Former Eagle lives life on TV
[The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.]

› Read the interview here
Apr. 1, 2008--Trevor St. John's life has taken him from pastoral Orchard Prairie to the bright lights of New York City. In truth, however, he's only as far away from home as your nearest television set.

The former West Valley athlete comes into homes daily as the conflicted conniver Todd Manning on the ABC soap, "One Life To Live."

Since landing a part as Aiden Quinn's stand-in in the Spokane-made film "Benny and Joon," he's gone on to such movies as "Crimson Tide," "The Bourne Ultimatum" and "The Kingdom" and acted in several sitcoms and made-for-TV movies as well as his current daytime gig.

He returns home this month to produce a short film based on a screenplay he co-wrote with his cousin, Graham Sharman. St. John's father, former Spokane TV broadcaster Mark, is playing a part and friends are extras.

But it was not 20 years ago that St. John was balancing a bat on his nose, his dad recalled, to entertain baseball teammates, making a hit as an aggressive linebacker or trying to find a hole to run through as a running back during a futile season of Eagles football.

"My fondest memories of my athletic endeavors at West Valley are of the friendship and camaraderie I had with the other players," said St. John, who preferred to answer questions via e-mail, which he said is customary in his industry.

"I tried not to take anything too seriously during practice or off the field and was relentless in my attempts to get other players laughing."

St. John was a member of the Eagles' undefeated playoff football team in 1987 and never came off the field the next year when they were winless. His coach, Steve Kent, called him "incredibly coachable and dedicated. He always knew where he wanted to go as an athlete. As far as someone doing what he was supposed to, he did. But we were terrible."

With little blocking, yards as an inside veer runner were hard to come by, said St. John. He does remember a long run in which the hole he was supposed to go through closed. But he improvised and got loose.

"Man, did I get an earful," he recalled. " 'What the hell are you doing? You're NOT a daylight runner.' Sorry, I didn't mean to gain any yards."

His favorite was baseball and, he said, he pored over the Charlie Lau hitting book, attending clinics and taking thousands of cuts off a tee.

"Instead of relaxing me, I became self-conscious and never learned to trust myself," he said, even going through a Chuck Knoblauch period when he couldn't throw the ball.

"I wonder what I could have accomplished if someone had said, 'Hey, kid, relax. Don't try so hard,' " St. John said.

As it turned out, his entertainment calling came in another form. At Whitworth, where he attended on a music scholarship, he discovered theater, did a couple plays at Interplayers and auditioned for "Benny and Joon."

Casting director Rick Montgomery told him if he ever decided to try L.A. he would help and found St. John an agent a year and a half later. He played a skinhead in "Higher Learning" in 1995.

The move to New York came from a desire to do more theatre work.

"Plus," he said, "it's much closer to Sweden, where my wife is from."

St. John got the job as Todd Manning in 2003 after originally being cast as a another character.

Soap operas, he said, are a different animal entirely from prime-time television or film.

"First, the amount of material shot in a day is absurd," he said.

An entire episode is shot each day and sometimes he goes through as many as 80 pages of dialogue.

"One of the biggest challenges I've faced in this genre is the inability to behave physically like people do in life," said St. John. "There's so much material to get in the can that the actors are forced to stand directly across from each other. It's very difficult."

St. John said acting was something that probably was always in the back of his mind. Watching television growing up "I always had a sixth sense about human nature. It was kind of natural for me."

His first play at Whitworth was Shakespeare's "As You Like it," earning the lead as Orlando. Things went from there.

The short St. John is filming here, he said, is semi- autobiographical, an abbreviated version of a full-length script he'll try to get it into film festivals and hopefully have the full version picked up by a movie studio.

"I think it's terrific," he said.

Although he's producing a film in Spokane, his goals are to keep working as an actor.

"My idols have been journeymen like Charles Durning (among others)," he said.

An accomplished percussionist and owner of a fitness business, St. John and his wife, Sara, have a year-old son, Aiden. Sara is co-owner and graphic designer for an on-line strategy and design company called Fabric Interactive that has clients ranging from Porsche to Yahoo and Sacred Heart Medical Center in collaboration with Sharman Communications.

New York is home, but Orchard Prairie still holds a huge place in his heart.

"I love going back there, love the smell of winter wheat or alfalfa and the beautiful vistas from my childhood home," St. John said. "Although, I'm very angry about the idea of a possible Bigelow Gulch 'highway' tearing apart that precious land.

"But that's another story altogether."

To see more of The Spokesman-Review, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.spokesmanreview.com.

