Maurice Benard has been known for mentoring his fellow daytime actors and recently revealed in the latest General Hospital cast members that he’s taken under his wing.
New Mentees
On the latest episode of his podcast State of Mind, Benard (Sonny) was joined by one of his newest co-stars, who he revealed is a young actor he plans on helping. “I love young actors… I’ve helped quite a bit,” he began. “I haven’t helped in a while because I just haven’t found anyone who I kind of like… and this person I’ve got today, I kind of like,” he said while introducing Finn Carr.
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Carr joined GH in 2022 as Rocco, and admitted he had only done comedies prior to joining the soap. “You broke my heart,” Benard told him, referring to the emotional scenes when Rocco learned Sam (ex-Kelly Monaco) had died. “And I am helping Sawandi,” he added about newcomer Sawandi Wilson (Isaiah).
Emmys Galore
“I think I have ten Emmys to show for that,” Benard said, revealing three are his own, while the rest come from actors he mentored throughout his career.
Benard’s most notable mentee is Steve Burton, who has played Jason on GH off and on for three decades. During a previous episode of State of Mind, Burton praised the way Benard coached him when they first started working together.
“We were at the craft service table, and then we did go sit down…and you said something like, ‘You’re deep, you’re very believable,” Burton recalled. “You said, ‘What are your plans?’ or something like that. Because I was going to leave the show.”
When Benard asked Burton what his technique was, and Burton admitted he didn’t have one, that was when Benard offered to help the then-young actor, who went on to win two Daytime Emmys.
“Something hit me to say to myself, ‘This guy’s deep,’” Benard remembered after watching Burton film a scene in the 90s.
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