Darin Brooks
What’s going on in your favourite actor’s head?
US soap The Bold & The Beautiful (1987- current, see more on p26) thrives on family scandal and drama and Darin Brooks is at the centre right now as his character Wyatt hooks up with his former stepmom Katie (Heather Tom). “I love this storyline,” says the 34-year- old. “It shows that he is a chip off his dad Bill’s (Don Diamont) block with women.” While Wyatt has had his share of lovers, having been married to Hope Logan (Kim Matula) in 2015 and Steffy (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) in 2017, there’s only one woman for Darin and she’s a face Bold fans will recognise: Forrester International’s publicist Eva (Kelly Kruger). “It was love at first sight,” says Darin, who proposed while holidaying in Paris in 2014 before getting married in March 2016. So what’s better than working on TV with your spouse? The couple enjoy cuddling up in front of their smallscreen to binge their favourite shows with their fur-babies Charlie and Maddy.
What was the first TV show you acted out with friends? Teen sitcom Saved By The Bell (1989-1992). I grew up watching ’80s and ’90s shows. I was Zach Morris (Mark-Paul Gosselaar), everyone else was his friends.
Who was your first TV crush? Kelly Kapowski (Tiffani Amber Thiessen) from Saved By The Bell. She was hot! What did you do when an adult moment came on while you were watching TV with family? I watched it. I tried to play it off as if it was nothing so that my parents didn’t kick me out the room.
What have you wanted ever since you saw it on TV? It’s a big item. I wanted a Grumman F-14 Tomcat fighter jet after 1986 action movie Top Gun with Tom Cruise. I wanted to be a fighter pilot after I saw that film. Top Gun made me want to be an actor.
Whose wardrobe do you want? Tom Cruise’s Top Gun jeans, white T-shirt and bomber jacket… so cool!
Whose TV house would you love to live in? I loved the house I grew up in in Hawaii. I never wanted to live in someone else’s house. I mean, I grew up in Hawaii.
What shows are you fanatical about now? Kelly and I love fantasy series Game Of Thrones (2011- current), dystopian thriller Handmaid’s Tale (2017- current), fantasy series Outlander (2014- current) and especially Bold. If you worked behind the scenes, what job would you want? I’d want to be a producer or director. I enjoy making things and being creative. I am actually writing scripts right now behind the scenes and getting them produced.
What is one of your favourite plot twists from a show? When evil Prince Joffrey from Game Of Thrones was poisoned and killed [season 4 episode 2, 2014]. I didn’t read the books, so for me it was completely unexpected. What is your nightmare scenario while filming? We do a lot of pages in a day and we try to get them done in a specific time. So it is crazy when someone takes a long time because he can’t remember his lines. You don’t want to be that guy. With all the reboots, which series would you like to reboot and be part of? Vampire horror Buffy, The Vampire Slayer (1996-2003). I’m a fan of creator Joss Whedon and everything that he does. Or Magnum PI (2018current, see more on p31) because I grew up in Hawaii. If you could play any character on any show, who would it be? Jon Snow (Kit Harington) from Game Of Thrones. Or any character from there actually. The sword fights, dragons, armour suits, horseback riding – I would love that. What show and episode made you cry most
recently? I was watching comedy series AP Bio (2018- current) and the school nurse Helen (Paula Pell) tried to help this kid by screaming “Argh!” in his face. It scared both the kid and me – I just about died laughing and crying. Who is your TV icon? Tony Shaloub from drama series Monk (2002-2009) because he created such a great character. Also John “McCookie” McCook from our show – as patriarch Eric Forrester. I call him Papa Bear. He’s such a good dude in real-life and it seems effortless playing such a great father figure on the show. It’s really fun to watch him work. And if you could change one thing about Wyatt, it would be… I liked it when he was more of a bad boy. Shoot first, ask questions later. You didn’t know what he was going to do next. He is a product of Bill and Quinn (Rena Sofer). He’s got bad tendencies and we still don’t know about his past, being raised by Quinn.