For a little over a year and a half, character actor Phillip Jeanmarie terrorized the denizens of the fictional cove of Harmony on the now defunct NBC (and later DirecTV) supernatural sudser Passions. Jeanmarie brought to life the role of Vincent Clarkson, a tabloid reporter who soon found himself in a down low affair with one of the soap's most popular—and previously hetero—heartthrobs, Chad Harris (Charles Divins). The storyline broke new ground as Passions proved to be the first soap opera to show two men in bed together, only Vincent wasn't all man. He/she was a hermaphrodite, who occasionally went by the name Valerie (One Life to Live’s Daphnee Duplaix) and a serial killer and a rapist... and the seemingly omnipotent, omnipresent force known as "The Blackmailer", whose reign of terror dominated the last few years of the series' storylines.
Today, Jeanmarie is sad the soap he once called home and likens to "being paid to go to acting school" is no longer on the air, but he’s channeling his experiences into his new role as Adam, a struggling actor trying to make it from gig to gig in
Workshop The Series, a new web comedy created by Nate Golon and Kimberly Legg, who also star. I caught up with Jeanmarie to talk about his new show, premiering August 10, and of course to reminisce about the wackiness that was Passions.
Daytime Confidential: How did your role in Workshop The Series come about?
Phillip Jeanmarie: It's funny how it all came together. I actually met Nate at a workshop. We were outside talking and I told him I was on Passions. It turned out he had been on the show too, so we started talking and he brought up a list of the different things they had me do on the show. [Laughs] So we kept talking about an actor's journey, what we sometimes do for work, and he came up with the idea of doing a show about it from a comedic perspective. Hopefully people will like it! READ MORE
