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Canoe Jam!TV 7/22/04: Forbes March
Halifax native debuts on All My Children
By PAT LEE -- Halifax Herald
Halifax native Forbes March has a confession to make.
He's never been a soap opera fan; in fact, his family didn't even own a television until he was 14 years old.
So even March is a little amazed that he's about to make his debut on the American soap All My Children.
"I'm getting myself in trouble here, aren't I?," the actor says, laughing, after admitting he didn't grow up following the twisted love life of Erica Kane.
"QEH football player becomes construction worker becomes soap guy. Who would have guessed?"
March, who just turned 26, will make his debut on the daytime drama this Wednesday, seen here on ASN and ABC at 2 p.m.
Although he was originally hired to play the character Tim Dillon, March was surprised to learn he had been recast as Scott Chandler, son of sweet Stuart and nephew of evil Adam (both played by David Canary).
As diehard fans of the show know, Stuart adopted Scott as a baby after his HIV-positive mother Cindy died. The young man's been off to college for the last few years but is returning, and will likely have a love interest soon, too.
"You got no story if you ain't got a love story," March says.
Speaking from ABC's Manhattan studios during a recent lunch break, March said it's been a hectic, but exhilarating, few weeks since he reported for duty on the soap.
Although he's acted before, most notably on the CBC series Northwood, the pace of shooting a soap has left him quite breathless.
"It took me unawares, my heavens," he said. "It's just a lot of work. I didn't expect it to be quite so challenging.
"In a film or a weekly TV show, you have a week or two to shoot an episode; with these guys, they're shooting an hour a day. It's huge masses of material to memorize everyday, it means you're very rushed, you have very little rehearsal time and it has to be done in one take."
Adding to the pressure is the fact that soap operas are shot using four cameras instead of one, which can contribute to the confusion for a novice.
"You have to keep track somehow of which one is which, while keeping your light, while memorizing your lines, while following your blocking, while trying to act.
"I wake up at 2 o'clock in the morning going 'oh my god, did I walk to the right of the table or to the left of the table? I don't know!'," he said, with mock horror.
March, who commutes to Manhattan from his home across the river in Hoboken, N.J., said his fellow actors have helped him learn the ropes and will even give him subtle cues if he's about to make a wrong step while taping a scene.
"They're used to new people coming on and they've got the whole routine down pat of how to get you into the swing of things."
March's journey from jock at Halifax's Queen Elizabeth High School to budding soap star has been an interesting one.
After a year of university, a move to Vancouver and the job on Northwood, the exceptionally handsome March took off for Europe where he modelled for three years.
"It was fantastic, it was absolutely the most amazing experience of my life," he said about the modelling gig.
After living and working in Europe, March attended the prestigious Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in New York for a year.
He was then ready to go out and get "some honest opinions as to how I was doing" and started looking for work as an actor.
"The same week, quite unexpectedly, I landed the role" on All My Children.
The young actor said his parents - teacher Janette and philosophy professor Peter - are very proud of his accomplishments.
"They seem pretty excited, but my parents are pretty spectacular people as well," March said. "It's tough to keep up with Dr. Peter March on ballsy things to do."
And his friends from home - "my very honest peanut gallery" - have been burning up the Internet lines with e-mails of support.
So far, the hours have turned out to be long in the soap factory, with March often logging 12-hour days. But thanks to his castmates, he's starting to feel more comfortable on the set.
"I was (initially) just so stressed and nervous, I was counting the minutes until I could run home and hide my head under a pillow," March said.
He's also had to have a little make-over for the role of Scott, described by March as a "young" 22-year-old.
"They told me to cut my hair. They wanted me younger for one thing, so they cut it and made it kind of choppy and kiddie."
As if that isn't excitement enough, he's also briefly met Drama Queen Susan Lucci, who plays vixen Erica Kane on All My Children.
"I just met her this morning, she was very friendly. She was very professional, very on her way. She's got a lot of pressure on her."
Not the least of which might be whether or not she'll finally win a Daytime Emmy Award at this Friday's ceremony after being shut out 18 times previously.
And who knows, with the speed that March has moved up in the acting world, he might be in line for a statue of his own at next year's ceremony.
"Cross your fingers," he said.
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