One on One with Thaao Penghlis
Daring, dashing and handsome, we're always happy when Thaao Penghlis, as Count Antony DiMera, graces our screen. Tony was "killed" by the Salem Stalker earlier this year; now, of course, he has turned up alive on Captive Island, where all the other captives suspect he is behind their imprisonment. The ever-wily son of Stefano isn't giving anything away. What's amazing is that Thaao leads an even more exciting life than Tony; he travels around the world, writes, collects art -- and he has an opinion to share about all of it. We sat down to catch up and to learn a little bit more about the man behind Salem's mystery man. Days_Allison: Where are some of your favorite places to travel? Thaao_Penghlis: Of late? Well, I just came back from Cuba. It was a spiritual journey. It's interesting, the suppression of those people. To me, travel is about educating yourself in a different model, it's education by choice and not by schools and parents and work. Therefore the connections on those journeys, to me, have much more longevity than something that was forced upon you. But, Cuba because of its art and its music and its people. It's interesting because I've never been really in a communist country. The people are so suppressed. When you look at the women's art there, and even the men's, you see this great anger. You see people who have had a suppressed life and they almost look at you with resentment because they can't leave most of the time and you're visiting. They don't really want to give you a good time I find, even though you're paying them. Also I went to Greece again. I went to Olympia because I wanted to get a feeling of where they lit the torch. I'd never been there. I ran the track just to get a sense of the ancients.
Days_Allison: Do you feel like you do learn a lot when you travel? Thaao_Penghlis: All the travel is really about the education, about being able to listen to people when they speak to you or share things with you and get a bigger picture. It gives you an overall feeling, almost god-like in a sense, when you travel because you experience different people; you get snippets of different ways in which they express themselves, through their food, through their music. That gives you a better objectivity about your own self. Whereas people who stay at home tend to not be objective and tend to judge or point fingers out of their fear of not understanding.
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Thaao poses with Kristian Alfonso and some of the children from a traveling Cuban dance and theatre group that visited the set. |
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Days_Allison: It seems like people who have never traveled have a fear of the unknown. You get over that if you travel. Thaao_Penghlis: To me, unless you take the chance to step over the cliff, you don't know how well you can fly, you don't know how well you can sustain. It also is about longevity. To me, behind it all, is to constantly stimulate my mind so that it never has a reason to die. To me life is about information and accumulating it and then processing it through into your work. Days_Allison: What do you find difficult about traveling? Thaao_Penghlis: When I come through immigration, through customs, they question me about how much I travel, like that's something terrible. Rather than being admired for taking the chance and doing these things, you've got to answer questions like "what were you doing in Jordan? What were you doing in Egypt?" Excuse me. Have you heard of the pyramids? Have you heard of Petra? I'd like to go to Damascus; I want to go to Syria. I know they're going to ask me, why did you go to Syria? They won't ask me why I went to Australia. But if you go into enemy lands, they want to know why you went. It's like you're not supporting the issue. That's what I don't like. I think of all of the travels I've had, the most stimulating place for me has always been Egypt. I'm still exploring it. I've been three times, having crossed Sinai, climbed Sinai, having taken a balloon ride over the Valley of the Kings, you think to yourself, what's left? Well, they're constantly discovering things. So sometime next year I'm going to go back to Egypt. I don't care what they say!
