Checking in with Eric Sheffer Stevens

Posted by

on November 30, 2011

Some AE readers remember Eric Sheffer Stevens from his days playing doctor on As the World Turns. As the handsome Dr. Reid Oliver, he stole our hearts and took them with him to an unfortunate meeting with a train. Now he is back and he has a new show. AfterElton sat down with him to hear about this new project as well as to talk about his fond memories of being one half of a gay couple on a daytime soap.

AfterElton: Tell us a little bit about the show and about your character.
Eric Sheffer Stevens: The show is really about the two neighbors that live next door to each other--Jamie and Katie’s characters and they are raising daughters by themselves. It’s very frustrating for them and just sort of about the daily struggles of raising a young woman who’s at that age. I’m Jamie Pressly’s ex and we had a kid 14, 12 years ago, no, it had to be 14 and my character is more of a boyish just loving life, can’t commit to one woman. I don’t know why we broke up so long ago or whatever it was but still very fond of her and still thinks everything should be cool. He loves his daughter but isn’t helping to guide her in anyway and so it’s a fun character to play.

AE: What appealed to you about him?
ESS: He’s just fun. He is this kind of rocker guy but really what appealed to me was the writing. The writing on the show and just really good comedic stuff. Sherry and Ellen are amazing writers and also it’s pretty much the opposite of Reid Oliver. You always want to go into something totally different. You don’t want to keep repeating the same sort of thing so I didn’t want to play a sarcastic snarky guy.

AE: Who gets run over by a train.
ESS: Yes. (Laughs) Definitely don’t want to end that way, but it remains to be seen so who knows. That would be ironic.

AE: What do you have in common with your character?
ESS: I feel like everyone has some part of themselves in every character that they play and you’re sort of schizophrenic to a degree. I definitely have the Bacchanalian thing going on. (Laughs) Not the issue of not being able to commit to one person since I’ve been with my partner now for 17 years but the fun loving, the love of music, I think I definitely have that in common.

AE: Now are you a series regular at this point?
ESS: Yeah.

AE: Oh, good to hear it.
ESS: I don’t really know where it’s going to go from here actually. I don’t know what the development of the character is going to be other than what the pilot was. That’s hopefully in the next month when we start to see scripts we’ll know where it’s going to go.

AE: Now after As The World Turns did we see you pop up as part of a gay couple?
ESS: Yeah, I was on The Big C.

AE: You were!
ESS: Yeah, just briefly, just a really little thing. It’s funny that guy who was my partner was the guy I did Ah, Wilderness! with in Cincinnati and St. Louis he played my younger brother 10 years ago and then we got to work together on that show, just for a day.

AE: This is the biggest thing besides As The World Turns for you, right?
ESS: Yeah, I have a film that’s going to come out in February called Silent House. That was a big deal and it was at Sundance and it did really well. It’s a thriller and it was really fun to do. We reshot a bit of it back in March so it’s going to be released by Open Road in February or March but definitely this is the biggest thing I’ve been apart of.

AE: So how huge was it when you got the call?
ESS: Oh, it was fantastic! I didn’t really think I was going to get a job when I came out here. I was looking more like for guest work and that kind of thing but to actually book a series regular, on a sitcom too was a huge deal. I was thrilled. It was fantastic!

AE: So how long were you out here before you got this?
ESS: A month and a half maybe.

AE: Wow.
ESS: You know I just came out here for that intense pilot season time.

AE: Looking back on As The World Turns how do you reflect on that experience?
ESS: Fondly. It was a really fun time. It was a really lovely group of people. My time with Don Hastings I loved. I just loved talking to him and picking his brain and hearing his stories and just trying to soak up as much as that as I could. It was a really good experience. It was a great time.

AE: How surprised were you by the fan reaction?
ESS: Very.

AE: Did you expect anything like that?
ESS: No, because when you’re doing what you’re doing you’re just doing it, you know? So to have people respond to it that much was very gratifying. I was very happy about it.

AE: What did you think when you found out you were exiting?
ESS: I loved it actually. It made a bunch of people upset but I loved that ending. It was the end and getting killed off was great. It wasn’t great for Luke and Reid together and obviously I think it would have been better representing gay couples to have a happy ending. I think that would have been nice. It would have been very satisfying.

AE: I think that was the worst part for the fans.
ESS: Well, of course it is and I understand that 100%. As an actor it’s a great twist, it’s a great thing to play at the end. It was very fun. But it would have been nice to have them get married or have Luke and Noah get married just something to really take another step forward.