June 22 (2024) will mark 15 years since Dominic Zamprogna joined the cast of General Hospital as Dante Falconeri — or Dominic Pirelli as he was known then. (You might recall Dante was deep undercover in the hopes of slapping some cuffs on big, bad Sonny [Maurice Benard] who’d be outed as his bio pops, but not before pumping a bullet into Dante!) In the lead-up to the milestone, the actor reflected on all things GH to Soap Opera Digest.
Dominic Zamprogna – Happy, Happy Anniversary
On booking the gig: “That year, 2009, was the beginning of things really picking up again. I was doing a Smallville recurring [role] and I was doing a Stargate recurring and a couple of TV movies and it was only April. And then my manager was like, “Hey, you wanna audition for a soap opera?” I said, “I don’t know…” I wasn’t really sure. And she was like, “Please! It’s my favorite soap and they’ve been looking for this character for eight months. Just do it.” And I was kind of at a point where I was like, ‘Hey, I’m in. I’m gonna say yes to anything.’
“So I did the [GH audition] tape, and it was two weeks before I heard anything back. I remember walking through a plant nursery with my wife, like a garden store, and my manager called and said, ‘They want you to come down and screen test.’ I was like, ‘Cool, I’ll do that.’ And then I said they, ‘Are they booking me a flight’ And she was like, ‘No,’ and I was like, “Okay, I’ll still do it [laughs].”
On his (brief) split from the show (which resulted in Dante joining the WSB and undertaking some daring-dos) and eventual return: “A couple of things were going on at that time. I had never been in this town as a free agent, so to speak. I came here with this job and didn’t know any casting people. I was almost 40, and I was like, ‘Okay, worst-case scenario, the show gets canceled tomorrow, I haven’t done my due diligence in this town to make sure people know me and I’ve got connections and relationships and all that kind of stuff.’ As an actor, you need to do that…
“I call it kind of a mental health break because I’ve never been in the same place for this long, playing the same character. I just felt, ‘I think I need to go and kind of do something else for a while.’ And in doing that, I achieved what I wanted to do — I met a lot of casting directors, you take general meetings, you do a bunch of auditions. You kind of get your hustle back, and that’s important, too…
“And the reason for coming back, also, is because I love it here and I legitimately missed my friends that I’ve made here. Even when you have a bad day, as everyone does, you’re surrounded by people that you care about and that care about you, and I missed being part of a team. And so when I had kind of accomplished what I wanted to accomplish, I was grateful they wanted me to come back.”
Dominic Zamprogna’s message to his fans: “Well, thanks for acknowledging [my anniversary] and kind of sticking with me. One thing you learn over the years is that you can’t please everybody…I am just grateful that what I put out there, that I find fulfilling for me as an actor, is also fulfilling to some people out there, too, that are a fan of the show and of my character. I’m very humbled and honored and very appreciative.”
Be sure to click on the above link to read Dominic Zamprogna’s interview in full, then head to our comments section and let us know your most cherished memory from his tenure as Dante.
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