Ex-The Bold and the Beautiful Star Rome Flynn Remembers His Soap Past

The last few months have been a whirlwind for Rome Flynn, who played Zende Forrester Dominguez on The Bold and the Beautiful for two years. This role garnered the former model a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series.

Moving Forward

In April, Flynn released a new R&B single, Keep Me In Mind, which he recorded soon after completing filming on the final season of How to Get Away With Murder. This month, a video for the song comes out on May 8 and the last episode of his show airs on May 14 as he—and viewers—say goodbye to Gabriel Maddox.

And with the COVID-19 pandemic, Flynn is stuck at home writing more and navigating his future, which he shares will consist of both music and acting.

“I was doing music before I was acting, but acting took off first. I came from a poor background growing up, so I took the opportunity, and it really took off, and I fell in love with it. I didn’t go to drama school or acting class or anything; this was just something I was meant to do,” Flynn says.

“Music was something I always have done but the timing wasn’t right. Now, this is the perfect time. You have to reinvent yourself to be relevant in any professional space so that’s kind of the reason I pursued it now. I’m very optimistic about what the future will look like.”

Rome Flynn Remembers A Daytime Legend

Even so, Flynn was thinking about the past this week, back to his start in the acting world. He recalls an early encounter with the late Kristoff St. John (Neil on The Young and the Restless), who had some powerful words for him. The two shows are shot in studios close to each other on the same production lot.

“I had just started getting my feet underneath me as far as being an actor. Bold and Beautiful is the most-watched show in the world and it was a lot of pressure. Kristoff pulled me aside in the hall one day and told me how important it was that I was on TV and how important it was for me to know the responsibility of what that meant. It really made me look at everything from a different lens from that point on. That really spearheaded a lot of decision-making and choices I made after that.”

He also remembers strong advice that John McCook gave him early on. McCook played his BB character’s grandfather, Eric Forrester.

“The first day on set, I ran into McCook and he gave me the lay of the land,” Flynn recalls. “He put his arm around me and told me ‘you’re going to be great. You’re a leading man and being a leading man isn’t about how you walk into the room, it’s about who you are when you walk in.’ He helped me navigate that. He’s such a warm guy.”

He looks back fondly on his time with the soap and says he learned a lot about work ethic, writing ability, and how to improve as an actor over time.

Rome Flynn still keeps in touch with Reign Edwards (ex-Nicole), Darin Brooks (Wyatt), and Pierson Fodé (ex-Thomas), and says Bradley Bell still randomly calls him about once a year to tell him how happy he is for how his career has blossomed.

“It was amazing to work with these talented actors,” he says. “They have done thousands of episodes, and the amount of work they’ve done is unmatched. I have really fond memories of so many people.”

The Bold and the Beautiful airs weekdays on CBS. Check your local listings for airtimes.