Maurice Benard of General Hospital fame recently hosted one of his co-stars on his podcast series, State of Mind. Before the episode’s release, Benard released a statement talking about how fans sometimes see actors as their characters. Notably, this comes out after another General Hospital alum revealed an incident where they got in trouble over their character.
Maurice Benard Himself Has Played A Crime Boss On The Soap Since 1993
Benard joined the cast of General Hospital in 1993. Since then, he has consistently portrayed Sonny Corinthos over the years on the soap.
Throughout the years, Sonny has proven himself to be a complex character, both antagonistic and sympathetic. Still, through the character, Benard knows firsthand what it’s like to play a character that might shock fans.
In addition to his work on General Hospital, Bernard is known for hosting the State of Mind podcast series, in which he usually interviews his soap castmates. Recently, as shared by Soaps, he spoke with Carlo Rota, who recently joined the soap as Jenz Sidwell.
Before the episode’s release, as the publication noted, Bernard reposted a statement on X talking about Rota. The message notably highlighted that viewers often mistake Rota as being just as villainous as his characters.
As the statement noted, “I’m really glad that Carlo Rota that plays Sidwell on GH is on State of Mind. His character is so evil and distasteful I had trouble separating the person from the character.”
On The Podcast, Carlo Rota Himself Weighed In On Playing A ‘Bad Guy’
“I had never seen him in anything else. He’s a delightful fellow, so now I can remind myself Carlo is a nice person in real life, just playing a terrible character on GH. It can be weird that sometimes humans can lump an actor in the same box as a character they play.”
During the podcast, Rota also noted that, “I played a lot of bad guys. But, from the start, I made a decision that this seems to be a thing now. Me playing these bad guys. I want to play them.”
However, Rota also noted, “I will never play a ‘bad’ guy.” He went on, saying he always liked to give his character depth, since no one thinks of themselves as a “bad guy.” As he put it, he always likes to keep his characters “charming and approachable.”
Bernard’s statement was timely, as he wasn’t the only General Hospital actor who recently opened up about fans thinking actors are their characters. As previously reported, while appearing on The Jennifer Hudson Show, Cameron Mathison recently recounted an incident in which a fan who disliked his character threw an apple at him.
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