Love Out Loud VII, an annual event sponsored by We Love Soaps and Poz magazine, was held on Wednesday, May 16 at Prohibition in New York City. It's an AIDS Walk NY fundraiser: the hosts, the sponsors, and (this is truly wonderful) the celebrities are all donated their time to the cause! In the latest episode of our web series, WE LOVE SOAPS TV, we talked with former ALL MY CHILDREN and AS THE WORLD TURNS actor Ben Monk (formerly credited as Ben Jorgensen) backstage at Love Out Loud. Monk shared professional highlights such as the coming out storyline of AMC's gay teen Kevin Sheffield, starring in Calvin Klein's Obsession ad as a child, and his successful career as an editor and filmmaker. Monk was recently bit by the acting bug again and he provided an update on that as well.
"The writing was so good," Monk remembers of his time at ALL MY CHILDREN. "It was like a movie going by. My coming out scene was the best."
"What was interesting is they never seemed to want to hire the gay actors to play the gay parts," he continued. "I was playing opposite a lot of gay actors. I don't want to name names on ALL MY CHILDREN, but let's just say we flipped the nut both ways."
Watch our latest episode below.
To help support the We Love Soaps AIDS Walk NY effort, donate today to one of our team members at http://welovesoa.ps/LOLdonor! Learn about the current HIV Vaccine Trials here or contact Damon at Jacobs@welovesoaps.net
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- Love Out Loud
Damon L. Jacobs is a Licensed Therapist in New York City who specializes in treating grief/loss, depression, stress management, anger management, addiction, and bullying. He is also the author of the popular book "Absolutely Should-less: The Secret to Living the Stress-Free Life You Deserve," currently available at Amazon.com. For more information about scheduling a speaking engagement, please email him at Shouldless@gmail.com, or check out www.shouldless.com
This was a great interview. At the time I felt like the AMC stories were a little safe but now, seeing just how regressive and offensive soaps have been regarding gay stories, I realize how ahead of their time they were. Ben (Monk) did a very good job as Kevin, especially in the reparative therapy story (which no soap would touch now).
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure Kevin was shown running around outside after Holidays (hated that name) blew up, but it's been a long time, I can't remember now.
I had no idea he was almost 30 when he played that role. He barely looks 30 now. What a contrast to some soaps today which either avoid teen years altogether or cast people who look 35 and try to pretend they're teenagers.
I can't thank WE LOVE SOAPS enough for this interview with Ben. I recorded all of Michael Delaney's (Chris Bruno) and Kevin Sheffield's (Ben) storylines on VHS tapes during their 3 years on the show. The writing, as Ben mentioned, was outstanding. With regard to what happened to the character of Kevin, he was last shown outside of the restaurant with Kelsey (T.C. Warner). It had blown up and the police and ambulance were on the scene. He wasn't shown again after that.
ReplyDeleteI've tried keeping up with his life after AMC through Google and had seen a picture of him and Tom Michaels (Tim) at an AMC party last year. He looks amazing for almost 43.
It's great to hear what he's up to and that he may return to acting.
I love it when the press interview actors and actresses who have been out of the public eye. I'd love to know what's going on with Tom Michaels. Thanks again, Damon and Roger!
He was 26 when he started on AMC. He does look great still at 43
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