JASPER NEWMAN ON DAYS GIG
■ Jasper Newman sums up his DAYS alter ego prophetically, yet concisely. “He’s a charming, misunderstood bad boy with a heart full of twisted love,” says the actor, who’s portraying Sloan’s calculating brother, Colin. “I love playing characters like this. You can perceive them, like with his vendetta against Paulina and Chanel, to just be evil. When you’re working on something like this, you have to look at the humanity of who they are first and see they’re not just a hateful person. Sometimes the pain comes out of love. It turns out their vendetta is the only way they know to get their strong feelings out.”
Originally from London, Newman already knew all about soaps. “There are a few that are huge over in England,” he notes. “My mum and my sister would watch EASTENDERS, CORONATION STREET and HOLLYOAKS. Every now and again, I would sit down and watch them, too. And I knew about DAYS OF OUR LIVES. I knew how big it was. It’s on a much bigger scale than soaps were in England. And I knew it was a very different style from other features and shorts that I’ve been involved in.”
Though he’s done a host of other projects, “I didn’t know what to expect,” he admits of his new soap role. “It is a very different style of shooting than I’d been used to. For me, it’s right in the middle of theater and filming for TV or features because of the amount of dialogue you have, and we’re moving so quickly. It was incredible coming onto the stage and seeing everything being prepared and ready to go. You can chat and get to know everyone and bring it to life in front of the crew, the producers and the directors. It’s been a brilliant experience with a lot of the different people there.”
Among those who eased his way into Colin, Newman cites Casting Director Marnie Saitta as “one of the biggest helps. She’s been huge and in my corner, just helping explain everything from day one, answering any questions and helping mentally prepare me for it. For me that was important, knowing as much about what I was going into beforehand, so I can just focus on what I’m there to do.”
Co-star Aketra Sevillian (Talia) has been “incredible” too. “It became fun and playful between the two of us,” recounts Newman. “Whenever I would feel like I messed up or had done something wrong, she would reassure me that it was okay. That we were going to carry on and get the scene done to the best of our ability. She was very supportive and helpful, as were a few of the other co-stars. I was chatting with people about maybe doubting myself a little bit, and they were like, ‘No, don’t worry. You’re doing fine.’ Everyone was great. I came in a little bit nervous, but then I relaxed into it.”
Along the way, Newman feels he’s done some interesting work, too. “It was great diving into the many layers that Colin has and getting to understand him on a much deeper level,” he says. “I also enjoyed being able to play with the role so much and going to all of the extremes of all of his emotions. It’s been great sinking my teeth into him.”