‘Passions’ Star Rodney Van Johnson Says the Soap Opera Took ‘a Personal Toll’ on Him
Rodney Van Johnson is best known for his work on the soap opera Passions. For eight years, Johnson played T.C. Russell. While the role earned him fame, there were aspects of the job Johnson hated.
Rodney Van Johnson played T.C. Russell on ‘Passions’
Johnson was one of the original cast members of Passions when it debuted in July 1999. The actor portrayed T.C., the patriarch of the Russell family. T.C. is married to Eve Russell (Tracey Ross), and they have two daughters, Whitney Russell (Brook Kerr) and Simone Russell (Cathy Jenee Doe).
T.C. is a tennis instructor whose dreams of playing professionally were dashed after a knee injury in a car wreck. The Russell patriarch blamed his longtime rival Julian Crane (Ben Masters) for the accident and ruining his career. T.C. has a temper and often argues with his family, but Julian receives the brunt of his anger.
His hatred toward Julian intensifies when he learns about Eve’s past relationship with Julian. The couple divorces, and T.C. has an affair with Eve’s sister Liz Sanbourne (Amelia Marshall). After T.C.’s stroke, he changes his ways and makes amends for his actions. His last appearance came in June 2007 when he moved to New Orleans to be closer to Whitney.
Rodney Van Johnson didn’t like playing an angry black man
John became famous thanks to the NBC soap opera. However, the Passions star says that not everything was rosy. In an interview with Soap Opera Digest, Johnson revealed why he didn’t like his role.
“What I didn’t enjoy was being the angry black man. That really took a personal toll on me because I had to gear up for that kind of energy. I would have to drive one or two hours when I left work just to calm down because I was so hyped up from being this angry black man on the show.”
Although Johnson was grateful for the work, the role had its drawbacks. “It was extremely psychologically stressful because I had to deal with that anger.. I wouldn’t have changed it for anything. It made me who I am today, but there were challenging times playing that character.”
The ‘Passions’ star recently appeared on ‘The Bold and the Beautiful’
Since his departure from Passions in 2007, Johnson has continued acting. His credits include the T.V. series Raising Whitley and the films One Fine Christmas and Holiday Hideaway. Recently, he returned to his soap opera roots with his Jan. 9 appearance on The Bold and the Beautiful. Johnson played Sheila Carter’s (Kimberlin Brown) lawyer and helps get her free from prison.
Johnson enjoyed his guest stint and had bothering but kind words for Brown. “I had never worked with Kimberlin before and she is such a rock star. She is so professional and so funny! You see someone on television, but when you meet them in person, that’s when you see what they’re really like, and she is such a funny, cool person. I hope we get to do it again and aga and again.”
Although Johnson’s stint was brief, the show might consider having him back. Since Sheila can’t stay out of trouble, she’ll be needing his service again in the future.
