Ashton is nominated for “Outstanding Special Guest Performer in a Drama Series” for his portrayal of Zack Stinnett on the hit drama series The Young and The Restless. “That feels pretty fantastic. It is surreal. There is some stiff competition. For my reel, we picked one scene. We used our very last scene, which we shot in a hotel room.”
On being a part of The Young and The Restless, Ashton said, “They are such family over there. Everybody welcomed me with open arms. It is no nice and welcoming. In the daytime department, I expected that the drama would carry over into some of the actual people, but that was not the case. Everyone was so loving and supportive. I was sad to go, but I made some lasting friendships while I was there.”
Speaking of The Young and The Restless, it just celebrated its 45 year anniversary. “Can you believe that? It has been a long time,” he said. “People kept telling me that they were watching that show since they were in middle school. It seems that everybody has a relationship to that show.”
One of the highlights working on that show was doing scenes with veteran actor Eric Braeden (Victor Newman). “Eric is the best,” he admitted, prior to praising the iconic actor for his voice.
Regarding his plans for the future, Ashton said, “Hopefully, some more television projects. I would love to work with soaps again in the future.”
He also underscored the amount of hard work that goes into a soap opera, which is difficult for anybody to fathom unless they are in the daytime acting world. “It is about 60 pages on average, which is a full script per day. There are days where you would film 40 pages of dialogue, and you shoot all that in one take. It is tough, and this was my first time doing daytime acting, and it feels like boot-camp. You need to know your lines and come prepared. Having that foundation though, going into other film and television, having two or three takes, it feels like such a luxury. Everyone at The Young and The Restless is really good at what they do,” he explained.
For aspiring actors, Ashton said, “Try to find your voice, and get it out there. Now, more than ever, get content out there, and finished projects. Let people see you and expose yourself in that way.”
On the impact of technology on the entertainment business, Ashton said, “There are so many places to watch your brand of entertainment. You are not being forced anymore. There are a few sides to that coin. There is so much content out there that you can find specifically what you are after, and being on the creative side of things, it is so great that there are so many projects out there, and things to be a part of. It is definitely a yin and yang to have so much content. Personally, I love it.”
The actor furnished his definition of the word success as contentment in life.
For his fans, Ashton said, “The Young and The Restless had a built-in fan-base, and prior to that, I was never a part of anything like that. I didn’t see that coming. That was a real luxury and I appreciate everybody’s support in the process. I played a bad character, so there were people that didn’t have nice things to say, but regardless, I really appreciate the enthusiasm that is behind the show.”
Tune in on April 29 to see if Ryan Ashton takes home the 2018 Emmy award for “Outstanding Special Guest Performer in a Drama Series” for playing Zack Stinnett on The Young and The Restless.
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