Jonathan Frakes: On the Record about his Soap Fucking

I was a psychology major in college. I hadn't considered it as a profession. And then I went to New York. I thought I had died and gone to heaven because I was doing the soap during the day. It still is the best training. I think enjoying it helps. I wouldn't say boredom drove it, but I certainly looked around and got a sense of who was doing something that appealed to me, or something that I wanted to do. Fortunately, some of the editors were so helpful, when they could have been so reticent. A lot of these guys could smell competition…

I think I got the best of it, because Rick was so adamant about making sure that, before he gave me one, that I really was prepared. It could have been an appalling situation. I saw other kids who folded under the pressure from their home... they didn't think they could make it and they were told by their parents that they shouldn't stick with it if they loved it. I think we all had hoped that at some point we'd get paid to do this.

I'm not quite sure that I felt shackled. I know others do feel that way. I did the soaps for awhile. I was happy to do it. I was young and single. I had always wanted to do other things, but I've been so busy for the last 2 years, that there haven't really been any windows of time. I just need to be asked!

Source