Carlo Rota on Learning to Love Daytime on GH!

With a career that started back in the early ‘90s, Carlo Rota has an extensive resume of film and television projects like Saw V , The Boondock Saints , Jane the Virgin, and American Horror Story. But playing the villainous Sidwell on General Hospital is his first gig in daytime, and like many actors before him, Rota was unprepared for the breakneck pace of soap production, calling it a “revelation!”

“That first day was just a blur,” Rota admitted to Soap Opera Digest . “I came home, my wife [actress Nazneen Contractor] was all excited: ‘Sow, how was it? What happened?’ I said, “I cannot tell you because I do not remember a thing!’ It was as if I was anesthetized for the hours I was on set and then I got home and didn’t remember anything!

“And then on the following days, I started to get used to that pace and grappling with it and then I actually started to enjoy it!” he continued. “It’s like jumping off a cliff and there’s something about that I find thrilling. I haven’t felt like that kind of thrill performing in a long time. I liken it to the closest TV gets to being like life theater. I think unless you do it, you can’t really understand this type of television show. I would watch daytime television and think, ‘Oh, okay, they just go in and do their thing, whatever.’ But no, it takes a sizable amount of skill. I mean, the people I’m working with, I’m actually amazed at how they’re able to bring a performance that resonates. I marvel at their ability.”

Rota revealed that he’s watched GH with his mother-in-law, who, as a huge fan, told him all about who’s who, who’s done what to whom, and the scandalous history of the characters in Port Charles. “I’m a convert!” he confessed. “As you can tell, I’m completely converted. It’s not that I belittled [the genre] before, I just never considered it. I’ve never watched it, and so I have no clue! I think people that want to speak about it negatively often aren’t people who are watching it. I’m so impressed at the industriousness of this genre, that they manage to make so much television in such a small amount of time. It’s really quite amazing.”

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