| The Son also rises |
| Feature Interview of Jonathan Jackson from Soaps in Depth, January 13, 1998 issue |
| Port Charles' golden boy makes tracks for the silver screen |
| What do you call a guy who has held his own playing the son of soap's most revered mom-and-pop operation.... a guy who, at an age when his peers were only beginning to plot their career paths, has earned the respect of his adult colleagues - and a Daytime Emmy Award... a guy who has just wrapped work on a film with Michelle Pfeiffer? |
| You could call him Lucky. But, more to the point, Jonathan Jackson is very talented and savvy, too. "When I re-signed (with GH), we got it in the contract that if I gave them a certain amount of notice, I could get time off to do other things," he admits. "They were pretty cool about it." |
| And already, his forward-thinking has paid a premium dividend. In The Deep End Of The Ocean, due out later this year, he plays a boy whose kid brother tragically disappears. "His family is basically screwed up because of losing the child," he explains. "So growing up, his mom (Pfiffer) doesn't really pay attention to him." |
| The part seems tailor-made for the introspective Jackson. "He doesn't have everything straightened out," suggests the actor, "but deep down , he has a good heart. He's just trying to figure out in which direction he wants to go." |
| The Examined Life |
| Like his Lucky counterpart, Jackson is a straight-ahead guy. Even with this new twist in his celebrity status, he finds that taking it one step at a time helps him to remain focused. "As long as I just keep everything priortized and try to do the best I can each day," he ventures, "I'll be all right." |
| Just as his TV character falls far from the stereotype of the floundering teenager, Jackson, too, keeps his eyes on the prize. "My opinion is that theunexamined life is not worth living," he asserts. "If you check out what you want in life, then you can figure it out. But if you don't really think about it, you can't get anywhere." |
| It's no coincidence that Jackson shares a sense of individualism with his Gh character. For instance, he doesn't concern himself with rising to the top of a talent pool that includes the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio; Jackson's biggest competitor is himself, he says. "It's not going to do me any good to compare myself to other people." |
| Not Just Plain Folks |
| Having GH's Anthony Geary (Luke) and Genie Francis (Laura) playing his parents for the last four years has made the 15-year-old proud to be called a chip off the old blok.. "Acting-wise, I've taken tons of things from (Geary)," says Jackson. "He never just looks at a scene, and does whatever's written there. He's always thinking." |
| In fact, that's how stage father and son became close. "We were always talking and thinking of what we could do," recalls Jackson. "It was just constant brainstorming on how we could try to get a 'real' life going on. That's how our chemistry started." |
| Francis also strongly contributed to Jackson's acting education, he adds. "Stuff I learned from her sticks with me. She's always trying to find the truth to a situation. While Tony can sometimes be a little abstract, Genie heads straight in a direction. Together, they're a perfect team." |
| And they leave Jackson in an enviable position. "Right in the middle," he declares. "I'm drawn to both sides, which is perfect." |
| Francis' absence has been keenly felt by both men, says Jackson. "I think we don't really realize how much we miss her until she comes back for a couple of days. Then we say, 'Yeah, it would be really cool if she stays. It would complete the family.' But we're hanging in there." |
| In fact, Jackson has done more than hang in during Francis' hiatus; he's taken a gient leap forward. "At this point, I've come to a place where I can be put with anybody and hold my own," he says, confiding that things would have been different three years ago. "I would have wanted Tony and Genie around to show me more. Now I can do that for myself." |
| On His Own |
| Jackson's biggest challenge came when most teens take it easy. Vacation time ended up being a test- and a show- of strength for both him and his charecter. "This whole summer I was by myself (on the show), so it was a good summer in that regard," he remarks. "But it was also a time for me to be listened to on my own by producers and directors, where in the past, Tony would take care of that." |
| Jackson concedes that there were a few rough spots, but after a while, he says "They realized it was time for me to say what I was thinking." |
| Growing up is hard enough to do as a real-life teen, and Jackson has definite ideas about how his age group is portrayed on-screen. "People have a conception when they write teenagers," he says, "so one of the biggest battles is to find good roles that aren't really trite." |
| Lucky guy. His mission's already accomplished. --Debbie Enders |
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