Sean Kanan Was Told to Take Off All His Clothes For an Audition Early in His Career: ‘I Feel So Embarrassed’
For almost a decade, General Hospital fans watched Sean Kanan as A. J. Quartermaine on the long-running and popular soap opera. The actor has been known to be a bit of a soap opera star. Over the past two decades, Kanan has landed recurring roles on both The Bold and the Beautiful and The Young and the Restless.
However, more recently, it has been what Kanan has been doing off-camera that has many of his fans and followers tuning in. Take a look back at the traumatic experience that involved Kanan having to strip down during one of the star’s early auditions.
Sean Kanan was told to take off all his clothes for an audition early in his career
Kanan and Maurice Benard used to work with one another on ABC’s General Hospital, but more recently, the two got together off-set and off-script. In an episode of State Of Mind with Maurice Benard, Benard’s mental health podcast, Kanan spoke about everything from his award-winning TV series Studio City to the actor’s new book, Way of the Cobra: Unleash Your Inner Badass.
As Kanan pointed out on Twitter, diving into real and deep topics, the former General Hospital co-stars had very meaningful conversations throughout the podcast. Kanan opened up about his childhood and his experiences with bullying.
The Pennsylvania native shared that martial arts and learning to be confident helped him greatly, but that doesn’t mean it was always smooth sailing. Kanan revealed how his insecurities manifested in different ways, including in his acting career.
Kanan reflected on his first experience working on a movie, and leading up to it, in an audition, he had to take all of his clothes off for a room full of people. Kanan’s competition, who was also in the room, was expected to do the same thing. While speaking with Benard, Kanan revealed it was something he would never forget.
Sean Kanan is opening up about the traumatic event he once had during an audition
When Kanan recounted the traumatic story to Benard, he explained, “I feel so embarrassed and stupid about it.” Apparently, according to Kanan, the reasoning was to see if the actors had any tattoos, and a young and relatively inexperienced Kanan, who wanted the role badly, got completely naked.
Looking back on the disturbing encounter, Kanan realizes how wrong it was and how it now affects his process and work today. When dealing with nude scenes as a producer, Kanan shared he tries very hard to make sure the actors are comfortable and he limits the number of people in the room.
While speaking with Benard, Kanan admitted he would like to think he would handle the matters just as carefully and sensitively had it not been for his traumatic experience, but, nevertheless, wants to do whatever he can to protect actors, especially young ones. Wanting to avoid making someone feel the humiliation he once did, Kanan’s considerate and thoughtful nature is evident.
What has Sean Kanan been up to?
In addition to his role as Deacon Sharpe on CBS’s The Bold and the Beautiful, Kanan’s fans and followers have enjoyed watching him take on the part of Dr. Pierce Hartley in Studio City. Kanan has also been getting a lot of attention and praise for his performance as Mike Barnes in Netflix’s Cobra Kai.
Looking ahead, the star also has some exciting projects lined up. Colonials and Catharsis are two upcoming movies Kanan’s fans can look forward to seeing him in. In addition, Kanan was also recently cast in the TV series The Bubble.
