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Kyle Lowder talks ‘A Mermaid for Christmas,’ motivations, success (Includes interview)

A native of St. Louis, Missouri, Lowder (known for his acting work on “Days of Our Lives” and “The Bold and The Beautiful”) chatted with Digital Journal about his upcoming film “A Mermaid for Christmas.” He opened up about his motivations, some of his defining-career moments and he furnished his definition of success.

Lowder shared this excitement about his highly-anticipated film, A Mermaid for Christmas, where he plays the role of Travis Hunter. It was written and directed by Emmy-nominated filmmaker Michael Caruso. “The entire cast, crew, and everybody involved is excited about this film. It is a whimsical, family-friendly, romantic comedy with a very special message that it is very relevant not only during Christmastime but year-round,” he said.

“We were very grateful to have compiled a roster of talent not only in front of the camera but behind the camera as well. We made it look as beautiful as we had hoped for,” he said. “Ultimately, it is going to be very visually beautiful to watch and also heartwarming as they watch it.”

A Mermaid for Christmas is also an opportunity for really everybody involved. None of us have really had an opportunity to uplevel the way that we had to in order to make this type of film,” he said. “We wanted to show the world what we were capable of. We are very proud of what we have been able to accomplish and we are really looking forward to sharing it with people. They will get to see things that they’ve never seen before, especially from me. I’ve never had the chance to play this character [Travis Hunter] before.”

Lowder praised his co-executive producers Michael and Barbara Caruso. “This is our third project together. We work really well together, and we all learn from each other, personally and professionally,” he said. “We decided to partner up in a company. We have a wonderful partnership and a wonderful production company. We make each other better people, and ultimately, that is the best. Michael is a great writer and he has an incredible eye for what things should look like on screen. He has an amazing ability to translate his vision from the page to the screen. He’s an incredible producer that way.”

He also complimented actresses Jessica Morris and Kathleen Gati, both of which he worked with on Ladies of the Lake (Amazon Prime) together, and who will be starring with him in A Mermaid for Christmas. “We are very lucky and very grateful,” he said. ” Jessica is great and Kathleen Gati is a force.”

Lowder is a veteran soap actor from such shows as Days of Our Lives and The Bold and The Beautiful. When asked how he handles being dialogue-heavy, he said, “I developed a system for myself years back. I would read my script over and over again to get a gist of what is going on in the scene. Once I have a general idea of what the scene is about, then I go back and I get the words and the lines.” He also noted that the better a script is written, the more naturally it flows.

On his daily motivations, he said, “I have very basic fundamentals of motivation. I am a very disciplined person with my mind, body, and soul. I have a strict regiment with myself in getting enough sleep, eating right and working out in the gym. Ultimately, I hold myself to very high standards. Also, everything that I do is for my daughter and her future. I will look at her picture every day and say: ‘this is why I am living’. It is all for my daughter. As her dad, I always want to make her proud, and I am very much a caretaker. I like to be the person that people can turn to in times of need. That motivates me to always be on my A-game. It’s a daily commitment.”

“My father was a very busy corporate executive, who would travel all over the world, but as busy as he was, he was almost always home for family dinners or coaching my little league sports teams on the weekends. I am very grateful that I grew up in a loving family that instilled family values in me. My dad is my role model for many reasons: he was a busy, successful man but he was still an incredible father, and I feel that one can be both, but you’ve got to make that choice,” he said.

Digital age of entertainment

On being an actor and a producer in this digital age, Lowder said, “One of the main reasons I wanted to get involved and learn to produce is because the entertainment industry is changing. It is all about producing content on Instagram and on YouTube. Back in the day, if you were an actor, you would audition for a role and you would hope you would get it. Now, we have the ability, as actors, to produce our own content if you have the will and discipline.”

“These days, actors have the access to produce their own content,” he said. “I want to work with really inspiring people to create our own content. If it’s a role I want to play, let’s write it and produce it, and see what we can do.”

On the title of the current chapter of his life, Lowder said, “Growth.”

In his respected career in acting and entertainment, Lowder acknowledged that he has had many defining moments. “I remember when I started airing on Days of Our Lives when I was 19 years old, and all of a sudden, I reached a certain level of fame that I never experienced before. People that I had never met before, perfect strangers, knew who I was and they knew my parents’ names,” he said.

“Another big moment was when my agent called me to be on Friends to play myself. It’s a crazy business where you can be on the top or on the bottom very quickly, There are so many lessons in those defining moments. I am grateful for the ‘negative’ defining moments in my career since they make you stronger,” he said.

“I have such a broad perceptive of everything: I don’t get too excited with the highs and I don’t get too depressed with the lows. I have a neutral attitude towards everything. I love compliments and criticism just the same. Not only am I the actor I am today but I am the man that I am today because I continue to grow. I am really grateful for them all,” he said.

On staying in top-notch physical shape, he noted the importance of eating right. “I am in the last year of my 30’s. I am very steady. I’ve studied diet and physical training for years, and I’ve gotten to a place where it works for me. Diet is everything. It is much more important than exercise,” he said.

On November 8, Lowder will be a part of the YesterDAYS Star Struck fan event in Studio City, California. “Keith and Paul of Star Struck are wonderful guys and they are very organized. They run really solid and well-attended events,” he said.

Aside from his work on NBC’s Days of Our Lives, he also portrayed Rick Forrester on The Bold and The Beautiful for a time being, which is one of the most popular soap operas in the world, if not the most popular. “To work for Brad Bell and the Bell family was a bucket list item. The character Rick was so much fun to play. Brad Bell is one of the best showrunners you could work for. I didn’t take a day of it for granted,” he said.

Next summer, Lowder will be a part of the “Samantha’s Friends” fundraiser, along with Patrika Darbo, Christopher Sean, Eric Martsolf, Jordi Vilasuso and Paul Telfer, and it will have a “Phantom of the Opera” theme. “Samantha’s Friends” benefits the Southeastern Guide Dogs. “This event is well-run and top-notch,” Lowder said.

He continued, “That family [Alice and Samantha Bozza] and everybody involved does such a great job. I went to the very first event many years ago and I went back this summer, and it has grown so much. They are able to raise money for such an incredible cause. It is so well done and you couldn’t work with better people. I am very much looking forward to next July,” he said. “Ironically enough, my favorite dog as a kid was a Golden Retriever. I have an affinity for Golden Retrievers.”

Lowder defined the word success as the “worthwhile pursuit of worthy ideals.” “Success is never a place that you reach. It’s a perpetual, ongoing effort until the day you die. Success implies an end game,” he said.

For his fans, he concluded about A Mermaid for Christmas, “I can’t wait for the fans and for everybody to see this film. Love it or hate it, just know that this film was done with so much heart in terms of the way it was written and the way it was filmed. So much heart and so much effort was put into making this film. We wanted it to be as feel-good as possible during the holiday season and year-round.”

To learn more about Emmy-nominated actor and producer Kyle Lowder, follow him on Instagram and 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.

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