TVGuide.com Q&A With Brock Cuchna...

Brock Cuchna
Paul Cramer, One Life to Live

Sometimes it's good to be second. One Life to Live's Brock Cuchna originally auditioned for the role of Paul's cousin, River Carpenter. It didn't pan out — but weeks later, the daytime newcomer was handed the plum role of Paul Cramer. In his few short months in Llanview, Paul has become sole heir to the Cramer millions, and Cuchna has logged two soaps on his acting dossier, with Paul revealing his wedded past to All My Children's Babe. Not bad for a former business major who discovered that it was more fun to recite numbers than to crunch them. — Delaina Dixon

How did you discover you wanted to be an actor?
Studying finance in college, I went through some terrible internships in accounting, and I just knew I wasn't a cubicle kind of guy, and I wanted to get involved in the entertainment business any way possible. I moved out to California when I was done and started taking some acting classes and having fun with it.

What was your first acting experience?
It's almost embarrassing. When I moved out to Los Angeles, my friend was casting music videos. I was an extra in a Darren Hayes video called "Insatiable." I've watched it, and I don't even think I'm in it. But I was there for two days, shooting it. I was a guy running around in the background.

What other projects had you done before landing One Life?
I had actually just done some student films. One was called Tongue Tied. There were a lot of nos before I got this, and I didn't get the job, because I auditioned for River with [his portrayer] Matthew Twining. Obviously, we know who won that one. But they told me that in a couple of weeks, they may have something opening up, and they wanted to offer that to me, if I was interested. I thought it was a nice way of them turning me down. But two weeks later, they called me and offered me a role. I said, "Do I have to quit working at the Four Seasons?" and they said, "Yeah." It was pretty cool.

How would you describe Paul?
He's like a cornered dog, in my opinion. He doesn't know anyone in town. Llanview's a crazy place. You throw someone in there and he has to sink or swim. So Paul's getting his claws out. He went in trying to be a nice guy getting by on his charm, but that's not going to cut it.

Especially as a Cramer. What is his connection to the family?
He has the same mother as his sister Kelly, which is Melinda. She mysteriously remembered that she had Paul with a different father. He grew up with his dad in a different lifestyle.

What about the Cramers' bouts with mental insatiability?
That's got to be in his genes somewhere.

So what's his secret to surviving the Cramer household of strong, if not certifiable, women?
He's going to fight back. Paul isn't the type of guy to accept someone taking over his life or trying to mess with him. Paul's not afraid to get his hands dirty a little bit. He did party back in the day, and get married to Babe in one night.

Is Paul still in love with her?
She's gorgeous, but is she worth $30 million? He fell in love with her for one night, but I think the $30 million might last longer than the love.

Paul likes being the sole heir to millions?
He's just has to wait for Aunt Betsy to die. He doesn't want her to, but if the Music Box Killer happened to show up on Aunt Betsy's doorstep, Paul would grieve and pay a lot of money for her funeral.

How has the move been from sunny L.A. to the frigid temperatures of New York City, where One Life is shot?
I'd like to make it more dramatic, but I'm from Chicago, so I'm used to it — but that doesn't mean I like it. It's just going back to what I had been doing the other 20 years of my life. I had all the coats ready.

Do you have brothers or sisters?
I have an older brother, Mike, and the best thing is that he's a pilot, and I play one on TV. So Mom's thrilled; she has two pilots in the family. My brother's a little jealous. It took me a lot less time to get my pilot license. He tries to give me advice, but I just joke, "I already know this. I've been in the Navy for years."

What are some of your hobbies?
One has become playing a lot of Xbox. Matthew [Twining] is a huge Xbox fan and he's gotten me in this game called Halo. It's consumed me lately because when I play him, he's so good. So I've been sneakily practicing so I don't get killed all the time. Out in L.A., I started playing Ultimate Frisbee. On Sundays, we would play in the Hollywood Dog Park, which was a lot of fun. Here in New York, the game is much more aggressive. They're very serious — I'm almost afraid to play. The attitude's very different, and right now, it's a lot colder. (Chuckles)

What's your favorite junk food?
When I lived out in L.A., I lived right next door to a Rite Aid that had Thrifty Ice Cream's Medieval Madness. Everyone knew if I was coming home late at night, I'd stop there for ice cream. It was vanilla ice cream, swirled with Three Musketeers bars and caramel. It was the antidote, as far I was concerned.

Are you gearing up for the holiday season?
My mom is sort of the anchor, and she makes the holiday happen. We've developed a tradition of buying our tree the day after Thanksgiving, and we did it this year again. We cut down our own tree. Actually, when I say "we," I mean "I," because my dad decided he was not going to cut it down, and my brother's married so he was picking out his own with his wife. It was freezing, and we were so cold. Who knows if we got the perfect tree. It could have been one of those Charlie Brown trees when my parents got it home.

Is there anything special you want?
I really don't crave anything. It'll just be fun to be home with everybody. Even if you tell them to get you nothing, they don't listen, and they come up with something cool. I love my family, they're great. They love to have fun and I love being with them.

[TVGuide.com]




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