Christopher Sean has demonstrated his immense range of talent on both Days of Our Lives and Hawaii Five-0.  He has also given quite a bit of his time to family, friends, fans, and charitable causes.  I was honored that he generously shared his limited time to give me such an honest and extensive interview.  Please enjoy all that Christopher shared!

Carolyn Topol Talk:  You spent the better part of the past two years playing two completely different characters on television — Paul on Days of Our Lives and Gabriel on Hawaii Five-0. What were the challenges or, as you see it, the advantages in doing this simultaneously?

Christopher Sean:  Well, there’s challenges and advantages to both. Both of which are having an acting gig, so I get lucky enough to be an actor, which is a dream come true.  What most people wish they can be is an actor, but I get to live the fantasy realm of others in the dream state.  That’s my reality. It’s pretty awesome. [Laughs] So to play Paul — the challenges and advantages — the challenge, obviously for me, is to portray a proper love story with a lot of of significance in respect to the LGBT community. I have to make sure I’m not insulting in any way, make sure I’m extremely realistic, and I’m truthfully in love with the other character [Sonny Kiriakis], played by Freddie Smith. My job is to help people by showing them a true story. That is the challenge, and also the advantage as well.

It’s important for me to take on roles. When you first start acting, you take anything, I wanted to just work; I want to be an actor.  But when you’re offered a role like the one on Days of Our Lives, it’s a very scary role to accept. You’re told you’re going to be playing a gay character and you have to be comfortable with that. To me it’s like, whew, I want people to be comfortable with how I play that. People who are gay can look at the character and say, “Man that’s my story. I wish I was brave enough to come out.” I want to be able to hold their hand through our story line, and allow them the courage, and allow them the reality to know that they can be brave and learn they can live through watching Paul.

I guess that’s the challenge and advantage of playing Paul. It’s fun it’s great. I get to work in a very familial environment very familial. Everyone there is so cool and down to earth. I love having a consistent work schedule there.

Photo Credit: Youtube.com

Playing Gabriel the advantages you get to fly to Hawaii. [Laughs] I get to be on the primetime show. I get to show up and everyone there is so kind and endearing. It’s really easy to fall in love with the cast and crew. The challenge was to be a completely opposite character. I don’t want to be the same character as Paul Narita on Days. I want to be Gabriel Waincroft. I want people to see both shows and not be certain. “Was that him, was that not him — no, it can’t be.” I don’t want people to know that they’re seeing the same person as a different character. To be entirely honest it’s a lot of fun. As much as the challenge that it was it was still a great advantage because it allowed me to stretch that acting muscle — to just get lost and have fun. When you play the bad guy you get to do a lot more stuff.

CTT:  It was certainly a more active role.

CS:  Oh yeah! That’s really where I would like my career to go. I would really love to be doing action dramas. My whole dream is to really be like a Bruce Willis or a Mel Gibson, even The Rock.

CTT:  That would be cool!

I know you’ve spoken about this briefly… there are clearly fewer roles played by Asian actors in the industry, and although you are actively working now, have you ever found that to be a hurdle, personally, as you’ve looked for roles?

CS:  You know it’s a very touchy subject. Because the diversity movement is so strong. I think actions speak louder than words. But the issue is, the squeaky wheel gets the oil. So if we don’t speak up as a community, then who will hear you over the other wheel that’s squeaking? Do you know what I mean?

CTT:  Right, right — I completely understand.

CS:  If you don’t speak up, you won’t be heard. It’s difficult. It’s a fine line to walk with professionalism and responsibility. In my situation it’s very simple. I am known as Ethnically Ambiguous because I’m not Asian and I’m not white, I’m Eurasian. I’m what’s known as a Hoppa. And being a Hoppa — it’s a Catch-22. I don’t get the big roles, and I can’t get the small roles. I can’t be the lead of a feature film because I need to accumulate more smaller roles to be able to show people that I’m worth putting more and more money into and that I’m worth it. I need to develop the fan base, essentially. But, anyway, you don’t get the smaller roles, because you’re not Asian enough to play Asian, and not white enough to play white. So how do you break into a business where you know nobody, you’re a complete stranger to the town, and you’re not what they want?

CTT:  That’s rough.

CS:  It’s difficult, it’s very very difficult. There was a thirteen year strenuous process where only until recently have people taken notice and said, you know what, we are a melting pot we are in America, he’s an American just like anyone else, He just looks Asian. So take a chance, so why not give him a part. Why not tell a story that hasn’t been told? I guess it was 2014 statistics show that 1.4% of the entertainment industry consisted of Asian-Americans — only 1.4%. I don’t know the exact numbers, so don’t quote me per se. This is just off the top of my head from what I remember. Essentially there’s over 300,000 actors that are in the union I think less than 1% are actually working of the 1% that are working only half of them are making more than $17,000 annually.

CTT:  I would believe that.

CS:  So it’s really hard to get work. If if less than 1% is making more than $17,000 annually and only 1.4% of that is Asian — Holy Shnikees! You’ve got to get hit by lightning! [All laugh]

CTT:  I’m glad, as a fan, you were able to get two roles that make you very visible and I think you do them both fabulously. I love watching you on both shows.

CS:  I really appreciate; that thank you very much.

CTT:  If you could play, at this point, any role, with no barrier at all for any reason, what would your ideal role be?

