Actor Conner Floyd chatted with Digital Journal’s Markos Papadatos about taking over the role of Chance Chancellor on the hit CBS soap opera “The Young and The Restless.”
“The Young and The Restless” has been the No. 1 daytime drama for well over three decades. “It’s a wonderful opportunity to work with a lot of really talented actors and get in front of a lot of eyes as well,” he acknowledged.
Portraying Chance Chancellor
On stepping into the role of Chance, he said, “It was just like any other audition, I got a call from my agent and I was in Oklahoma at the time. I got back to Los Angeles a couple of weeks later and I auditioned for the show, and here I am now a few months into it.”
He is drawn to his character, Chance Chancellor, for several reasons. “This is the first time that I really got to sit with a character for more than a month,” he said.
“I want people to feel safe with Chance and I want them to know that he has everybody’s back,” he added.
“I got to sit with Chance and think about him, and each week, I am learning something new about him through the scripts. I really respect Chance and everything he has been through, the way he thinks, and how he goes about things. I think Chance is a pretty awesome dude, to tell you the truth,” he elaborated.
Floyd opened up about tackling the PTSD storyline on the show. “It was heavy,” he admitted. “I was a little nervous coming in it, but I did my homework. I am still doing my homework and I am still learning. I did a lot of reading and I got to talk to some people about it that have been through it. That has been really helpful.”
“Ultimately, I want to do this storyline justice since it’s a really intense situation,” he added.
Working with Melissa Ordway
He praised his luminous acting partner Melissa Ordway, who plays Abby, his wife on the show. “Melissa has been awesome, she has been nothing but nice to me since day one. I met her during the screen test, and each day we talk and build our chemistry up. It has been really fun to dissect the scripts and explore these storylines with Melissa since she is a really wonderful actress,” he said.
When asked how he handles being dialogue-heavy on the show, he said, “It’s a load, I tell you. I read the script raw until I can’t read it anymore. I am really big on writing lines down, so if I have a big speech or monologue I would write it down several times. It’s just about reading and understanding the story, then it comes naturally. I have been sitting with Chance for a while now so I understand his mind and what he is going to say in situations.”
The digital age
On being an actor in the digital age, Floyd said, “It is wonderful. There are all kinds of opportunities these days. Obviously, you have all the social media, and that allows you to make your own content, which I am excited about. I would like to get into creating my own material a little bit more, and getting it out there on all of these platforms for people to see.”
Advice for hopefuls in acting
For young and aspiring actors, he encouraged them to “just keep working.” “It’s all about what you put in. If you really want it, go and get it,” he said. “Be prepared to face adversity but you need to pull through it.”
On the title of the current chapter of his life, Floyd remarked, “Stay the Course.” “If you have a dream, you need to go and get it,” he said.
If he were to have any superpower, he revealed that it would be “flying” and to “be like Wolverine.” “I’m a huge Wolverine fan so I always thought it would be really cool to be fully made out of metal and just be able to take a beating,” he explained.
Floyd listed Matthew McConaughey and Clint Eastwood as his dream acting partners. “It would be really cool to work with Matthew McConaughey, he is really talented,” he said.
‘Nowhere Alaska’
He shared that it was a “great” experience for him to be a part of “Nowhere Alaska,” which was directed and co-written by Cory Carroll. “It was one of the coolest film experiences I’ve had since I’ve been in Los Angeles,” he said.
“It was really great working with Cory. He’s a good friend and we got to film with a drone, which was super creative and cool to get out in the woods. He’s a good dude and filmmaker,” he said.
If he were to do any track and field event, he shared that he would do the high jump and he would run the relays. “I ran track in high school. I was a high jumper and I ran the relays,” he said. “I loved the high jump so I would go back and do that.”
Success
Floyd defined the word success as “hard work and commitment.” “In order to be successful you need to work hard,” he said.
Y&R Fans
For his Y&R fans, Floyd expressed his sincere appreciation. “The fans are the coolest, I get some of the nicest messages, and reading all of these nice things is just awesome. The fact that people like what they are seeing and them telling me that I am doing this role justice is so great. We have great, committed fans that have been watching the show for a long time,” he said.
To learn more about “The Young and The Restless,” visit the official CBS website.
For more information on Conner Floyd, follow him on Instagram.
