Thursday, April 18, 2013

GH50 PALEY INTERVIEW: Marc Anthony Samuel On GENERAL HOSPITAL & Playing Felix Dubois

He has become the go to wingman in Port Charles! I had the pleasure to chat with Marc Anthony Samuel who portrays the outgoing outspoken "Felix Dubois" during the "GENERAL HOSPITAL: Celebrating 50 Years and Looking Forward" event at the Los Angeles Paley Center on April 12.

Congratulations on being a part of television history.
MARC ANTHONY SAMUEL: Thank you. This has been unreal.

Where do you get your inspiration for playing Felix?
MARC ANTHONY SAMUEL: My inspiration is friends mostly. I have friends that will verbally cut you in a heartbeat if you do them wrong.

Your portrayal comes off very authentic. Sometimes when an actor plays a gay character it can come across as over the top.
MARC ANTHONY SAMUEL: My father was huge about this, when I told him I got the role he said "I don't want you to play a caricature, I don't want you to do anything that dishonors yourself and dishonors the LGBTQ community. You've got to be real, be honest." And I knew that already. My dad had my back about this, but I told him "there's a good writer who understands what's going on and an executive producer that understands what's going on. I think they are going to do us right." He said okay, go get that job.

It's easy to look at a script and play just what's on the page.
MARC ANTHONY SAMUEL: Yeah, absolutely. But you have to rest in truth, that's where any good stuff comes in. Felix, before he's gay, before he's black, before he's six feet tall, he's a human being. With that comes desires, dreams, love, wanting love, things you don't like, bad mornings, everything.

Who would you love to work with, that you haven't had the opportunity to share scene time with?
MARC ANTHONY SAMUEL: Wow... I want to work with Kirsten Storms (Maxie). I want to work with Maurice Benard (Sonny). I want to work with everybody honestly but those are the two off the top of my head that I want to work with. Especially Kirsten, she's my homie. When we get together in real life, we cut up so I can only imagine with Maxie and Felix would be like.

Walker Ragsdale is a freelance blogger with a passion for everything pop culture.

4 comments: