KULTAPOGEUM * Exclusive interview: Hank Cheyne confesses about his acting career

Hank Cheyne is one of the most famous American actors. He starred in very popular series around the world such as: the soap opera Sunset Beach (1997-1999) in which he played the role of detective Ricardo Torres.

He also played the role of Scott LaSalle on Another World (1986–1988) and Anton Vargas on Saints & Sinners, other films in which Hank Cheyne played were: Bad Blood-1994- Killing Obsession, Death Spa, Longmire. Hank Cheyne has a very impressive career, which he gave us details about throughout the interview. The beloved actor agreed to give an exclusive interview for a Romanian and Italian online magazine. The interview is captivating from the first answer given by the famous actor, as his exposition is more like a narrative that includes very interesting details.

When we refer to your career, the world knows you mainly because of the role of Ricardo Torres in the famous series Sunset Beach, which proved to be a great success all over the world.

How did this role represented you and how did you feel about being Ricardo Torres?

First off I would like to say thank you for taking the time to interview me and for your unwavering support of Sunset Beach. It is very rewarding and refreshing to know that the show generated such a dynamic response around the world and especially in your country.

Sometimes when you are filming and basically sequestered in a studio at NBC in Burbank California you have no real perception or understanding that the show is actually going out into the world and the characters are playing out in different markets and languages. So it is incredible to see the response that happened when we were actually filming the show and also so many years later especially in markets where the show has recently had revivals or in some cases has aired for the first or second time.

With respect to me:
Sunset Beach came at a great time in my life – it was not the first soap opera that I had done-
Some 10 years before I had landed my first regular series role on Another World which was filmed in New York City. I was from California and had begun my career in Los Angeles so that necessitated me moving to New York City when I was 26 years old during the 80s which was an incredible time to have had the opportunity to experience that city.

I had origianlly signed to a two-year contract with Another World and at the end of that two years decided not to return. I was anxious to move back to Los Angeles to try my hand at other work. I was fortunate enough to have met my wife Missy Hughes who was also a cast mate on another world so against a lot of good advice and intuition we moved back west and began our life in Los Angeles it is a time I look back on often end wonder what things would have been like if I would’ve decided to stay in New York and continue working on Another World — a guaranteed job and good money (rare for a new actor) in the greatest city in the world

I left not really knowing what was happening and no feed back but feeling I did a good job – the same as I had done on my original audition -3 days later my agent called with the news that I had landed the role of Ricardo and thats the casting story.
Originally the character was named Ricardo Escobar – I brought to the attention of the producers that that name was notoriously linked with a cartel leader of the same last name so they changed the name to Torres. In the first episode Ricardo begins as an officer and moves into the ranks of detective.
Playing the detective on a series is a great place to be because it allows the character to have involvement in many story lines across the show and I was fortunate that the writers allowed that to happen. They also created a family for Ricardo To round out his life so I was very lucky that Ricardo’s character would have multi-dimensions.This opens up your story lines and the possibilities to work more on the show, always a good thing to be able earn more because you are paid per episode – I believe I did somewhere around 450 episodes out of a total of 750 so that was a solid presence in the arc of the show .I felt that because he was a Latin character , that the nuances of his life and development were not accorded the time and sincerity that other characters were- and this gets back to hollywood itself – I do not believe that there were any latin writers in the room to flesh out his character and sometimes they would superficiously treat moments of his life without giving them the attention they’d deserve . Part of why two characters on the soap Santa Barbara played by A Martinez and Marcy Walker were so successful was that they wrote them so well and the characters were from different backgrounds and ethnicities mixing a latin and a white character to great reward . Sunset kind of kept the Latin characters in check and in the same box which prevented a lot of growth from happening and limited the possibilities for the audience to engage Outside of their comfort zone . Mixed ethnic couples in my opinion are the realities and atleast so now in. Hollywood but at that time in the 90’s not as much i always found myself trying to push convention and much of the time not succeeding.
Playing Ricardo became very natural for me but I was always fighting to expand his character. They would sometimes write him very straight laced and naive which I would go against perhaps because the similarities in his background and mine would lead me to different results. I wanted him to be a smart character but as with all detectives sometimes everyone is in on the joke or the action besides him- especially when Paula was kidnapped or when it came to my brother and Gabi , and that huge “secret” which I had to turn a blind eye to so often. I would get envious of other characters who they would write more sophisticated and sharp and then the detective of the show would come off quite often as out of touch . Maybe that created a conflict between myself and my perception of the character which eventually was ok , I dont know . Im a fan of intelligent characters and those that are a step ahead of the others so that was probably the most difficult aspect of Ricardo that I would have trouble with . But they did allow him some heroics and true leadership during the ‘shockwave story -and that was great — also it was a lot of fun doing the stunts and leading the charge during that.Those days were very long days on set 12-14 hours non stop for a couple of weeks which really helped to bond the cast and create a sense of accomplishment during filming .