In the years he has been away from Days, Matthew Ashford (ex-Jack) has been keeping very busy. Not only has he been working on some stage, he recently landed the role of Tom Hardy on ABC's General Hospital. Jack [sic] had lots to say about his life and his family (which includes wife Christina and daughter Grace) and DTVGS was right there in the thick of things to get the latest scoop!

Are you still surprised by the outpouring of emotion from fans regarding your departure from the show?
Matt: It confirms for me that we did something on Days that meant something. We had our ups and downs, but Missy (Reeves, Jennifer) and I and some of the other actors, created something that was really memorable. It was a resounding factor in some way to people that struck them. It makes me appreciate it all the more. All the writers and producers around us that gave us the environment where we could play. They were able to provide us with a place where we could take chances to play with things, go against the grain and do things that people don't always do. Find something that's real or something that is true. It was very enjoyable.

Have you heard anything from Missy since you came back to GH?
Matt: Yeah, we've kept up.

I also wanted to ask you, how is your daughter, Grace, and the family?
Matt: Fine, everything is doing well. The wife (Christina) is doing A Chorus Line right now, down here in Long Beach. I was doing a couple of shows at the Interact Theater, one called Counselor of Law with Marilyn McIntyre, who played Jo. She played an office secretary and I was one of the young lawyers in the office who was hopelessly in love with her. It's pretty funny. She's was [sic] in love with the head lawyer. It was a 1930s comedy and both Marilyn and I were in a series of one-acts called Currently Married.

How long will these productions run?
Matt: The thing with Counselor of Law was that it ran three times and they extended it again. In L.A., that is very unusual. L.A. is not a town that supports a lot of theater. Most of the shows don't get through a week or two and then, the audience kind of disappears. This show keeps selling out and we keep extending. People kept coming to our theater and seeing it. It was set in 1931 and it had all the wacky romance and fast moving pace, but it wasn't all wacky. There were serious parts in it too.

I wanted to ask you how you're finding the challenge of fatherhood and combining that with a busy career. That must be difficult.
Matt: Actually, it has been great. There were times that I've had more time at home with my daughter and it couldn't have been a better time. I try to watch her because she reminds me of how much fun it is to play! Whenever the job is too much work, it's something you can look at and enjoy. It's been a good time to connect to her and regain that childlike way of approaching things and playing with things

Do you find she has more characteristics of you, or Christina?
Matt: I'd say the wife.

In what way?
Matt: She looks like her, she's a girl, you know? She has a sense of humor, which is sick.

We received photos of when you were in Dracula, and they were great! How was it playing the "Prince of Darkness", "King of the Night'?
Matt: That sounds like a talk-show host! It was pretty enjoyable. I'd like to do it again now, based on the things that I have learned. It's a pretty difficult role because you can overplay it, and in a big theater, you can't underplay it. I was worried about that. It was also written in 1927 or '28! It's pretty dated, Frank Langella's version of the play was updated. There were a lot of elements that I felt I could do if I were older. I was one of the youngest people on the stage, and I was supposed to be 500 years old! So there are some time when I have to find that. I enjoyed that a lot, people really enjoyed it. It made me want to do it again. Which I took as a positive thing. If I didn't want to do it again. I would say, "That was that!"

You looked menacing.
Matt: They were definitely pushing more sex with the show. A lot of sensuality. I tried to keep sensuality from turning into sex. That takes more work and study.

The Dracula character was not particularly sexy.
Matt: As far as we know. That's up for interpretation. We've seen him played as a voyeur, we've seen him played as a sensualist. Definitely with all the recent focus on vampires, it pays to do that. But, this is the 1920 play, you can do what you can.

[And a VERY SPECIAL THANKS to Helena a Matthew fan
from the Czech Republic for graciously sending me the article.]