Brandon Beemer Interview

Brandon Beemer plays Evan Blackwell on The Bay. He's also known for Days Of Our Lives, The Bold And The Beautiful, and General Hospital. You can watch The Bay on Tubi, Peacock, Amazon

What's your character on The Bay like in terms of personality?

I think that Evan Blackwell, his personality is I think he's a good guy. He's a good guy. He is a straight shooter. He always wants to do the right thing. I think his family, there's some questionable things in his family, and I think that he doesn't stand for it. He always chooses the law, chooses the right thing to do. I think that he gets caught up into some bad situations with women, though, specifically Tamara. But I think overall, I think he's a good guy. He's a good guy, and yeah, it's fun playing him.

What do you like about your character?

That's one of the things I do like about my character is because I kind of get to uphold the law. There are so many reasons to want to pull Evan outside of his, take him away from his moral compass and, like I said, it's family and stuff like that. I think I like the fact that he's one of the few characters in there that is always, always doing the right thing and always wanting to do the right thing. I mean, he has a good heart so, yeah, he has to struggle with that. I like the fact that he has to struggle with those choices in life.

What are some ways that you get into the character of Eric Blackwell?

I mean, to get into the character of Evan, I think it's just more of I think I have to put on a suit and a button-down shirt and start thinking in the Evan brain and thinking in the thoughts of, like I was saying, just staying focused and then also think about like my family, and I kind of go, "All right," and I think about Tamara, I was like just, "Always make the right decision, keep the moral compass, go in the right direction."

Is getting into character more difficult than a soap character that you may play ongoing for a year?

No, I don't think so. I've been playing Evan for a while, and I think that Gregori Martin, the creator, director, writer and all things, I think that he cast Evan with something in mind. So I think when he looked at me, I think he probably was like, "Well, you know what? This guy, he's going to fit the role of Evan well." I'll just say I didn't have to stretch too badly. I think I make Evan, and I'm a very fortunate person because Gregori chose me to fit the role.

As an actor, is there a particular type of scene that you enjoy filming?

I personally, like I'll just say for The Bay, I enjoyed the courtroom scenes that we shot. I think that was season five, the courtroom stuff where I had to prosecute my own aunt for killing her father and it was just fun because we actually had a real courtroom. We were in the Malibu courthouse, and it was just like you get to...

And it was also, we had... Arthur, I think is his name, Thomas Calabro. He was fun to work off of, too, because he was really, really prepared and it really made me have to step up my game. So when you get to work with an actor that's been working on the material for a month or something since he's gotten it, and then I haven't, because I just kind of think I can put it together and I can make it work. But then I look over at him and he's like, "Hey, buddy, you ready to do this? I've been working on this all Christmas." Then I have to step into the role and I have to step into that courtroom, and I have to know my dialogue, and I have to make choices, and I have to make it good. Those scenes were a lot of fun.

And surprisingly, I've seen the episodes and I actually enjoyed watching them, and I don't really enjoy watching myself that much. I mean, sometimes I'll see stuff and go, "Ooh, I like that scene." But a lot of times I kind of look at it and I go, "Ooh, no. Yeah, no, don't want to watch that."

What storyline for your character on The Bay have you enjoyed the most?

I feel like most of it's been chasing Tamara around, but storyline-wise, I think it just goes back to the whole prosecuting Tamara. I think it was that because Blackwell, Evan's father, he comes to him and says, "You're doing the wrong thing," blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, "No, Dad, I'm not doing the wrong thing. No, no. I know what I'm doing, know what I'm doing."

It's almost like he's got to make the decision. He's got to make the decision and does he... What's the law? Did she kill, I think it was Senator Red Garrett, did she kill him? Even if she did, even it wasn't intentional and it happened decades ago, it's still she needs to be punished for her crime. So I think that that sort of dilemma was a lot of fun to be able to play.

Has there been a scene on The Bay that was particularly challenging to film?

I mean, yeah. Yeah, I mean, sometimes you don't really get out of yourself what it is that you want. Maybe I think I struggled a little bit with the scene when Evan found out that Tamara stole the evidence and that she disabled the cameras and all that kind of stuff, and he told her to leave. I think that that was one that I was just kind of like, "Gosh, why can't I get there?" I was just like, mm. For some reason it just wasn't clocking the way that I was anticipating. But I mean, of course, it's not terrible, but, you know.

