State Of Mind with Maurice Benard

Jordi Vilasuso

Jordi Vilasuso (Young and The Restless, Guiding Light, All My Children, Days of our Lives). Jordi is Cuban-American, raised in Miami, Florida, and even with a family full of doctors he knew he wanted to be an actor at a young age.
He talks about his childhood and when he moved to NYC and joined Guiding Light, but things get deep when Jordi opens up about his relationship with his wife Kaitlin. When things got tough, they sought out therapy and continue to put the work into their marriage.
Jordi and Kaitlin have a new podcast called “Making It Work” where they candid about lessons they’ve learned in their own relationship and discover new ways of making it work in life, love & marriage.
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Liz Vassey

Liz Vassey (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, All My Children, The Tick, Nikki & Nora)
Liz began acting at the age of nine, performing in over fifty musicals and plays. She moved to New York at the age of sixteen to join the cast of All My Children and actually screen-tested with Maurice!
It was during that time that her father left their family. Liz talks about what that was like and how that changed her relationships moving forward.
An avid runner, Liz made her directorial debut with the documentary feature, The Human Race, which focuses on runners over the age of fifty. To find out more, and watch the film, visit: https://www.the-human-race.net.
 
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Michael E. Knight

Michael E. Knight (All My Children, General Hospital, Drop Dead Diva, Law & Order: SVU) Michael and Maurice laugh.. a lot! They reminisce about their friendship, younger years on All My Children and trips they've taken together, but things also get really deep.
Michael talks in depth about his journeys with OCD and dysthymia, benefit of therapy and the ability to seek out help and medication when it’s needed.
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Tyler Gerard: Former Thai Death Row Inmate Turned Activist

Tyler Gerard, (former Thai Death Row Inmate) and his mom, Tracy Gerard.
The Gerard Family and my family’s children went to school together. We have come to know and love them over the last decade, during the time when Tyler was falsely accused, arrested, and unlawfully imprisoned in Thailand. For six long years, he was on death row in Thailand for crimes he did not commit.
Tyler and Tracy are here to share their story of survival—A young man facing relentless torture and mental anguish in an overseas prison. A family brought to their knees with the financial and emotional burdens of fighting to save their son’s life.
Fortunately, with the help of an international nonprofit, Tyler was recently freed. He is now determined to now be an activist to help other prisoners and families facing unlawful prison sentences in Thailand and around the world.
The Gerard Family - GoFundMe
 
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Parry Shen

Parry Shen. (General Hospital, Hatchet) Parry’s appeared in 350 film and television roles and his voiceover resume includes video games and audio books. Recently, he has co-created two graphic novels and produced the movie “Unidentified”, available on Amazon. When not acting, Parry strives to demystify the acting business and sharing his experiences as an Asian American in the media to college students across the country.
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Vincent Irizarry: Finding Your Life’s Passion

Vincent Irizarry. (Guiding Light, Santa Barbra, All My Children) Vincent and Maurice talk about what it means to find your passion and how, for Vincent, the decision to allow himself to dive into music and acting changed the course of his life. Vincent shares a very poignant story of losing his cousin Lauren to suicide and what that's meant to him and his daughter.
Also discussed are Vincent's acting experiences in Heartbreak Ridge along side Clint Eastwood, Marie with Sissy Spacek and the Lucky Chances miniseries where had a starring role along side Sandra Bullock, Eric Braeden, Nicollette Sheridan and Michael Nader.
 
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Jophielle Love: Rising Star

Jophielle "JoJo" Love. (Grey's Anatomy, General Hospital) She's a 7-year old talent, born in France to a mom who is a stunt woman and a dad who is a high-wire walker. They met 20 years ago while working with Cirque du Soleil so talent is in her DNA. Jophielle started acting at age 3, but she loves to perform her circus act balancing on her dad's hands, play guitar, piano and sing. Please enjoy Jophielle singing a song which she wrote, called "Walking in the Dark", at the end of the episode.
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Laura Wright: Strength through Divorce and Loss

Laura Wright (General Hospital, Guiding Light, Loving).  Laura is an Emmy award winning actress with a 30 year career in Daytime. Her vulnerability shines through as she opens up divorce, how she fought it with feelings of self-loathing and shame until she found a way through it with meditation and re-discovering herself.  Laura opens about the loss of both her parents and how she was able find strength in the gifts that they gave her.  She and Maurice also spend some time talking about General Hospital, where their characters have been off and on again since Laura joined the show back in 2005.
 
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Eric Braeden: Daytime Legend

Eric Braeden (The Young and The Restless, Titanic). Born in Germany during WWII, with a life having been shaped by losing his father at age 12, Eric learned to channel his emotions into sports and later acting. Having immigrated to the US as a teenage, after college, Eric found roles in dozens of movies and television series. He shares few anxious moments before performances and how he was able to overcome it as we talk about what it was like working with Marlon Brando, his roles in Titanic and as Victor Newman The Young and The Restless.
 
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Linsey Godfrey: Survivor, Mother, Advocate

Linsey Godfrey (The Bold and the Beautiful, Days Of Our Lives). Linsey shares her heroic story with Maurice of having survived not only cancer, but a debilitating car accident. She spent endless hours learning how to re-walk, just as her daughter was starting to learn to walk for this first time. Having been diagnosed with Bipolar II and Borderline Personality Disorder, Linsey is focused on de-stigmatizing mental health.
Additionally, Linsey is an Ambassador for INARA, which is a non-profit that provides access to life-altering medical and mental health care to conflict impacted children.  To learn more about INARA and how you can help, please visit: https://www.inara.org.
 
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