Shen is known for his portrayal of Brad Cooper on the hit ABC daytime drama, General Hospital, whom he has played since 2013. “One thing I like about Brad is that he is not a very cut and dry type of person. He has a lot of gray areas,” he said. “Brad showcases that he can be very loving, but he can be very vicious if he wants to defend something that he cares about. Ultimately, Brad is a good person at heart, but he can get misguided very easily.”
“What I least like about Brad is that too often he is swayed emotionally a little too easily,” he admitted.
On April 13, 2019, Shen will be a part of a “General Hospital Fantasy Weekend” event in Melville on Long Island, New York, which is hosted by Emmy winner Laura Wright. “This will be my first time doing that. I will just follow along with what the other actors are doing,” he said.
Each day, Shen is motivated by the ability to be paid to do what he loves to do. He revealed that he just posted a video on Instagram, entitled “Rainbow Connection,” where he sings three different characters from The Muppets.
For aspiring actors, Shen encouraged them to “do as much as it anywhere they can.” He shared that he has met many great people even from the smallest productions and the projects that did not go as well. “You always gain something from it,” he said.
Shen acknowledged that the last decade for him has been a whirlwind. “10 years ago, I co-wrote two graphic novels, and then I had two kids, and then, I landed a role on General Hospital. Those were the big highlights,” he said.
He would have told the following advice to the high school version of himself: “Keep on being creative. It is going to serve you well in the future.”
Digital transformation of the entertainment business
On the impact of technology on the entertainment industry, especially with streaming platforms taking over, Shen said, “I think it is great since there are many more avenues and opportunities. The networks are no longer the gatekeepers. There are no rules anymore and people are trying riskier things. It is an exciting time for actors.”
Shen continued, “General Hospital is on Hulu, and everything is now viewable on mobile devices. It is nice that our show is now a part of that, and we hope we get a new audience that way.”
To help memorize his lines on the hit ABC soap opera, Shen uses hard copies of scripts as opposed to digital ones. “There are so many pages, that I write my lines down since it forces me to learn them quicker. When I print the script out, I would condense 30 pages to two or three pages,” he said.
In his spare time, he revealed that he and his two children love comic books. For his General Hospital fans, Shen concluded, “It is nice to have all of the supporters from the beginning, but it is also nice winning over the people that didn’t like Brad since that was a challenge.”
Shen defined the word success as “getting to do something for a living that you would have done for free.”
To learn more about actor Parry Shen, follow him on Instagram and on Facebook.
