OLTL's Nicholas Rodriguez talks with After Elton

OLTL's Nicholas Rodriguez did a wonderful interview with AfterElton, and talked about baring all on the first day of work, the role he originally auditioned for, how his four-day role got extended into a recurring gig, working with Brett Claywell and much, much more. I encourage you to read the whole amazing article, but here are some excerpts:

AE: What was the audition process like to get the part?
NR: My very first audition for OLTL was a few months back. I auditioned for the role of Sky [ed note: Brett Claywell, who plays Kyle was first cast as Sky, but the role ultimately went to actor Scott Clifton]. That's the first time I met Frank Valentini [OLTL’s executive producer] and Ron [Carlivati, the show’s head writer]; after the audition process you meet the producers. I guess that wasn't the right fit, but interestingly enough, that's when Brett was there. And I think that's when Crystal Hunt (Stacy Morasco) was doing her test too.

A few months later, I get a call from my agent to come in and audition for this role of Griffin. I got the breakdown: he's Caucasian, good-looking, confident. So I go in and read for it, then we have the callbacks, and then another callback, and then we get to the final callback with Frank and Ron, and it's a room full of Caucasian guys. [laughs]

I'm just sitting there totally relaxed, thinking, "Clearly, I'm not going to get this. They're looking for somebody with blond hair and blue eyes. Lo and behold, later that afternoon, I get the call that says they picked me. I actually think the fact that I didn't think I stood a chance in hell, so I was just completely relaxed, and went in and did my thing, made the difference. The rest is history. It was just supposed to be this little four-episode arc originally, and now it's been expanded.

AE: What was the original plan for the character, and what has it grown into?
NR: I don't want to give away too much, and I don't really know what was going on in the writers' heads, but I definitely know that after those first four [episodes] were done, Frank said to me that they liked the way it was going and be prepared to stay around for a little bit. And I thought, "Great!“ although I didn't really know what that meant. I'd finished my four and I knew I'd had a really great time, and pretty much immediately I got called and they said they were going to write some more stuff so just hang loose.

A couple weeks went by, and then I got a call saying, "Okay, you're going to film all these episodes." And I got the scripts, and all of a sudden, I'm shooting with all these other people that weren't part of my original storyline. Originally, I was just there to be a third wheel to Kyle and Fish, which is still his main function, but all of a sudden they really expanded him. He now has a job, he has a last name, he's supposed to be an activist as well. So first time back after all that, I'm shooting with six-time Emmy-winner Erika Slezak (Victoria Buchanan). I was just like, "Okay! I didn't think that's where this was going."