Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Entertainment

Chatting with John J. York: Mac Scorpio on ‘General Hospital’ (Includes interview)

York will be joining fellow co-star Tristan Rogers on November 9 at Rockwells in Pelham, New York, where the “Scorpio Brothers” will be exploring the history of Port Charles. “I love Tristan. He’s my ‘older brother.’ What can I say? He’s family through thick and through thin,” he said.

“I started the show General Hospital 28 years ago, on January 14, 1991. It is just the biggest blessing and I am very thankful. I have worked with so many wonderful people on camera and off camera. General Hospital has been the greatest experience of my life,” he said.

He shared that on November 10, they will be at Uncle Vinnie’s Comedy Club in Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey.

This past summer, his character, Mac Scorpio, served as the acting Police Commissioner of Port Charles, and now he is the Chief of Detectives. “I am very happy to be back with the Port Charles Police Department,” he said.

When asked how he handles being dialogue-heavy on General Hospital, he said, “When I first started the show, the dialogue was intense. I was working five days a week for the first year and a half. My trick was that I got myself a little tape recorder and I read all the lines into it, and then I read my lines. I would stop the tape and I played it back. That’s how I prompted myself to get my cues and to memorize my lines. It was a very good strategy for me.”

“You are basically programming your brain, and once it’s in there, and they say ‘cut,’ it just deletes,” he said.

While the show has changed a lot over the past three decades, he acknowledged that the one thing that hasn’t changed are “the stories.” “It’s not so much the stories but the relationships between the characters and the emotional life that is shared between everybody,” he said. “That’s the key to daytime’s success. I’ve had a lot of great memories, and we are building more memories. The audience really loves it and that’s what keeps us on the air.”

Digital age of entertainment

On being an actor in this digital age, York said jokingly, “I am an old dinosaur.” “I have a cell phone and an email address. While I stay away from computers, I do have a Twitter account, where I check that out every once in a while,” he said.

“The streaming services seem to be changing the business. I am just loving the scenes that I have been getting on General Hospital,” he said. “I am 60 years old, and I have had a long, wonderful career. I stay in shape but my hair is getting gray. There is a lot of snow on the roof.”

For young and aspiring actors, he encouraged them to “hang in there” and “not give up.” “Taking a good acting class that you will find helpful. You really have to find something that fits for you and that’s hard at times,” he said. “It’s a different industry now with digital, computers and submissions. Many auditions are self-taped these days.”

On the title of the current chapter of his life, York said, “Being a Grandpa and loving it.”

York defined the word success as “happiness with your family.” “A healthy, happy family is success,” he said.

For his fans, York expressed his gratitude. “Thank you so much for all of the support. You guys have always been very positive and very loving. I am so thankful for the support I have gotten all of these years and I hope it continues. I look forward to many more years on General Hospital,” he said.

To learn more about acclaimed soap actor John J. York, follow him on Twitter.

Markos Papadatos
Written By

Markos Papadatos is Digital Journal's Editor-at-Large for Music News. Papadatos is a Greek-American journalist and educator that has authored over 20,000 original articles over the past 18 years. He has interviewed some of the biggest names in music, entertainment, lifestyle, magic, and sports. He is a 16-time "Best of Long Island" winner, where for three consecutive years (2020, 2021, and 2022), he was honored as the "Best Long Island Personality" in Arts & Entertainment, an honor that has gone to Billy Joel six times.

You may also like:

World

Immigration is a symptom of a much deeper worldwide problem.

Entertainment

The Swedish city of Malmo is preparing to host the Eurovision Song Contest in early May under high security.

Business

Traveling in NY is already costly, but it just got worse: transit authorities have approved a controversial $15 toll, set to take effect in...

Tech & Science

A look at the sector that could help annually boost the global economy by $1 trillion