“What lured you from the beautiful hills of West Virginia to Hollywood?”

“Before I was two years old, we lived in Oxnard, California, but then our parents split up.” We took the train and left to live with my grandmother in West Virginia. So, I graduated from high school and was not going to go to college. My father, who worked as a welder, said: "Come on, I'll arrange you into a union of boiler-men." Well, I came. By car with a few buddies.

I really didn’t know my father - from the age of two I saw him only a little, only on weekends about once every six years. Father's name was also John. So, he got me a job at a steel mill! 

I lived 50 kilometers south of Hollywood. Very little time passed, and I - in the year 1984, it seems - earned myself a back injury. After that I entered the Cerritos College and there I met young actors - they were all 18, and most recently graduated from school.

They invited me to their classes, and I immediately fell in love with this matter - I, who had not yet watched a single stage production, and, like most of us, adored the movie. Like this. During those six years in Hollywood, I visited only twice ...

- How did you end up in the movies? Played in extras or what?

“How did you guess?” I signed a contract for roles in the crowd with a casting agency, and they began to invite me to shoot. Let's say I played in the original California Road Patrol series and in Kagney and Lacy. And I just felt like a TV star. I called my mother and said: “Mom, in today's“ Kagney and Lacy ”episode, a guy knocks a taxi in front of three eyewitnesses, one of them is me.”

For me, it was tantamount to the role of an invited celebrity. The whole family gathered at the TV: “There he is! There he is! Looking down! Oh god Great! ”And about a year I starred in extras ... 

It is simply unbelievable: here I am working at a steel mill in San Bernardino - and now I am on the same set with the “Lady for Six Million Dollars” - “The Bionic Woman”. It was strong, buddy! 

I noted everything, gained experience and thought: “I want to get a role in which I will talk with a bionic woman.” Therefore, I began to take acting lessons. Everything is slowly: first you get a role where you are not just participating in the crowd, but you are already being shown close-up. Let's say you, with two other extras, help someone choose clothes. Everything happens gradually. 

- Although many of our fellow citizens are having a hard time experiencing this quarantine, you have fun like Lorne Green , Dan Blocker , Michael Landon , Pernell Roberts , and Hop Sin  , day after day, housekeeping at your Ponderosa ranch ...  How is your day?

“I get up at about seven in the morning.” Beau (Derek. - RT ) is making us coffee, I go outside. We have three horses. I feed them. Then I clean the stall in the stable. Bo goes into the house and prepares a small breakfast for himself. I myself have breakfast at about 11 o’clock. We have our own garden, now there grows about 16 bushes of tomatoes. I go there, water the bushes, spray them from the spray gun. I also grow seedlings that I am going to plant in open ground.

After all this, I throw the dogs a ball so that they stretch a little. Then I go around, inspect everything in order to understand what needs to be done ... We really have no helpers at all. I do everything myself.

  • © Shot from the TV series "North Side" (1990-1995)

- Let's talk about the series "North Side". Such non-standard series appear infrequently. What can you recall about how you got the role in the "North Side", and about when he gained popularity?

- It completely changed my life. I came to the test with a practically empty resume. Yes, in 1988, I starred in a small role in one of the episodes of the series “Wonderful Years”. And yet, nothing more in the summary. Two years passed, and I even began to think about giving up acting, because the horizon was empty, but I had to live on something.

I was about 27 years old. I starred in an ad for Jack in the Box fast food chain, someone from Universal Studios saw me in that ad and invited me to a meeting. Four phone calls later I was on the plane. Until then, I lived in a small apartment in the Toluca Lake area (in Los Angeles. - RT ), and then flew to Seattle, where I then lived for 14 years. These tests alone changed my life.

We were shocked when the series caused such a response among people - they liked it just as much as we did. After all (as I know now) this happens in our business: you work on projects, on pilot episodes that you really like and which you think everyone should like, but in the end you hear only criticism. And at that time everything was great.

“I don’t know what happened after it ended, but maybe you thought that there might not be such a prominent role.” And then there is a series that has become even more popular - “Sex and the City”. Incredible hit!

- Yes, the series "North Side" ended in 1995. Five years passed without special events. I had one or two lousy television movies, and I still lived in Seattle, far from the center of this industry. Got a little older - I think I was 36 or so. And so they offer me to go to New York to act in film with Sarah Jessica Parker. I myself liked her as an actress, but the series that I was offered was not.

They sent me a couple of videotapes, and there are all these jokes below the belt. In general, not mine. I understand that it is shown and people like it, but I don’t. Therefore, I said: "No, participation in this project does not interest me." In those days, my mother watched everything I starred in, but here I’m somehow ashamed. Yes, and in the first series I have to be naked. So I pass. I was told: "Well, okay."

But after a week they tell me: “Listen, Sarah Jessica wants you to fly to New York. Just meet you. Arrive. You will fly first class at our expense. ” Good. I had friends in New York, and I said: “Okay. Let's".

  • © A shot from the series “Sex and the City” (1998-2004)

He came to her (Sarah Jessica Parker. - RT ) home, and there was Michael Patrick King and, it seems, even Darren Star. And, imagine, they chatted me - she was so charming. And if I refused her, it would be for me one of the biggest reasons for regret.

It was very pleasant and interesting to work. You're in New York, starring in the series is not about some outback. Steeper and you can not imagine. I went this way, and now I am in the coolest city and participate in the coolest series at that time (and this is the 2000s). Sunday evening broadcast is the time when everyone is watching. Wow!

- Passed the way to Aidan. And I can say, John, you as a brand have benefited from this. Remember, we were in Twin Falls when we fled from a forest fire? And so they ended up in Twin Falls and stopped at the Sonic diner. I remember approaching the counter, and there were five young women, and behind my back I can only hear: “Aidan! Aidan! Aidan! Aidan! ” I remember thinking: "In this role he will be remembered for a long time!" So you are lucky that you agreed to it. Thanks to Sarah's charm.

- Since we are talking about rumors from the world of show business, backstage details, about who is ambition, who is not, and who behaves like a diva, then I will say this: Sarah is heroically devoted to her work. She came first to the morning shootings of that series. And after work, when everyone went home, she went to the studio, where she recited voice-over monologues for each series.

She worked very hard. And I went to dinner every day with the crew, which was generally unheard of. Usually it’s like: when a big star like Tommy Lee Jones is shot in the film, you will never find him at dinner in the company of hundreds of simple filmmakers. Sarah is a wonderful person.

- Well, we turn to questions from social networks ...  Favorite role from your repertoire?

- Almost nobody saw this role in my performance! During my studies at Cerritos, I participated in a small production called "Irresistible Rush." I then just mastered the intricacies of acting. We gave about 25 performances for an audience of about 200 people. The play was just wonderful! No more roles allowed me to recharge with the same feelings as those that I experienced during that production.

See the full version of the interview on RTD.