How and why did you get into acting?

Because I happened to stumble upon it and I didn't know what I wanted to do in life. I was 19 years old and somebody said, "Take an acting class, go take some acting classes." So I went and I just took some acting classes. I took a three-month course, and then I guess I liked it.

It was kind of one of those things where I was like going, "Wait, can I get paid to do this? This would be so much fun." When you're young and you think that you're invincible and you don't really have a life planned out and mapped out, and so you give it a go. And little things they started to happen and they kept happening, they kept happening, and then, yeah, and now that's where I am today.

Which actors on The Bay do you like doing scenes with?

Geez. Gosh. There's a lot of actors on there. A Martinez. I like working with him. I mean, Jade was fun. Kristos is fun to work with. I'm trying to think who else. Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of good actors on the show, so it's hard to really choose. A Martinez, I've worked with him before, and even when he was on Days of Our Lives, and I was like, "Whoa." It was a scene that it just wasn't making any sense, and he just kind of took control and just went, boom. And I was like, "Oh, wow. You just made that really good. Wow, you made us look really good. Thank you."

Do you find acting on The Bay less stressful because you have multiple takes as opposed to a soap?

Yes, a hundred percent. It is a lot less stressful. It allows you to sort find the scene and sort of surprise yourself and see where it takes you, as opposed to just knowing that we have one take on a soap opera, and we just have to... We know what needs to be done. We need to deliver the scene the best that we can on one take and there's not really much time to sort of find your way and sort of navigate and try to experiment and try different things and figure it out. You just kind of got to read it off the page and go, "Oh, you got to go do it."

What else do you like about working on The Bay?

Well, I think one of the main thing I like is because I know so many people on the show and everybody... I have some really good friends on the show, and it is always fun to be able to work with people that you're friends with and that people you know and that are talented and, yeah, it's just a fun little... So it's a fun group. It's like a little family.

And as you probably know or anybody knows, there's always The Bay events, and so you get to see everybody all the time, even if you're not working, even if we only shoot hour, even if I only shoot a few days in a season, I'll still get to see everybody. I see everybody all the time because Gregori and Kristos, they've always got events going on and stuff.

What has been your favorite film role to play?

Oh, gosh. Probably that character that I got to play in like Fear Clinic, Dylan. It was the movie with Robert Englund and I got to play this adrenaline junkie motorcycle guy, and it was kind of fun to play that. It was in a horror film.

Do you find some aspects of acting particularly challenging and which aspects, if so?

Yeah. I mean, emotional sort of stuff, emotional things if you're not really feeling it. I'd say that's probably the most challenging, the bigger emotional things. Like I said, sometimes it's a day that you just aren't there, and I guess it's my job to find things that will trigger it. But sometimes, that toolbox or whatever you want to call it, there's nothing in it. Like you're just kind of like, "Ugh, why can't I get there?"

That's like the scene I was talking about when Tamara told him that, or when he finds out that Tamara was the one that stole the evidence and he kicks her out, I was like ready to do it. I was all like, yeah, pumped up, and it just kind of was like, just wasn't getting that, what I needed out of myself. So yeah, I'd say that's probably the more challenging thing.

You've been on three different daytime soaps. What do you like about being on daytime soaps?

I'd say the consistency and sort of the camaraderie, the family sort of aspect of it, the people that you see every single day when you go to work and the role, the character, the roles that they play on the show, how they're like, that's my grandfather and when you work on the same show for so long or that's my aunt, that's my sister, that's my mother, it kind of takes on its own, art imitates life.

The next thing you know, it's like the mother role, she's very maternal, even just in real life, and texts you on your birthday, or something. Say, "Hey, honey, I just want to wish you happy birthday... Hope you're having a great day." You find a special place in your heart for those types of people. So I think that that's what you get out of being on a daytime show for as long as I've been on there.

What's the best way for people to follow you?

I would just say Instagram at @brandonbeemer, or Twitter at @brandonbeemer. Those are the two that I still use. There's too many of them out there. TikTok and this talk and that talk, whatever, I can't do it. Too many. I just do the two, Instagram, Twitter at @brandonbeemer.