On August 10 and 11, Rikaart will be participating in a fan event in Tarrytown, New York. “This is my first time working with the guys at Star Struck. It will be a new experience,” he said. “I grew up in New York but I never did the Sleepy Hollow Graveyard Tour. It will be fun to check out the Graveyard Tour.”
Joining Rikaart in Tarrytown, New York, will be such daytime actors as Gilles Marini, Freddie Smith, and Eric Martsolf, all of which he is looking forward to re-connecting with.
On being back on The Young and The Restless as Kevin Fisher, Rikaart said, “It’s amazing. It has been a really lovely homecoming.”
Rikaart returned just in time for a good storyline on The Young and The Restless on CBS. “I couldn’t be any more pleased. I have gotten to work with Christian LeBlanc, where we have the Kevin and Michael dynamic. I have also worked with Mark Grossman as the new Adam Newman, who is really wonderful and embodied this role from day one. I have also gotten to do great scenes with Michelle Stafford and Elizabeth Hendrickson.”
“It has been really great being back. I couldn’t be any happier,” Rikaart admitted.
Most impressive about The Young and The Restless is that it has been the No. 1 soap opera on daytime television for well over 30 consecutive years. “It’s the greatest job in the world,” he said. “I am a really lucky guy and I work with a really wonderful cast, crew, and company. Everybody there contributes and that’s why the show is No. 1. The fans of the show are the best.”
He is drawn to his character, Kevin Fisher, for several reasons. “Kevin really straddles that line of wanting to be reformed and following the rules but never being too far from tipping back over to bending the rules,” he said. “Playing that struggle is fun cause it doesn’t get old.”
When asked how Rikaart handles being dialogue-heavy, he said, “I do some of the work ahead of time and then I cram. I was notorious for that in my college days when I had a term paper due. I like to get a handle of the scene and know what I am after. Then, I would commit everything to memory the night before or sometimes even the morning of. That way, my head is clear.”
“Memorizing lines is like a muscle. It’s a lot harder in the beginning but the more you do something, the easier it gets,” he added.
For young and aspiring actors, he encouraged them to “go to school.” “Don’t just be an artist. Find something else that makes you passionate and that is dear to your heart,” he said.
On being an actor in this digital age, Rikaart said, “I am not changing, but the format and the way the work is reaching the audience is changing. I feel like I’m just an observer. The way I consume television is the way I did it five or 10 years ago. I’m just going for the ride like everybody else.”
In 2018, he was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for “Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series” for playing Kevin Fisher, a category he won back in 2005. “Those were really rough scenes,” he said, about his scenes in his Emmy reel, where he is grief-stricken. “I love working with Elizabeth [Hendrickson] and it was easy to tap into what I needed to do for those scenes. Also, those scenes were shortly after I became a dad. Emotions were running high.”
Each day, Rikaart is motivated by his son. On balancing fatherhood and his acting career, he said, “I take everything day by day.”
Rikaart defined the word success as “having a good balance in your life.” “Figuring out how to thrive, being happy and being able to contribute productively in the world,” he said.
To learn more about this Star Struck fan event this weekend in Tarrytown, New York, check out their official homepage. “I am thrilled to meet everybody there and I am really excited to be back in New York, which is my hometown,” he concluded.
For more information on The Young and The Restless, or to catch the latest episodes, check out the CBS official website.
