Thorsten Kaye has been a daytime favorite for nearly three decades. His daytime career has seen him as a wildly popular leading man on One Life to Live, Port Charles, All My Children, and now, The Bold and the Beautiful.
During his career, he has picked up six Daytime Emmy nominations. In an interview with Soap Central's Dan J Kroll, Kaye explains what he views as the real award in acting, floats an interest idea on reinventing the Daytime Emmys, and confesses a surprisingly naughty bit about his Red Carpet fashion.
Thorsten Kaye: Hey, Dan, how are you? Good morning.
Soap Central: I am good. I'd imagine you're probably doing a lot better, though. Congratulations on your nomination!
Kaye: It's always nice to be recognized for something -- it was a cool thing.
Soap Central: So here is an interesting thing... one of the little social media memories popped up on my timeline yesterday that said it had been 10 years since the red carpet event for the All My Children and One Life to Live reboots. I found your picture (and then) you get a Daytime nomination. Should I be stare at your picture more often? I realize that sounds slightly creepy.
Kaye: No, listen, that's what pays my bills. So, please, stare away. Listen, before we go any further, I wanted to say congratulations to Kambra [Clifford, Soap Central's Features editor]. She's having a baby, yes? Today or maybe soon?
Soap Central: Earlier this month. A little boy, and I am pleased to announce that he is possibly the cutest thing that I have seen on the Internet in quite some time. He's a little cutie. We're all really happy for her.
Kaye: So, you're gonna stare at his picture? What's happening now? I just got replaced?
Both laugh.
Soap Central: This is not your first Daytime Emmy nomination. Does it feel different? Do you approach these nominations any differently than what you have in the past?
Kaye: No, you know what? I know this is a cliché, but I don't approach nominations at all. I just show up here at 5 o'clock in the morning. We do our work and then we go home. So, being nominated is an afterthought. It is for me, anyway. And it's nice, but it's not as important to me as you may think.
Soap Central: Well, that being said, with the emphasis being on the work itself, when you are in a scene and you finish shooting a scene, does it ever cross your mind and you say, "You know what? This is the scene. This is the one that makes the Emmy real."
Kaye: Oh, I think you all my scenes are on there. (Laughs) I'm kidding, I'm kidding. No, you always want to walk away from whatever job you do feeling that you did the best you could that day. And some days are like that, some days are not. But you always try to do your best. Listen, it's like cooking a meal. You can use all the ingredients you want, but if people don't like it, they don't like it. You try the next day, but it's really out of your hands.
Soap Central: If they don't like it, they have to eat it, anyway. (Laughs)
Kaye: Yeah, but you don't get a tip, and you don't want to go to the restaurant. There's all kinds of things.
Soap Central: What scenes were on your Emmy reel this year?
Kaye: I'm not really sure. Listen, here's the thing that I don't like about Emmy nominations. It's that you have to really nominate yourself, right? So, we have a great team at The Bold and the Beautiful. Everybody kind of looks after each other. And I have some people that I trust that look at things and say, "This could be a good one." I don't know that you can pick your own scenes. I think that's a tough thing to do.
Soap Central: And especially with so much work and so many episodes to have to go through. I will say, though, the fans are -- of course, I know you're familiar with the fans and how much they support and love you. They are already going through and sort of picking out, in their minds, what they imagine. The fans have been very supportive to you. That must mean a lot.
Kaye: It means everything. How about this for the Emmys? Maybe the fans should nominate the actors and maybe they should pick this one? Wouldn't that be the best way to do it?
Soap Central: I think that's a really good idea, because the fans are the ones that will say to you, "Hey, do you remember in 2008 when you were in that scene at the bar in Pine Valley, wearing the blue shirt, and you said so and so?" The fans are amazing with that.
Kaye: To be fair, I remember that day, too. (Laughs)
Soap Central: (laughs) We all do. It was right up there with Erica Kane's "Woman of the Year" speech.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Thorsten Kaye's Emmy reel consisted of scenes that involved the fallout of the CPS call drama. Those scenes included Steffy stopping Ridge and Taylor's wedding, Ridge learning that Thomas set up Brooke using his own son Douglas, Ridge confronting Thomas, and Ridge realizing that Taylor knew the truth about Thomas' actions.
Soap Central: I don't know if you had a chance to see any of the other nominations yet, but if you have, are there any others that you're excited about?
Kaye: Here's the thing about having been around this genre for a lot longer than I thought I would. You make friends on other shows. You go and work on other shows, and whatever. But having said that, the thing I'm most excited about is Ms. Alley Mills, one of my favorite people in the world. She got nominated for General Hospital. I don't even know what the category was, but she is the coolest. If you have never talked to her, you've got to take a few minutes and just pick her brain. She's an amazing lady, and I'm so happy for her.
Soap Central: She was in Guest Performer, and she seemed to be having a ball. She got to go fully, fully loose on GH with that. I know a lot of people are excited about her nomination as well.
Kaye: She's the best.
Soap Central: One of the things I've always been told is to never ask a question that you don't already know the answer to. I suspect that I already know the answer to this, but I'm going to ask it. Have you given any thought to what you might wear on Emmy night?
Kaye: What did you come up with? (Laughs)
Soap Central: (laughs) My answer is that you probably haven't even given that any thought at this particular moment in time. Prove me wrong.
Kaye: So, let me tell you. I'll tell you this. When I was on One Life to Live, which is about 370 years ago, I stole a pair of shoes that Patrick wore for his wedding to Marty. And I still wear those shoes every time I go out to any kind of celebration.
Soap Central: I kind of like that. I don't know how I feel about the term "stole." We'll say... "borrowed." If they want them back, you'll return them. Stealing sounds criminal. I don't want to get you in trouble.
Kaye: It's not the worst thing I've done in my life.
Soap Central: (laughs)
Kaye: So, I think that pair of shoes, but I don't know that they have brought me so much luck other than marrying Marty, my wife Susan (Haskell). I've never won anything. That kind of sucks too.
Soap Central: But you have -- I think this is nomination number six. Am I making that up? I think you've two for All My Children, two for Port Charles, and two for Bold and the Beautiful.
Kaye: Yeah, and do you know what? I think my best shot was probably One Life to Live, and I didn't nominate for the two years I was on there.
Soap Central: Well, that being said, since the last time that we were in the same place at the same time was ten years ago... if the restraining order has been lifted, I look forward to hopefully seeing you on the red carpet and talking in person. (Laughs)
Kaye: Oh, I thought it was for 15 years! (laughs). I look forward to seeing you.
Do you remember the scenes on Thorsten Kaye's Emmy reel? What are some of your favorite moments from his daytime career? We want to hear from you -- and there are many ways you can share your thoughts.
