EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Jimmy Deshler on GENERAL HOSPITAL, His Upcoming Fan Event & Documentary

Jimmy Deshler - Photo: Jim Warren

Jimmy Deshler joined the cast of GENERAL HOSPITAL in January 2013 as Rafe Kovich Jr. The Minnesota native has appeared in primetime television shows and films including CRIMINAL MINDS and Retribution. He's also currently producing and directing an indie documentary about homelessness in Los Angeles, Hope For Our Own: An L.A. Story. In an exclusive new interview with We Love Soaps, Deshler talks about his soap opera role and how he became involved in this new documentary. Check it out below.

WE LOVE SOAPS: What have the first six months at GENERAL HOSPITAL been like for you?
JIMMY DESHLER: It has been a wonderful experience and a very educational journey so far. I'm loving it a lot.

WE LOVE SOAPS: For someone who may be tuning into GENERAL HOSPITAL for the first time, how would you describe the character of Rafe?
JIMMY DESHLER: Rafe is a very caring person. He's been through a whole lot of stuff that most people will never go through. He's just trying to settle in and have a peaceful life, and not have to deal with his past again.

WE LOVE SOAPS: Soaps can get a bad rap because of outrageous plotlines sometimes but you've had to deal with something quite unusual. You've acted opposite Michael Easton playing three different characters (John, Caleb/Stephen, and Silas). What is it like working with him?
JIMMY DESHLER: It's awesome. I love working with Michael. When I have scenes with him I can put my full trust in knowing he's going to give back. I feel like he makes me better because he's such a good actor.

WE LOVE SOAPS: We started with a Molly/TJ/Rafe love triangle and now we have Taylor in the mix. Is Rafe going to mix it up with Taylor at some point?
JIMMY DESHLER: There could be scenes with Taylor possibly in the future. But I think this whole love triangle is going to be happening over the summer.

WE LOVE SOAPS: Speaking of the other younger actors on the show, you have a fan event coming up later this month [during GH Fan Club Weekend].
JIMMY DESHLER: Tequan Richmond (T.J.), Bryan Craig (Morgan) and I are having our own event. That's going to be two hours of us answering questions and meeting fans. It's going to be a lot of fun. Hopefully we get a good turnout for that.

WE LOVE SOAPS: What other projects are you working on at the moment?
JIMMY DESHLER: I've had a few auditions in the past week. I'm also in the middle of filming a documentary right now with Riley Beres. It's called Hope For Our Own: An L.A. Story, documentary about homelessness in Los Angeles. What we wanted to do was show the different faces of it, that there's more than one cause of homelessness, and to break the stereotype of homelessness. We're also reaching out to many missions in the L.A. area, trying to promote them and get exposed to what they do, and let people know there is help.  We want to get the word out there.

WE LOVE SOAPS: How did you become involved with this subject matter?
JIMMY DESHLER: Riley and I met and did a Cans for Casting where you bring in cans of food in exchange for meeting and reading with casting directors. We volunteered to go deliver those to a shelter, and from there we got more involved with the shelter and wanted to go farther with it.  So we decided to make the documentary.

WE LOVE SOAPS: Are you the executive producer? With an indie project, you probably have multiple roles.
JIMMY DESHLER: Riley and I pretty much have all the roles ourselves. It's not as many jobs as you might have on a scripted project, but we do the interviews, and shoot B-roll. It's a lot of work for both of us.

WE LOVE SOAPS: What would you say was your biggest role prior to joining GENERAL HOSPITAL?
JIMMY DESHLER: Probably the biggest one was a co-star in CRIMINAL MINDS. I would say my favorite one was when I did an Eminem and Lil Wayne music video ("No Love"). That was pretty big for me.

WE LOVE SOAPS: And fun!
JIMMY DESHLER: Yes, very fun.

WE LOVE SOAPS: Long-term in your career, do you want to produce more? Is acting always going to be your main focus?
JIMMY DESHLER: Acting is probably going to be my primary focus. But ever since we started shooting this documentary, I've really enjoyed the actual filming part of it and love working with cameras. Who knows, maybe I will do something else like this in the future.

EDITOR'S NOTE: You can support Hope For Our Own: An L.A. Story at their GoFundMe site and like the film on Facebook. Check out a trailer for the documentary below.



Roger Newcomb is a producer and writer in New York City. Aside from co-hosting WE LOVE SOAPS TV, he has written and produced a full-length indie film, Manhattanites, and two radio soap operas, SCRIPTS & SCRUPLES and ROCKLAND COUNTY. He has also made acting appearances in indie web series IMAGINARY BITCHES and EMPIRE. He has consulted on numerous indie soaps, worked as a producer on the first two seasons of Emmy-nominated THE BAY, and is executive producer on the indie short May Mercy Lie, which is currently making the rounds at film festivals. He appeared in FRANCOPRHENIA and the documentary SOAP LIFE in 2012.