Copyright (c) 2008, The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

› Soap Star Stats Trevor St. John (Todd, OLTL)

› Trevor St. John on Soap Opera Digest and Weekly Online

› Soap Opera Digest: OLTL Recasts
Trevor St. John (Todd Manning) Few recasts caused more uproar than when OLTL revealed in 2003 that Walker, played by soap newcomer Trevor St. John, was actually Todd. The character, as portrayed by Roger Howarth from 1993-2003, was a fan favorite, and it was hard for many viewers to accept another actor in the role of the dark sociopath. St. John was sensitive to the challenge he faced, and while there are those who will only consider Howarth to be their beloved Todd, St. John has won over a fair share of fans by putting his own, lighter spin on the character.

› www.soapcentral.com: Trevor St. John

› Q&A from TV-Guide Online
 
Trevor St. John
Walker Laurence, One Life to Live

At the moment, One Life to Live's Trevor St. John (Walker) is daytime's biggest enigma. Is he truly the cunning and calculating brother of the late Mitch Laurence? Or is he Todd Manning, resurrected from the crypt with a hidden agenda — and an amazing plastic surgeon? St. John's not about to spill the beans about his character's true identity, but he's happy to shed some light on himself, and why playing the international man of mystery is turning into one fun romp.
— Delaina Dixon

You're a newcomer to daytime, but you've been in film and other TV projects.
I've done a lot of films — Higher Learning, Crimson Tide, Bio-Dome — the most recent one was Payback with Mel Gibson. Mel kidnaps me in the film. I also did a TV movie with Glenn Close called Serving in Silence: [The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story].

How are you enjoying your stay in Llanview? You got thrown into the mix rather quickly.
I'm enjoying it quite a bit. It's such a great environment, and these people are just so generous. This is really a strange set because there aren't a lot of huge egos, even a little bit. It's a nice place to come to work; my co-workers are friendly, and the work is fun. And I get to play a really interesting character.

We're still trying to figure out if he's good or bad.
That's exactly what I want you to be thinking. I don't want you to figure out whether or not Walker's good or bad because you'd be putting him in a category, and it's way too soon for that. As soon as you label a character, you limit your options. I can't say if any character is good or bad, because we have all those qualities. Part of my training is not to judge the characters I play.

Okay, let's get to the question. Are you really Todd?
I don't look anything like Todd.

Reconstructive surgery —
He had a different voice and height...

— and in the soap world, anything can happen.
It is a soap world, and anything can happen. You'll know definitively on Aug. 26, so keep watching.

Alright, what about his relationship with Blair? Does he want to be involved with her?
Oh yeah, definitely. There are feelings, genuine feelings, absolutely.

And his relationship with her daughter Starr? Is that sincere as well?
He knows that's one of the ways to Blair's heart, certainly.

Are you from the West Coast or East Coast?
I am from the West Coast. I'm from Spokane, Wash., originally, but I spent almost eight years in L.A. working on film and television. Then I came to [New York] to do theater, which is really what I love to do more than anything. The lifestyle here is completely different.

Were you doing theater when you got the role on One Life?
I had just completed a play off-Broadway when I got [OLTL].

What do you like to do in your spare time?
So many things. I am a baseball fan.

Who's your team?
The Seattle Mariners, and they just took two out of three from the Yankees, who I can't stand.

You can't stand the Yankees, and you live in New York?
I think it's great, I root against the Yankees. (Chuckles) I also practice Buddhist mediation. And I own a fitness education company.

Who do you teach?
We teach personal trainers. I recently went to Denver, Colo., to teach biomechanics as it is related to exercise to a group of about 60 physical therapists and personal trainers. I used to be a trainer six years ago, but I educated myself to such a degree that it made sense to teach others.

How did you get into Buddhist meditation?
I got into it through my music. I'm a jazz drummer. I studied with a famous drummer named Peter Erskine. He turned me on to a book called Effortless Mastery. It's the single greatest book on the [creative] arts that I've ever read. It's mind-blowing stuff, and talks a lot about the power of meditation. I went to the Shambhala Center here in New York City, founded by Chögyam Trungpa; he [founded] them all over the world. It was no longer just about music or art, but became a way of life for me.

How long have you been practicing?
A year and a half. I do it at home — I've got a little bench there — I do it at work, and I go to the Center.

Have you reached that point of enlightenment?
The whole idea of mediation is not to get to anywhere different. It's being more awake to what's really going on. The big misconception about meditation is that it's just an unconscious state. You actually become more aware of your surroundings and everything that comes into your peripheral vision. The biggest change is that you become more present and less anxious and fearful. And you have less desire. If you didn't desire anything, you wouldn't fear anything.

Sounds like good advice for your alter ego. If you had to give him some words of wisdom on calming down a little bit, what would it be?
Breathe.