http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/movie-guide/Former+soap+star+takes/8169069/story.html
B.C. native Dylan Bruce got his TV start as Dr. Chris Hughes on soap opera As the World Turns
Orphan Black, the new sci-fi series on Space, features a mind-bending premise with Canadian It Girl Tatiana Maslany (Picture Day) playing multiple clones of the same character - but while some actors might find this concept complicated, improbable plot twists and twins are nothing new to Vancouver-born actor Dylan Bruce, who kicked off his career on the soap opera As the World Turns.
"Working on a soap opera is such good training for the novice actor. No rehearsal, 120 pages of dialogue per week, and one take to get the scene right, no room for error," says Bruce, who had a blast playing Dr. Chris Hughes. "I think sometimes soap acting gets an unfair label for being bad and over the top. The lessons I learned there were so valuable. Seeing yourself every day on television you learned what worked and didn't work, what was bad acting and what wasn't, memorizing scripts became second nature."
Asked to describe his role in the heavily buzzed-about Orphan Black, Bruce told The Sun there's not much he can reveal at the moment. "Our show thrives on thrills and surprises. Without spoiling too much, the short on my character would be that he's an all-around good guy, strong, solid, and supportive. The perfect mate. He's in a tumultuous relationship with the character Beth (Maslany) who commits suicide in the first episode, unbeknownst to him, and when Sarah (also Maslany) assumes Beth's identity, he's intrigued and suspicious of who this new person is, even though he's loving every second of this new "Beth." As her deception and feelings for him grow, and his suspicion and feelings for her grow, it leads to one hell of a roller-coaster ride."
While he won't reveal any more plot points, he's happy to describe the show as "fun, dark, different, sexy, funny and thrilling."
Ironically - or perhaps appropriately - Bruce's audition for the 10-part season was the stuff of science fiction. After sending in a tape to apply for the part, he was invited to audition for the casting director and one of the show's creators via Skype.
"Thank god for Skype, because it opens up a lot of opportunities for actors who may not have been seen for a particular role." After the Skype session he flew to Toronto to screen-test with Maslany.
Born in Vancouver and raised in Boundary Bay, Bruce says his inspiration to become an actor was B.C.'s Michael J. Fox. "He was my hero. I wanted to be him, whether it was dressing in sweaters with a dress shirt and tie, going to school with a briefcase in kindergarten to emulate Alex P. Keaton from Family Ties, or wearing a puffy vest and blasting Huey Lewis and the News while skateboarding like Marty McFly, he was it. When I found out from my mom he was a B.C. boy, I knew that acting was for me."
As for his stint in soap-land, Bruce (who has also been seen in NCIS and The Sopranos) is proud to have been part of "the starting place for actors like Julianne Moore and Marisa Tomei as well as the wonderful people that were still on the show since the '50s, '60s and '70s up till the end in 2009.
"People grew up with those shows, but viewership is changing as well as the daytime model. I'm just glad to say that I was a small part of it."
Orphan Black debuts Saturday at 6 p.m. on Space.
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