Actor Donny Boaz (“The Young and The Restless” fame) chatted with Digital Journal’s Markos Papadatos about his latest projects.
American track and field legend Jesse Owens once said: “We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort.” Donny Boaz is an individual and actor that embodies this wise quote by the late four-time Olympic gold medalist sprinter.
Regarding his latest projects, Boaz said, “I don’t think I’ve been in one city more than three days for the last two months or so. I just wrapped up my last episode on ‘Staircase’ on HBO about the Michael Peterson story from the late ’90s. I did four episodes on that one, and it should be a wrap.”
“I also wrapped my fifth episode on ‘All American’ and I may be back for more. I have a film starting in January called ‘The Unseen’ and I am playing the male lead in that one. I will be in New Orleans for six weeks filming that,” he said.
He shared that he enjoyed working on the film “Magnolia,” directed by Justin Key, where he had the privilege to work with country star Randy Houser.
The digital age
On being an actor in the digital age, he said, “It makes things a lot easier. In the past, I would need to be in Los Angeles for an audition, but the truth is now I can be anywhere on God’s green earth. This gives us the freedom to be anywhere we want. The Catch-22 on that is it’s much easier to read the room when you are in it as opposed to reading a room over a Zoom callback.”
Training in the daytime world
For over 100 episodes, he played the role of Phillip “Chance” Chancellor IV on the No. 1 daytime drama “The Young and The Restless.”
When asked how he handled being dialogue-heavy in the daytime drama world, he said, “The first six weeks was the hardest thing I had ever done mentally. I remember those first two or three days, I would lay down in bed and I wouldn’t be able to go to sleep since I would have all that material in there. It would have been worse if you didn’t know it because then there’s the panic. I was told by several cast members to give it ‘six weeks’ and then ‘it would just click’ and they were right. Then, the job because easier after that.”
“The job never ends for soaps,” he said. “The second I would get off work, I have to prepare for the next day, but that kind of training is priceless. I can step on any set now and I can memorize my scripts easily. Going through that experience really made things a lot easier.”
Boaz had kind words about Melissa Ordway, who played his female love interest, and praised her for being “really nice.” “I loved working on Y&R pre-COVID,” he admitted.
He also had great words about his former co-workers Tyler Johnson and Mark Grossman. ” I like Tyler, he’s a good guy and he’s a hard worker,” he said. “I love Mark took, he’s my brother… He’s one of the people I miss the most over there but we stay in touch.”
Career-defining moments
On his career-defining moments, Boaz remarked, “I was traveling the world as a model and I moved back to Dallas from Paris when I was 23 and an acting agent walks up and asked me if I ever did any acting. She encouraged me to try out for a movie and I booked it. Then, I wound up booking five out of five auditions. She asked me if I had any training and told me that in her 30-year career she had never met anyone that had booked five consecutive auditions.”
Boaz continued, “I moved to LA, and then I realized I was a minnow in an ocean where nobody knew who I was nor anybody gave a damn who I was. That valuable lesson, that pivotal moment is I moved back to Texas and I could have quit, but I didn’t wait for other people to make it happen. I knew what I wanted to do and I made it happen myself. I went on and did student films, short films, and feature films, and whatever I could get my hands on because I wanted to be a part of the acting business.”
“Within two years, I racked up another 20 credits, and I moved back to Los Angeles and the doors flew open because now I had a real resume, and not just initial five auditions. That was a pivotal moment since I didn’t give up, I made the choice to keep going,” he added.
Advice for hopefuls
For young and aspiring actors, he said, “We live in a different age and time than when I started. The world is a different place now. I would tell young actors to create their own material. The way to get anyone’s attention is to wow themselves first. I would record a two-minute monologue on my cell phone and I would do it until I would impress myself. When you get to the point of impressing yourself, then you can show it to other people. That’s how you can get an agent, manager, and an audition. It all starts with you.”
“One of the first country videos I did was Eric Church’s ‘Springsteen.’ He also played Ray in the TV film ‘Road Less Travelled’ starring Lauren Alaina, who can sing the phonebook with that amount of talent. That was an absolute pleasure to work with her,” he said.
“I love the access that this job gives you to connect you with people that you are fans yourself,” he added.
On the title of the current chapter of his life, he said, “I’m 41 and now it’s time to adult.”
When asked what track and field event he would do, Boaz responded, “The 400 meter dash. I used to run pretty fast,” he said.
In swimming, he listed the freestyle/front crawl as his personal favorite stroke. “When we did the SEAL training, we had to spend so much time in the water, and it just felt second nature. I could hold my breath 2.5 minutes or so. I love to swim and scuba dive. I would feel the most peace at the bottom of the ocean,” he said.
“The first job I ever had was a lifeguard in high school, while we trained in the different strokes, i felt the best in the freestyle,” he added.
Success
On his definition of the word success, Boaz said, “being at peace and being comfortable. Wanting for nothing. A level of success is different for everyone, no two journeys are the same in this business. Nobody has the same story and you can learn from anyone and everyone along the way. I am a working actor and I feel like I don’t have to struggle to find work, the problem lately has been scheduling not so much the booking so I see that as a level of success.”
Fans
For his dedicated fans, Boaz expressed his gratitude. “I feel blessed to have them,” he said. “The greatest notoriety I have done in my career is ‘The Young and The Restless’ and I gained a lot of loyal and faithful fans from that. I am very thankful for that opportunity and I am thankful to have had it. I am very proud of everyone there, it was a nice, tight-knit family.”
“I have fans that still write me every single day and I couldn’t be more thankful. A lot of the fans genuinely care, and it’s nice to see that or feel that. I am truly thankful and grateful,” he concluded.
To learn more about actor Donny Boaz, follow him on Instagram.