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On Tony's "deathbed," Thaao shares a laugh with the murdering Marlena, Deidre Hall. |
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Days_Allison: Well, they shouldn't say anything. It isn't like you're doing anything wrong. Thaao_Penghlis: There's nothing that I'm harboring or anything. I'm not a terrorist. That's why when they look at me as if I am, I think to myself, my God. You people wouldn't know a terrorist if they walked through. If they're stopping me thinking I'm a terrorist, as I said to one customs official, you need to go back and sharpen your tools. Days_Allison: I bet they didn't like that! Thaao_Penghlis: Oh, no, they didn't! They didn't like that at all. There's one time when I was going through Prague and the woman was very communistic in her manner. And she said to me "oh, you're an actor. What parts do you like to play?" I said parts that disturb people. And she said "oh, really? Do you like disturbing people?" And I said only when I'm acting! She didn't know how to take that. I stood apart. People who are in positions of control in life don't like you to disturb their power. I want to say to them, you're stuck. Get unstuck so you can see better. You don't see well. People don't listen to voices, either. Because if you listen to where voices come from, what part of the body, you can always know when people are lying. There are many techniques. They're just not equipped. We as actors sharpen our tools. Well, some of us do! Days_Allison: Do you use that in your acting? The theory that lies come from certain parts of the body? Thaao_Penghlis: Yes. Because I listen, I always listen to how someone is giving me a line delivery. I can tell if they're being real or not real. Some will huff and puff and that is their idea of communicating. That is shallow to me, and hollow, that I find amusing. Some actors do that. The whole purpose of all of our experiences here, when it comes down to the nitty gritty, is about using our center. It may sound like, what the hell is he talking about? It's the place where our core lies. It is where our history of past generations lies, it's where all the information that was passed down from generation to generation lies, it's the connection to God, the God-self, the God higher. People are afraid to go there. Because when they go there they know they have to work hard. It's not a place where you sit and lounge and wait. Once you get to understand it, it's an incredible place. It can be euphoric.
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Tony, Anna DiMera and Renee Dumonde. Ann tricked Tony into marrying her when he really loved Renee. |
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Days_Allison: I know that in addition to traveling, you also collect art. Do you have a favorite period or style of painting? Thaao_Penghlis: I like all the old because in some way it shows me how they lived. When I went to Cuba, I saw some of the paintings from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries there and compared them to the twentieth century artists who are being suppressed and are angry. That art now is interpretive of a society that is screaming to get out and can't. I collect certain artists and I just brought back a great new modern piece of work that I'm excited to frame. I've never really been into modern art but I'm beginning to appreciate it. I like the Renaissance. That's my favorite period. I think the colors are always rich. I like the depth of those yellows, those reds. I love the Italians and their understanding of those colors. They had their ancient empires and they had the Renaissance. You don't have too many countries who have both those elements. Days_Allison: With the Cubans, how do you think that suppression come out in their art? Thaao_Penghlis: There was one particular woman's work and I really stopped in my tracks. I thought, is this a woman's work? The rage! It was like she tore out the skeleton of her body and brought it to the surface of the canvas. You could hear the sound in the canvas. It was screaming. Such rage. Then there are others who are so subtle. It's like a bomb that's about to explode. Others are like there's no reason to live. Cuba will live again in it's own way. Its architecture is extraordinary. But it's all decaying. But, you're not allowed to go anymore.
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A dashing Thaao poses for the paparazzi on the red carpet at Days' special "movie premiere" during the Salem Stalker storyline. |
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Days_Allison: But as an Australian citizen, can't you go? Thaao_Penghlis: Anyone who is a permanent resident can't go. I went with a spiritual group. I went to their churches. I was interested because I wanted to find out what happens to the religion when you're a communist. Religion is suppressed. There's no faith there. It's interesting to see these people looking for faith, looking for something. I wanted to understand that. I wanted to see what it's like when people are like they were in Russia, when people are suppressed by the communists. You realize that communism doesn't serve the people. It really doesn't. It serves the dictators in the end. Days_Allison: I understand that you've also been writing. Thaao_Penghlis: I used to write with Sherry Thomas, who was once the head writer here. She always liked me because I was able to go in and give her ideas. I would say that by next year I'm going to have a film being made. I've written one about the Greeks in Australia in the fifties, through my family's