Harrison White from Venice takes five questions with Examiner

Venice
Courtesy - Venice

Harrison White who has joined the cast of Venice recently took some time out of his busy life to answer five questions about the series, how he fell into this opportunity and what he thinks about the entire Venice deal.  It was a pleasure to hear his take on the Venice deal and here's just a glimpse of how he feels about Crystal Chappell, his facebook and tweeting buddies and the relatively new web based platform actors now have to express themselves. 

Examiner: How do you know Crystal Chappell and how were you approached to sign on for this series?

Harrison: I was turned on to Venice by my husband who is a hairdresser on Days of Our Lives. And he was talking to Crystal who does her hair and she was mentioning the show and he said my husband is an actor and you should ask him if he has something for him. And she was like oh God we have a role for him perfect and so they send me the script and I read it. And it’s fun. I wouldn’t call him a background character; he is just a really cool restaurant owner at this hotel that sort of knows everybody. I have a feeling that he knows everybody’s business and that makes him fun to me. And plus I love a character that sort of pops in, lots of energy, helps push the story along. I love those kinds of characters so I was thrilled about that. And on top of that, I have a great fondness for Crystal Chappell. She’s kind of hot.

Examiner: Based upon what you know about your character in this moment in time, give us a snapshot of who you are playing.

Harrison: I am playing Jamie, the manager of a hotel/restaurant and he sort of knows everybody. He is the fun happy guy and I like him a lot. He is just full of energy to me. I love him. He’s the kid of guy you want to hang out with.

Examiner: Do you believe web based series such as Venice will allow more creativity for actors and writers than network productions do and have you ever participated in this type of production before?

Harrison: I think new media is an important media. This is like my third venture into internet. I did a thing for VH-1 called Home Purchasing Club. I did one episode for them and then for MSN last year up till the Presidency, I did a series called the Republicrats, which was a lot of fun. I am a huge fan of the new media thing. I am hoping that we finally get a way to work out what those monies are going to be for that for the artists, in sake of the artists, but the best part about new media is is the opportunity for people who do not have the kind of budgets that network television has or even cable television has to do things and yet still get that work out there. And I think in my point of view that some better work and real honest voices…because once it is chopped down by network it sort of changes the molecular of what someone has originally started out with which could be a fabulous project and then by the time it gets to network it is a completely different concept. But the beautiful thing about new media is that you can get out your content and your truth can actually be spoken on whatever story you want to get out and that is the thrilling part about new media for me. It can be seen from beginning to end through by the person who conceived it.

Examiner: Tell us something special about Crystal. Also, in your spare time, if you could just rifle through her cosmetic bag to reveal one of her beauty secrets, I would appreciate it. If you don’t feel like grabbing her purse or breaking into her dressing room—no worries. Just mention something that dazzles you about Chappell.

Harrison: I know her through my husband, who is doing hair for her for Days of Our Lives, but I have watched her on Guiding Light as well and my thing about her is…I have two. First of all I get to kiss her several times doing this series which makes mehappy. Every time I see her, I get to kiss her. Yum. Hi, the best lips in the business. I’m sorry. Second are her eyes for me. Cause they are gorgeous. I am all about that color and the way she looks at you.

Examiner: Right out of the gate, Venice has developed a reputation for reaching out to fans via web sites such as Twitter. This has certainly been a huge factor in building anticipation for the show’s launch and has been enormously popular with fans of the cast members joining Venice. Who knew Crystal Chappell would be engaging directly with her fans so religiously in this manner? Tina Sloan recently Tweeted on Twitter of course, that the character she is playing on Venice is funny. She mentioned this was different for her and she was thrilled with how that character of hers was being written. Sloan was clearly having fun with her Venice experience and fans were thrilled to hear about it. Are you Tweeting and how important to you if that interaction with your fans?

Harrison: I started tweeting two days ago. I had 16 followers. And then Kimmy said--follow Harrison. And next thing you know I had 300 and something in the next day. It is ridiculous. I love stuff like that. I have been really strong on my My Space page which I use literally for my web site. So, if you want to know about me, go there. My stuff is right up there. If it is stuff I have done I have it up there already on there. And then Facebook, I do that with my friends and it is also a way for me to network. And now twittering--I can’t help myself. I can’t stop twittering. It is ridiculous. And I love the twitter peeps. They are awesome. I’m like Oh my God, let me see; let me tell them what I am doing now. It’s really nice. It is kind of voyeuristic, but I love it!