ABC
The Buddy System: Evan Hofer (Dex, l.) has taken Giovanni Mazza (Gio) under his wing.
Since joining the cast of General Hospital as Gio, Giovanni Mazza has found no shortage of castmates willing to help show him the ropes, including Eden McCoy (Josslyn) and Kate Mansi (Kristina), who were particularly helpful to him on his first day. But two other co-stars have had a positive impact on his experience adjusting to the fast pace of life on a soap opera set.
As a newcomer to the Port Charles scene, Mazza has found that maintaining “a calm energy” and “being able to kind of regulate myself” has been key to keeping his nerves at bay. And when it comes to learning how to keep his cool, he notes, “Maurice [Benard, Sonny] has been really helpful to me. One of my very first scenes was with Mo, and oh, man, just as an actor, he’s an absolute powerhouse. But at the same time, he’s so calm! We were actually talking about it, and he said that the very most important thing is to have ease when you’re acting and listening to the other person [in a scene]. And I really took that as advice and I just started focusing on how I could ease myself into the character, ease myself into the scene, and just kind of calm everything down to be at a very comfortable level, but also a very effective level.”
Evan Hofer (Dex) has also become someone Mazza can lean on and get tips from on the job. “Evan is someone who has been extremely nice to me and even showed me the way that he processes things and handles things,” Mazza shares. “He is just a great person. He’s very calm and he’s very prepared all the time. He showed me that the pace [of production] moves so fast on the show, but there’s a way that you can memorize your lines, memorize what the scene is about and execute it and be very strong in your perspective and your point of view on things. He’s been a great person to kind of look up to and I aspire to be kind of like Evan on the show.”
