COURTESY OF MARK TESCHNER
On Friday, June 7, Mark Teschner — the legendary casting director of General Hospital who is responsible for just about all the faces viewers have seen on their screens for the past 34 years — will be honored at the Daytime Emmys as part of the 2024 Silver Circle Inductees class, which celebrates those who have made enduring contributions to daytime television.
Even as a 10-time Emmy winner who has achieved numerous accolades and awards over his career (one that started in 1982 on Loving) this honor means a great deal to Teschner.
“It’s just so gratifying,” Teschner says. “I’m excited, I’m honored, I’m humbled. It’s an acknowledgement for the work and it really means a lot to me. As corny as it sounds, the work that I do is very rewarding in itself, but when you get an Emmy or an honor, it means others are acknowledging and there’s nothing that is as important as respect from your peers and that what you’re doing has impact. It’s a real nice gift to get.”
A Career is Born
Teschner first became interested in show business when he saw his first Broadway musical — It’s a Bird…It’s a Plane…It’s Superman — at the age of 7. Living in Scarsdale, N.Y., his parents brought him to Manhattan frequently to see shows.
In college, he pursued acting a bit, thinking that might be his way into the medium he loved. “What I realized is that I liked the idea of being an actor more than living the life of an actor,” he says. “That was the best decision I ever made and I went into casting in 1982, and there was no looking back.”
Because he was trained as an actor, Teschner feels he was well suited to bring his knowledge of performing and the ability to speak the actors’ language to the casting desk.
“I’ve been doing this a long time and I love it,” he smiles. “This isn’t a job to me, it’s my career and my calling. I love coming to work. Even though there can be stressful days, which we all have in life, because I love it, it just powers me through.”
The Evolution of a Job
Having been in the casting industry for more than four decades, Teschner has seen some notable changes throughout the years.
“Even though casting has evolved and changed, the fundamental belief in casting has not changed, and that’s to find the best, most interesting choice for a role, whether it’s a Broadway show, a regional theater show, a pilot, a series or a daytime drama,” he declares. “All of us have the same mandate: to put together the most compelling cast with interesting actors to bring them to life.”
And with General Hospital, that means creating and adding to a family, he added, trying to perfect the canvas. “You audition until you find the person who you feel will best bring a role to life,” Teschner says.
One of the biggest changes post-pandemic is that most of the auditions now are self-tape, where actors submit their tapes through agents and managers from wherever they are. “I can now view auditions at night, over the weekend; pretty much 24/7,” Teschner notes. “Pre-Covid, it would be based on who came in and how many people I could see in the course of a day. This new format allows me to see more actors than I could because I don’t have to see actors in real time.”
For example, when Teschner was casting for Port Charles, the GH spinoff that ran from 1997 to 2003, he needed to cast eight series regulars for interns at the hospital. Over the casting process, he saw 1,750 actors in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago by traveling to those cities. Conversely, when Teschner was casting the GH role of Spencer Cassadine in 2021, he saw more than 450 actors before casting Nicholas Chavez, and the actor was able to send in a self-tape from Florida.
“I have always erred on the side of seeing more actors than not,” he explains. “I don’t want to feel I missed someone because I felt like I was done.”
Defining “Interesting”
One word that comes up a lot when Teschner describes his process is looking for “interesting” people, though it could mean different things for different roles. “For example, for a day player or recurring role, is there something about this actor, talent being first and foremost, that is very watchable,” he describes. “Do they bring something different, do they bring a uniqueness to the role.”
Teschner points to Jeff Kober (Cyrus) as someone who had that interesting quality. “A lot of actors can play bad guys, but there’s something about him that is unique and different and compelling,” he says. “It’s not a one-size-fits-all that’s interesting. Charles Mesure, who plays Jack Brennan, he’s innately watchable. He’s dynamic, he’s charming, he’s intense and brings so many unique qualities to the role. He brings everything to life.”
The right formula will be a combination of talent and charisma, and it’s never enough to just be great-looking. While he admits that could get you in the door sometimes, that won’t get you on the show without talent and complexity.
“Sometimes it’s just, you know it when you see it,” Teschner points out. “A great example is Vanessa Marcil [ex-Brenda], an actress who didn’t have many credits other than a couple of plays she had done. I saw hundreds of actors and I felt, on a gut level, we hadn’t found the combination of charisma, sex appeal, complexity and soulfulness, and then Vanessa walked in. Fortunately, the powers-that-be agreed.”
That’s important, he shared, because at the end of the day, it’s the executive producer who makes the final decision based on Teschner’s recommendations. For the past 13 years, that has been Frank Valentini, and the two have established a great working relationship where each knows what works best for the show.
“My job is to look everywhere so we have options for any role, whether that be for a day, two days or multiple years, even if it’s not a contract,” Teschner says. “There are all kinds of ways that an actor can get on my radar and be seen.”
Carolyn Hennesy (Diane), for instance, who has been on hundreds of episodes since 2007, was originally hired for just three episodes after Teschner saw her perform in a play.
SCOTT GARFIELD/ABC
A Star Is Born: Steve Burton (Jason) and Vanessa Marcil (ex-Brenda) are just two of the countless high-impact roles Teschner has cast.
Casting Memories
One of the first instances where he feels he struck gold in casting was when he was with the daytime soap Loving and brought in three novice actors — Luke Perry (Ned), Kelly Rutherford (Michelle) and Teri Polo (Kristin) — for a love triangle between three teens. “The powers that be didn’t want to pursue the storyline and they were not on the show for as long as they could,” Teschner says. Of course, all three went on to big fame on TV.
A funny memory is when he put forth Steve Burton as Jason and he then got a last-minute note from his producer at the time, Gloria Monty, that she wanted the actor to be 6-foot tall, matching the height of the actor who then played Jason’s brother, A.J., Gerald Hopkins. This, Teschner says, was the first and only time he was ever given such a note.
“I asked Steve how tall he was and he said, ‘5-10 and a half,’ and I told him we needed him to be 6-feet in the next 15 minutes,” he recounts. “Fortunately, he was wearing high-top Dr. Martens, and we grabbed the L.A. Times and stuffed them with newspaper, and when he came out, he was 6-feet tall.”
Teschner’s first-ever casting for a contract role for General Hospital — one he feels was a big winner — was Anders Hove as Cesar Faison in 1989. “He was the first actor who auditioned for role and I remember that audition as if it was yesterday,” he says.
More recently, when Teschner first saw Katelyn MacMullen in the waiting room, he had a gut feeling that she could embody what he was looking for in the role of Willow and was thrilled when she was approved for the part. “I feel that way about a lot of people on the show; in some ways, I am very territorial and supportive of all the actors on the show,” he says. “The goal is to consistently strike gold and bring these stories to life.”
That’s why after so many years in the job, Teschner still comes to work each day “jazzed up” and continues to see actors one after another.
“Every time I watch an audition, I’m hoping, ‘This is the one,’ ” he says. “I’m going to keep on going because I just love it.”
