State Of Mind with Maurice Benard

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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Ronnie Marmo: Troubled Youth to Lenny Bruce

Ronnie Marmo (Actor, Writer, Producer, Director). Maurice and Ronnie share many laughs as they discuss their passions for their acting careers, roles on General Hospital and pursuing their dreams in LA. 
Ronnie tells his tale of being raised by a single mother. While she worked three jobs, he fell into the wrong crowd. At just 12 years old, he was selling and using drugs and alcohol. Thanks to his mother’s love and a mutual admiration of community theater, Ronnie turned his life around by the age of 21. Now, he can be seen performing as Lenny Bruce in “I’m not a Comedian…I’m Lenny Bruce”, which he also wrote. For more information on how you can see it live, please visit https://www.lennybruceonstage.com.
 
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J.R. Martinez: Wounded Warrior to Hollywood Hero

J.R. Martinez (Army veteran and Wounded Warrior). J.R. has shown resilience and optimism since suffering severe burns, going on to star on All My Children and win Dancing with the Stars. This New York Times Bestselling author shares his heroic story and you'll be inspired by his ability to adapt and overcome.
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Tyler Christopher: Bipolar and Battling Addiction, Brain Injury and Homelessness

Tyler Christopher (Emmy Award winning actor, General Hospital, Days of Our Lives and The Lying Game).  For the first time in an interview, Tyler Christopher openly discusses his bipolar diagnosis and alcoholism, and how his addiction led him to having a traumatic brain injury and almost dying before finding himself homeless on Skid Row. He reflects on his childhood, being a father and how he has come to living life to its fullest. 
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AJ Mendez: Crazy is Her Superpower

AJ Mendez (former Pro Wrestler and New York Times Bestselling author). AJ Mendez is a mental health advocate, an ambassador for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), author of Crazy Is My Superpower: How I Triumphed by Breaking Bones, Breaking Hearts, and Breaking the Rules and former WWE Pro Wrestler.
They talk about what it is like being bipolar and the time leading up to their diagnosis. AJ is a suicide survivor and describes her suicide attempts and the stranger who listened to her in her time of need. Plus: AJ tells Maurice about her time in WWE under the ring name AJ Lee.
This episode contains discussions about suicide attempts and talk of suicidal ideation. If you are struggling, please reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 800-273-8255 (available 24 hours).
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Joshua Benard: Talking Creativity, His Passions and His Father

Maurice Benard is joined by his son Joshua Benard.  
Joshua and Maurice talk about their mutual passion for acting and dislike of auditioning, but things get interesting when Joshua shares where he gets his confidence from. How he channels his feelings into writing music and playing the piano or guitar.
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