He caught our eye in 2012 when he joined General Hospital, since then Nathan Parsons has rapidly become one of the hottest actors around. With a role in the much- hyped super natural drama The Originals already under his belt, he has now opted for a part in the Emmy winning HBO series, True Blood.
At the moment Nathan is focused on his acting. His latest performance as James, the clever, sexy, empathetic vampire is incredible, particularly bearing in mind that he was drafted in after Luke Grimes left the show. With six series aired alongside an enormous fan base, anyone can imagine the pressure of jumping on board the already established show to be relatively intense. “It was awesome actually!” he says.
“There is always pressure when you start a new project, but the cast and crew were amazing in welcoming me into the fold and making me feel at home.”
He continues by explaining how he prepped for the renowned role, “I started by watching season six, studying the character James and seeing if there was anything that stood out in terms of habits, speech patterns, etc.” I begin realizing how important getting in tune with the character was to Nathan, “I didn’t want to upset the fans if there was something that stood out but the character didn’t really do too much. Plus, because the direction of the character is shifting it allowed a little more leeway when it came to creative liberties. From there I just tried to gradually shift James from season six to season seven!”
Nathan answers the question I was most anticipating, his most challenging role to date. Drawing the answer I speculated, “Probably James actually”, he notes, “his character is from the 70’s, plus he definitely has certain aspects of his character that were a challenge for me to wrap my head around.”
With the particularly grueling schedule between two film sets at an end, Nathan finally gets a break. “I am looking forward to the downtime. I should have a few weeks off coming up, so it’s time for a road trip!” Parsons’ role in The Originals allows him to divide time filming between Los Angeles and Atlanta. Having grown up in the South I was eager to find out where his heart lies when it comes to his filming locations. “I actually prefer Atlanta! The people in Georgia remind me of home.”
It is no surprise that in his industry, it is important to stay in shape, when I ask him if he has a demanding work out regime, his answer is seemingly relaxed, “I probably should! It is difficult to stay in shape in general but you have to try to squeeze it in whenever, wherever you can. Whenever I was in Atlanta, I would always wake up a couple hours before my call time and head to the hotel gym.”
As we draw to a close, I ask for his opinion in what he finds sexy, his answer simple and to the point. “Confidence.” He divulges, “confidence” in yourself that goes deeper than what you do or anything else superficial. It’s that self-respect that I find sexy.” I can’t help admiring the sincerity behind his response.
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photographer AMANDA ELKINS www.amandaelkins.com
stylist KIMMY ERIN KERTES www.kimmyerin.com
groomer MELISSA DEZARATE at EXCLUSIVE ARTISTS using KEVIN MURPHY
styling assistant HANNAH MALACH
location SPEED SHOP GARAGE, NORTH HOLLYWOOD, CA
Production Bello Media Group | words by CATHARINE PRACOWNIK