Jeffrey Vincent Parise Interview Part One: Acting, Conventions and Sharing the Love

Actor, filmmaker, and all-around artist Jeffrey Vincent Parise chatted with Nerd Alert News about his career and keeping sane through the pandemic. Parise is known for many roles such as ‘Asmodeus’ on “Supernatural” and ‘Carlos’ on ‘General Hospital. He is a very accomplished actor, and he loves to spend his time with many different kinds of projects. The pandemic has helped him in the way of curating and creating many films, paintings, and other forms of art. Parise has been apart of the “Supernatural” family since 2017 and regularly attends conventions for the show. Parise shared his thoughts on some of his most notable characters and pieces of work. 

Check out the first part of the interview below about his acting career:

Jadeen Mercado: A lot of our readers fell in love with you Asmodeus, what has joining the SPN family been like for you?

Jeffrey Vincent Parise: It’s been the gift that keeps on giving. The cool thing about having been invited and joining the SPN family is how kind and thoughtful everyone is. 

JM: Your character on “Supernatural” was a very bad guy, so how was it playing a character with supernatural abilities, who was also very evil at his core, whilst being charming?

JVF: Business as usual;)

JM: Asmodeus had some interesting scars and a great wardrobe, what was it like behind the scenes, both physically and mentally, getting ready to be Asmodeus?

JVP: Well, I’m not sure what this says about me, but getting into character came unusually easy to me. Unlike Gabriel, I was a fan of his suit. And the scars, for that matter. When someone has scars, that means they have history.  Asmodeus wore his history on his face.  

JM: You have been a part of large fandoms before in your career, most notably for your soap opera work, are there any major differences? Similarities? Things you enjoy about fandoms and conventions?

JVP: Yeah, I have been very lucky in that department. Until I was on “General Hospital,” I would shoot a show, it would air and that would be that. Not much feedback. Then came “General Hospital.”  After each airing of the show, going on Twitter was like going into the lobby of a theater you just did a play in.  For better or worse, you knew how the fandom felt about your performance. And like with “Supernatural,” I was able to meet some of them at conventions. I only did a couple of “General Hospital” conventions, but the obvious difference between the two is the size. “Supernatural” conventions are much larger and more colorful. There’s not much cosplay, tattoos, and primary-colored hair happening at Soap Opera conventions.  And the ones I was at definitely didn’t have Karaoke nights like “Supernatural!”

JM: On “General Hospital,” you portrayed two characters (twins), which did you enjoy the most, and was the duality ever challenging for you?

JVP: Well, I only played the twin in about 6 episodes. He didn’t really work out.  He was boring.  The other 100 episodes or so was Carlos. Whom I loved playing. He was a gangster who did terrible things because of the loyalty he had for his crime family and at the same time had a gentleness, focus, and commitment toward the woman he loved that was incredibly inspiring to play. 

JM: Every character you play seems to be really well thought out, from Carlos’s accent to Asmodeus drawl and swagger, etc, how do you go about figuring out who your character is as a person and the intricate details you inevitably give them?

JVP: Carlos was from Puerto Rico. And since I had never been to Puerto Rico, I took the check from the first couple episodes I did and went there. I soaked in as much of the culture as I could for the time I was there and also recorded a lot of the people I talked to. One man in particular, who was a guide, became my template for Carlos. I recorded him saying my lines from the episodes I had just done to get his cadence and his slight accent on the occasional word. I felt like I really found the foundation of that character on that trip. 

As for Asmodeus, I’ve been to New Orleans and love the way people speak there. I’ve always wanted to have a bit of a Cajun drawl for a character and this one somehow seemed the perfect fit. A lot of the work comes before you step onto the set. It begins with the script. Most of the clues are already in the writing.  I then did some research on Asmodeus in mythology. Each one of the 7 Princes of Hell represented one of the seven sins. His is lust. Knowing that I worked to infuse some sexuality into the performance.  Physically I wanted him to have a swagger and smoothness that could only come from being over-sexed.   

JM: You were in the movie “The Love Witch,” what initially drew you to that project?

JVP: Anna Biller, the director. She is the kind of talent I dream of working with. I had seen her previous film “Viva” and knew “The Love Witch” was going to be just as special. And it was! A director like her only comes around once a lifetime. She wrote, directed, edited, costumed designed, and production-designed that film. And she had not spread herself thin. She has a vision and, as she puts it, only had the budget to achieve her vision by doing it herself. It’s a masterpiece of cinema and if you haven’t’ seen it, I highly recommend you do. 

JM: In “The Love Witch” we saw your character go from emotional extremes rather quickly before it led to his demise, do you find a role like that more exciting or challenging?

JVP: Absolutely.  I think you’d be hard-pressed to find an actor who doesn’t find playing emotional extremes more exciting. It’s a chance to dig deep and possibly exorcise some personal demons that may be hanging around inside you. And in some ways, it’s easier than playing a more contained character. Emoting leaves a lot of the guesswork out for the audience and many times leaves to the audience “watching”, over feeling. When you contain your emotions on screen it lends more to the audience having the feelings for and with you. 

JM: Also in “The Love Witch,” there was a love scene involving your character that really helped propel the storyline, are you comfortable with nudity if it serves a purpose (or at all) in a film?

JVP: For this one, I was very comfortable. Anna had my total trust. It really is a case-by-case basis though. 

JM: Out of the many roles you’ve played is there one character who always sticks out in your memory as your favorite? If so, why? 

JVP: Well, Asmodeus of course! All the elements for me as an actor came together with him. A really interesting and dynamic character to play, on a hit television show with a built-in fandom that keeps the character alive long after I stopped playing him. 

 Stay tuned for part two to read about Parise’s art and love for his fans.

Written by Jadeen Mercado

 

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