CS:  My favorite movie is Braveheart starring Mel Gibson. If I was socially accepted to play a role where I was a warrior fighting for a cause larger then myself — that cause being love — that would be an iconic role for me. The Fifth Element — a movie like that.

CTT:  Back now to things you have already done. What was the most challenging scene, or scenes, you did on Days and on Hawaii Five-0?

CS:  For me, the coming out scene of Paul Narita was probably the hardest week, I think, of my career. I had 52 pages of dialogue on Monday, 37 pages on Tuesday, 19 pages, 12 pages, and then 7 pages till Friday. It was out-of-control. I’d go to work and cry all day long until they’d say, “Cut.” Then they’d say, “How’re you doing?” and I’d say, “I’m good.” I’d say, “I’m fine, absolutely. Thank you so much,” and they’d say, “Are you ready for another one?” and I’d say, “Yeah, let’s do it.” I’d then say, “Will, I can’t believe what’s going on.” [Crying voice] And then I’d start crying again. It was back and forth. Then coming home, mentally exhausted because you’ve put everything into your day and then go home and memorize more. So I was like, okay, here we go, and put more into it. It’s hard to memorize anything when you’re mentally exhausted.

CTT:  I’m sure.

CS:  It’s easy when you’ve had a good day, and you’re like, “Wow I feel great today, let’s go to the gym.” But when you’re tired and you’re physically beat, and it’s a Friday and you’re exhausted, both physically and mentally, just from life in general, it’s hard to push so that was a very difficult week. I think it took me eight hours to memorize the 37 pages for the second day.

CTT:  I was just going to ask you how long it took to memorize that dialogue.

CS:  It takes, some days, longer than others. Some days are just on and you memorize it and you sleep so well you have to re-memorize it. [All laugh] But it’s easy when you get lost in the character; you just have the lines memorized. Like I said, sometimes there is that mental fatigue and it’s a lock where [the lines] are such an obstacle to overcome but you have to do it because you have to tell the story properly. It’s all a sacrifice for proper storytelling because as actors that’s what we are — storytellers. I want to make it as natural as possible so that people can relate, and people can understand. That was probably my biggest week, and the hardest challenge — the Days of Our Lives coming out story. And, again, I knew how important that was as that was the first. That was the first time an actor came out on American television in Japanese. Someone said it was the first Asian-American on the network to come out in Japanese. I thought, wow, that’s record-breaking; that’s pretty amazing! It’s historical.

CTT:  I think so!

CS:  Outside of that, for Hawaii Five0, it was the dying scene. When Gabriel Waincroft was being dragged around by Daniel Dae Kim, I loved it — all day long. I’ve got this wound in my stomach, and I’m laughing with DDK, saying, “I’m going to fall and you’re going to have to pick me up. I’m gonna make you so sore tomorrow.” He said, “Do your worst!” [Lots of laughing]

[During that scene] I’m trying to drag my face on the floor. The hardest part about that is we were in Chinatown and it was very, very unsanitary and I’ve got my face on the ground and I could smell the urine on the sidewalks, and I’m thinking, oh my God. But I’ve got to be true to the story so I just remember thinking I really need to wash my face after this disgusting scene. Then going from the streets of Chinatown, we’re inside and DDK is cauterizing the wound where Gabriel Waincroft was shot. To be there, in that position, where you’re nearly dead — and everything is shot out of sequence mind you — so we’ll then be [directed], here you’re not so dead and then here you’re down more. You have to do your homework to know what level you are playing. You have to know. You have to know how you’re reacting, and so forth, to your surroundings. That was pretty challenging to go from okay it’s all good, to okay you’re about to die and you’re going to ask him [Chin Ho Kelly, played by Daniel Dae Kim] to take care of your daughter — so that was difficult. It was a great challenge because I love to be mentally challenged and physically challenged. It was a blast! So much fun!

CTT:  I remember reading once that you watched your Hawaii Five-0 episodes, is that true?

CS:  Yeah, I do. I will try and go through the hardest stuff to make to make sure that my work is good and I’m not screwing up. You do a lot of work prior. I don’t just show up to set and say, “Okay, what are we doing today?” I’m actually very calculated in my choices, so I review each episode to make sure those choices were proper and I’m not overshooting or undershooting. I want to make sure it all works cohesively.

CTT:  And for Days of Our Lives, do you watch the episodes you’re in for that also?

CS:  I watch certain ones — the ones that are the more challenging episodes. Sometimes I’m there just to help the story along. For example, if I just have to say, “Wow, oh Brady said that!” and then I disappear for the day, and that’s my job for that day, I don’t necessarily watch that episode. Then there are the episodes, like that coming out episode where you are being interviewed by this beautiful man, and I’m in love with my first love, Sonny Kiriakis, and we’re both talking vaguely about who this person is — I want to see how that all plays out on camera — if they catch my nuances; if they catch my choices.

CTT:  I won’t ask you any particulars then, but I will ask, vaguely, have you needed or wanted to watch upcoming days you are now filming as Paul is getting a more involved storyline?  Your fans want to know if you are going to be on more. So, are you at a place when you find yourself more engrossed in the episodes that we have yet to see?

*****

To enjoy the second half of this amazing interview, starting with the answer to this question, come back on Monday for the next post on Carolyn Topol Talk! You won’t regret it!

(Photo Credits: Brad E. Young, Christopher Sean, YouTube)