Q&A: Actor Jeffrey Carlson

AFTER PLAYING Prince Hal in the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre's production of Henry IV last summer, actor Jeffrey Carlson made soap-opera history as Zarf/Zoe on "All My Children" in the soap's first coming-out story of a transgender character. The blond hottie, 31, takes the stage as a modern-dress Hamlet from June 5 to July 29 at the Shakespeare Theatre.

» EXPRESS: What's been the feedback regarding Zoe?
» CARLSON: It's been extraordinary. I haven't received one piece of negative mail or e-mail, and the character was very popular.

» EXPRESS: Did you have any input in Zoe's fashion sense?
» CARLSON: Well, the interesting thing is she's a famous rock star and when she was first on the show she was presenting as male, and when she began her transition her style was all over the place as she figured out who she was and where the rock star aspect came in. Toward the end, she began to get comfortable with herself and began to find her own style. There were times when I might say, "Why this outfit?," but as an actor, I let the costume department do its job.

» EXPRESS: The last we saw of Zoe, she was heading off to Europe with Erica Kane's lesbian daughter, Bianca. Will we be seeing Zoe again? Or maybe she has an evil twin.
» CARLSON: I hope that we'll be seeing Zoe again. She's finishing up her new album in London. I'm there if "AMC" wants me to come back.

» EXPRESS: Did you have any culture shock going from daytime soap to the Shakespeare Theatre?
» CARLSON: I learned a lot from doing daytime television. It is very different. It involves a different kind of stamina and different muscles. The obvious difference being the writing; manipulating the poetry of Shakespeare involves a great deal of technique and really living large, as opposed to being given your blocking and hitting your mark and standing there trying not to fall out of the frame. The thing about daytime TV is it really is like filming a little play — and being shot out of a cannon, too. They film it all at one time and they're editing on the fly because they have to turn out the episode so quickly. My god, soap actors work so hard.

» EXPRESS: Do you have a favorite Hamlet speech?
» CARLSON: Not yet. I have to love them all right now.

» EXPRESS: What do you do to chill?
» CARLSON: Treat myself to whatever dinner I want whenever rehearsal's over. 701 is right near home. I like the garlic fries at Gordon Biersch. But it's really hard because the character doesn't leave you. Every day I go, "My god, this is a big play."

» EXPRESS: You're originally from Long Beach. Do you surf?
» CARLSON: I was never very good at it. Me and the waves don't get along, but not for lack of trying. I've tried to befriend them. I am a beach kid, though.

» EXPRESS: You've been working since you graduated from Juilliard. So, you never had to wait tables?
» CARLSON: I got my first job two weeks before I graduated. I've been in three Broadway shows. I've been wonderfully blessed in my career.

» EXPRESS: Where do you hang out in D.C.?
» CARLSON: I haven't had a lot of free time yet. When we do get our day off, it's the day I turn on cartoons and call my friends.

Written by Express contributor Amy Alipio
Photo courtesy Carol Rosegg