nights free, but I just can’t.  I had it for eight years and now I want to do something else.

MICHAEL:

So, what was your take away from playing Todd on OLTL and Cody from In The Family?   I am not necessarily saying “life lessons”, just something in your professional growth or personal experience, perhaps.

TREVOR:

Courtesy/ABC

Good question. I will tell you what I learned and it is more of an artistic thing than a life lesson.  It is writing is everything.  I mean, it is everything and it was just that I was able to get out of the way of what was and not try to be interesting.  I never tried to be interesting.  It was about if I just got out of the way and let the writing be what it was. And after eight years I just realized it’s embedded in me and ingrained in me that, that is the case.

MICHAEL:

Did you like OLTL’s head scribe, Ron Carlivati’s writing? He gave you some amazing stories to play!

TREVOR:

You know, I never played Todd to be a bad guy.  I never played him to be a good guy.  I never played him any particular way. And the fans would say to me, “I love what is happening with the character and how did you do this?”  And I would say, “I am not doing any of this. This is all Ron Carlivati.  If you like what I am doing it is because of the writing.”  Now I am not taking it away from myself.  It is true that it takes a lot of courage and skill to just let go and not try to manipulate or be interesting, and so I give myself credit for that, but I have to give more credits to the writers because they are the ones creating the interest, not the acting.  It is a great kind of relief that I don’t have to do anything.  It’s not up to me, and it’s not my responsibility of whether or not the scene or the episode, or the story is interesting. It is the writers. 

MICHAEL:

And do you feel the same way about the movie, In the Family?

TREVOR:

Absolutely, because that is what I learned from OLTL, that is, there is nothing I can do. If I didn’t think a scene was interesting and I tried to make it interesting, the less interesting it got.  I treated the whole 8 years as experimental and it is a fact now, like it was a theory of mine that became law – that it is a writer’s job to make the scenes interesting, not the actors.  And therefore, I would like to tell Hollywood and everyone else to make writers more “lauded” and more powerful and given more credit and more money and everything they want, because they are everything!

MICHAEL:

You are like the “Accidental Soap Star”.  You probably had no idea where this would all take you, or where you wanted it to take you.   You signed on to a role eight years ago and it just took off probably more than you could have imagined.

TREVOR:

Courtesy/ABC

I think that is absolutely right and it’s a bit of paradox, because the less I tried to be interesting, the more interesting it became.  So what I took from that and what I learned from In The Family and that is when you are with a really great director who really understands acting, they really let you go.  They might say, “Let’s try this. This might be interesting.”  But they would never say, “Nah, nah, not it. That’s not going to work.”  Yes, they have more time on movie set, but Patrick saw a lot of guys for the role of Cody and he chose me.  So, what you do if you are a good director is go, “I have to trust my choice.  I decided to hire this guy, and so let’s let him go and do his thing, and let’s help him.” 

MICHAEL:

Trevor, do you feel you’ll ever do another soap?

TREVOR:

Again, it would depend on the nature of the obligation.  It’s all about the obligation.