Chat Transcripts: Ryan McPartlin
RYAN NEW HUNK FOR PASSIONS
The search is over! Daytime newcomer Ryan McPartlin joins the cast of
Passions as Hank Bennett, Chief Sam Bennett's world-traveled little brother.
The 6'3" former college football star assumes the role from its originator,
Dalton James, who was released from the show last December. McPartlin thought
he had blown his chance for the role when he kept showing up an hour late to
his auditions. "They were originally set up for one time, then another, and
my cell phone was down for two weeks, so that was the toughest part right
there," McPartlin explains.
"You're always so stressed going into an
audition. When you're an hour late, it just doubles the pressure." Luckily,
McPartlin realized the humor of his situation. "It was getting to be a joke
almost," he says, "and ended up reversing the effect" — much to the actor's
advantage.
McPartlin learned he had won the coveted role while talking to his mother.
"My agent called, and said, 'Ryan, you got the job,'" he recalls. "I got back
on the line with my Mom and said, 'Well, I don't need that loan I was just
calling about!'" Auditioning with McKenzie Westmore (Sheridan) also made the
process a whole lot easier.
"She's just such a good actress, she made me feel
right at home and very comfortable. As we were setting up for the screen
test, I got to ask her a couple of questions about the show, and she got me
excited about it."
A fitness enthusiast, McPartlin recently became a certified personal trainer.
"I'd been trying to figure out a way to get out of the restaurant business
waiting tables," he reveals.
"I really wanted to get into the fitness
lifestyle because I'm [already] in the gym; I spend a lot of time
exercising." McPartlin, who learned that he had passed his certification two
days after landing Passions, will probably have to put his fitness career on
hold. "I've got a lot of people that want to start working out with me now
that I'm on Passions," he says with a chuckle. "It will be interesting if I
can fit that in once a month."