history. I'm thinking more and more that when this is all over, this part of my work, that I'm going to direct it. I think I'm going to go in that area. I lean towards directing. All these images that we've been talking about have flashed before my mind, that I have in some way taken in, I want to see what I can show for them. Days_Allison: I think you would be a good director. Thaao_Penghlis: It's all interpretive. I remember my original teacher in New York took me to a museum one day and asked me something about a particular painting. He taught me about composition. He taught me about how to go deeply into things. Slowly I found myself interpreting. I'm a good interpreter of things, I think. I think it's why I cook well. I think in a sense if I've come here to work out a particular aspect of my soul, then I don't want to have to come back again because I didn't handle it well. Only to find that the next time will be harder. What we bring here is the part of the soul that doesn't know God. Everybody who crosses our path is there for a reason. So that we're given an obstacle which is a lesson. I certainly stir them up. I'm an antagonist. Someone's got to be. Otherwise they're all going to be milquetoasts. Days_Allison: And you also stir them up as Tony! What do you like best about playing this character? Thaao_Penghlis: I like the unknown. I like being in the moment because I'm not quite sure how it's going to turn out because it's all interpretive. It's not as if someone says to you this is exactly where we're going. The writer gives you a statement then you have to take that statement off of the page and give it some form of interpretation. Depending on how my enemy comes at me and what my enemy is doing at the time, that's how I'm going to play it. I become calm while they become agitated. I think Tony, depending on the writing, certainly the shadows are popping up left, right and center. I never want to play Tony with the moustache being twirled. I don't want to play this character like you already know him. I want people to think -- what is Tony up to now? As long as I'm ahead of the game. And that's how I always play him. I'll always play him enigmatically. Days_Allison: I can see that in your work. It's subtle and never obvious. Thaao_Penghlis: Always have a secret. Never forget the secret. Whatever that may be. It could be a recipe! But you don't know that. It's a secret. Days_Allison: Is there any part of the character that you'd like to see more of? Thaao_Penghlis: I'd certainly like to explore the romantic side of him again. It's such a strong part of me and I don't know why they make me dark and shadowy and with no love. I try to play the fact of the wound, that there's no love. I have to explore that because it's not in the writing. Behind it all, maybe behind Tony's suffering, if that's what it is, is this wound of the love that is not being fulfilled. Because that makes you human. He's just a shell and the writers write shells of characters. You fill it up. That's your job. That's their job, that's my job. Certainly that's one of the elements. Plus I love the dance. I'd love to dance more. I'd like to sweep women off their feet more. I like the manners of a character. I like the way a certain suit makes you move a certain way, a certain chair will make you sit a certain way. I would like Tony to be a little smarter, rather than depending on daddy. I don't want to give daddy that much credit anymore. Daddy's gone and when do we grow up? When do we cut the ties? I try to play the daddy thing like it's not that important. If there's anything between me and daddy, it's a one to one. I can't be taking orders. Although sometimes I think father isn't really there.
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Tony and the mysterious painting of Marlena that was found on DiMera Island during the investigation into the twins' parentage. |
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Days_Allison: We saw what seemed like a more romantic side of Tony last year in the storyline with Marlena. Thaao_Penghlis: And with Sami as well. The thing with Marlena is she's always with John, she's the goody two shoes kind of character. There are no shadows with her and if there are, they have been forced upon her. I found her intriguing, you know. It's like the gangster and the moll. The blond, pure woman. No matter how many times I work with the Marlena character, I still flirt with her. I think I flirt with most. I'd flirt with an ant! My natural thing is to flirt. I think it's a way of putting people not at ease. It takes them out of their comfort zone. Days_Allison: Do you have any favorite storylines? Thaao_Penghlis: I certainly go straight away to Leeann (Hunley, former Anna Brady DiMera). Love in the afternoon. Dancing with her like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers and in the middle of it giving her a dip and dropping her on the floor. We had great times. Amongst all the romance is the fun. I liked when I played the double characters. I liked the last time I died on the show with James Reilly; I enjoyed that whole thing with the disease and how it was making him feel and how he was losing his love. I liked playing it; it was like a Greek tragedy. I enjoyed that and I had a lot of good things to play. I think there was some great stuff there. I also liked coming back the way I did, it was kind of interesting. Not being dead and coming out of the shadows again. I had a producer say to me, you always play everything with mystery. I love that. When in doubt, be mysterious!
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