[taken from cbs.com]
Every show needs a doctor...especially one that makes our hearts race! B&B welcomes MICHAEL DIETZ as Los Angeles M.D., Mark Maclaine, who has requested Bridget Forrester as his new protege. CBS.com sat down to chat with Michael during his first official CBS photo shoot. Find out how he got his start as an actor and why he loves daytime drama!
CBS.com: After having been on Guiding Light and Port Charles, what's it like to be back in daytime?
CBS.com: How did you land the role of Mark?
CBS.com: That's amazing...and fast.
CBS.com: Has landing roles come easy to you?
CBS.com: Why did you need time away from the business?
CBS.com: So many actors with families say that same thing about the schedule.
CBS.com: Is it the schedule that brought you back to daytime?
CBS.com: You said you knew people from the show. Who?
CBS.com: Tell me a little about your character, Mark.
CBS.com: I'm sure you've wondered this, but what's with you and doctor roles?
CBS.com: Do you do any research into the medical profession?
CBS.com: What was your first day of taping like?
CBS.com: What do you hope for your character?
CBS.com: During your time away from soaps, did you seek out those types of "bad boy" roles?
CBS.com: What advice would you give to struggling actors trying to make it?
CBS.com: Did you start out your career doing commercials?
CBS.com: So, you weren't going to school to be an actor?
MICHAEL DIETZ: It is absolutely incredible. I could not be happier.
MICHAEL DIETZ: Kin Shriner [Scott Baldwin, General Hospital] is one of my friends and I ran into him one day. And I've known Michael Bruno for years. He's a manager and has a lot of [clients] on soaps. [Kin] said, "You should talk to Michael Bruno." I was like, "Okay, alright. Sure." So, [Michael and I] got together and he's like, "Of course, I'll take you. I'd love to have you. I've always wanted you as a client." I signed with him and three and a half weeks later, I think, I landed the role.
MICHAEL DIETZ: It was just like that. This was one of the first things I've auditioned for since I left Port Charles.
MICHAEL DIETZ: I don't think it's ever been easy, landing roles. But being back [on a show] is so wild. The first day I remember looking out and seeing the cameras and stuff and it just felt like I had never left. I am just so thrilled. I actually turned down a couple offers to test for soaps in the past. I just wasn't ready. I think I had to really stand back from it for as long as I did and now I'm just so happy and appreciate it more than ever.
MICHAEL DIETZ: I think I needed to go and do my own thing for a while. I did Port Charles and Guiding Light combined [for] almost three and a half, four years of soaps. After that, I think I wanted to explore what was out there. Then I realized how amazing [daytime] is. Especially now that I'm married and have a baby on the way, it is the absolute [most] perfect schedule in the entire world. I couldn't pick anything better.
MICHAEL DIETZ: For me, family is more important than doing film, if I had other goals. But if I could create a job, it would probably be this.
MICHAEL DIETZ: It's that, and having been on soaps, I've always looked at the Bell shows as the shows you want to be on. Those are the shows that people watch. Those are the shows that are usually at the top of the ratings. I've known a lot of people on the shows that love working here. So, pretty much everything about it [brought me here]. I love my character. I love everybody I'm working with. I love the schedule.
MICHAEL DIETZ: I know Winsor [Harmon, Thorne]. I know [other B&B and Y&R actors] from other soap events. But that's really it. I worked with Hunter [Tylo's, Taylor] husband on GL. We shared the same dressing room. And Bobbie Eakes [ex-Macy], who's gone already, my wife's actually friends with her.
MICHAEL DIETZ: Mark is a very good guy. A doctor - very into his work, dedicated to what he does. Obviously, he has an interest in Bridget right now. That's really all I know.
MICHAEL DIETZ: I don't know. I'm beginning to think that I should have done it in real life. That is weird. [Beverly Hills,] 90210, Port Charles then this. I must have something about me that says "doctor." I don't know what it is. [Laughs] Let me tell you, you would not want me operating on you.
MICHAEL DIETZ: Yes, I do. The first day I was doing something on a thing called Reinkes edema, which I looked up on the Internet. It's a smoker's polyp where they get a little thing on their throat. So, I had to do a tracheotomy on this guy the first day. We also have a [medical advisor] named Alex on the set that is fabulous. He basically makes me look like I know what I'm doing. That's how I get through it.
MICHAEL DIETZ: First day of taping was two shows, a lot of dialogue. I was pretty much in every scene. I think I was in every scene except one the entire day. I had a lot of stuff with Jennifer [Finnigan, Bridget], who's fabulous to work with. It was just great. It just felt so at home to be back [in daytime]. I remember leaving the first day going, "God, I'm the luckiest guy in the world right now." [I have] everything in my life right now at once...I'm so, so lucky. I have a baby girl due in the next couple of days, hopefully this weekend. My family is flying in today. I'm married to the most amazing woman, I have a baby on the way, the greatest job in the world. There really isn't anything else out there that I think I could possibly want or ever need. It's really amazing. It really is.
MICHAEL DIETZ: I would like to see a hint of something a little more devious. I would like to play it personally, but who knows what they're going to do with him. I would like to play something a little bad.
MICHAEL DIETZ: I think, as most actors do, you just go almost for anything. [The job market] has been so dead. Everybody I know is not working, barely going on auditions. This is the worst year I've ever had audition-wise since I moved out here nine, ten years ago. It was dead. I had an audition like once a month, and I'm used to like three a day sometimes when it's busy. So, it was a really dry spell.
MICHAEL DIETZ: The best [advice] for everybody is just hang in there. As soon as you give up, you're done anyway. It's not like you're going to get an audition if you give up. The bottom line is don't give up. You just have to keep going. I mean, I did some commercials and stuff, but as far as really working, it was a year to two years without working exclusively.
MICHAEL DIETZ: I have such a funny story. I moved out here from college at Penn State, and I was just going to come out for the summer and go back. I didn't know anybody that was an actor. I knew a guy that I had met once and I stayed on his couch. I ended up meeting his manager and he put me with a theatrical agent and commercial agent. I called my parents and said, "What do you think? Should I stay?" And they said, "Sure, you can always go back to school." I stayed and that was it.
MICHAEL DIETZ: No, not until my second year. I was watching [Beverly Hills,] 90210 and I went, "That looks like a great job." And that's what kind of what inspired me, a totally true story. Then four years later, I was on the show just going, "This is so weird."
