Michael Easton

Michael Easton
Born	(1967-02-15) February 15, 1967 Long Beach, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, author, photographer, poet
Years active	1990–present
Spouse(s)	Ginevra Arabia (m. 2004)
Children	2

Michael Easton (born February 15, 1967) is an American television actor, poet, author and photographer.

Career

Easton has made appearances on television shows such as Ally McBeal and The Practice. He had a recurring role on the science fiction television series Mutant X. He played the dual lead role in the 1996 thriller series Two, as well as starring roles in two science fiction series: VR.5 and Total Recall 2070.

Additionally, Easton has appeared on soap operas, first starting out in the role of Tanner Scofield on NBC's Days of Our Lives from 1991 to 1992. He went on to a two-year stint as vampire Caleb Morley on Port Charles from 2001 until its cancellation in 2003. Easton portrayed John McBain on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live from October 2003 until the series ended in January 2012.^[1]

Michael Easton, with other One Life to Live actors, such as Roger Howarth, Kristen Alderson, Kassie DePaiva and Florencia Lozano, appeared on sister soap opera General Hospital. Easton reprised his One Life to Live role of John McBain from March 2012 - March 2013 and his Port Charles/General Hospital role of Caleb Morley from February to March 2013. Easton exited his General Hospital roles due to legal issues regarding Prospect Park's revival of One Life to Live. Easton was slated to return to General Hospital at some point, possibly in a new role, since at the time Prospect Park currently held the rights to all One Life to Live characters. TV Guide reported that because ABC did not want to risk any further legal disputes with Prospect Park concerning the characters, the only way to avoid such disputes might be to have the former One Life to Live actors portray "characters that in no way resemble the current ones" in order to stay on General Hospital.^[2] Easton returned to General Hospital in May 2013 as Dr. Silas Clay. On July 29, 2015, it was confirmed that Easton would exit General Hospital.^[3]

On February 2, 2016, it was announced that Easton would return to General Hospital.^[4] His first airdate was to be March 18, 2016. It was pushed back due to ABC airing the funeral of former First Lady Nancy Reagan to March 21, 2016.^[5][6][7] His new character was revealed on Friday, March 18, 2016. as Hamilton Finn.^[8]

Writer

Easton is also a screenwriter, poet, and graphic novelist.

Eighteen Straight Whiskeys

Eighteen Straight Whiskeys is a collection of poetry. The first printing in 1997 and a second in 2002 both sold out. A third, signed Collector’s Edition with thirty new poems is scheduled for release by Bowery Press in September 2018.

Described by the Hollywood Reporter as “A 96-page collection of hard-edged musings on drinking and drugs…not flowery paeans to romance, lost love, or lyrical pastoral introspections”,^[9] the collection is a chronicle on the aftermath of grief and a young man coming to terms with himself.

Easton began writing the collection over a four-month period in the summer of 1994, while living in Paris after his mother’s death. When she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1992, he took two years off from a growing acting career to help with her care, and would read to her during rounds of chemotherapy. Raised with a shared love of literature and poetry, and graduating with dual degrees at UCLA, he always wanted to be a writer and said his mother was an enormous source of support and encouragement.

“Having her faith in me was like carrying around the Hammer of Thor,” he recalled.^[10]

Inspired and influenced by greats such as Dylan Thomas, Charles Bukowski and Raymond Carver, Easton, who is Irish, took the title Eighteen Straight Whiskeys from fellow Celt Thomas—it was reportedly one of the last things the Welsh writer said before he died.

Soul Stealer

Soul Stealer is a graphic novel series about a Frankenstein-like protagonist, Kalan, who searches for his lost love Oxania over the span of several centuries. The horror-fantasy trilogy was illustrated by artist Christopher Shy and released by Blackwatch Comics, with a foreward by Peter Straub. Keith Howell of Intelligent Designs described as “One of the most profoundly moving stories I’ve ever read”,^[11] while Aint It Cool News named it “Graphic Novel of the Year” in 2010.

Credence

In 2013, Easton released Credence with Blackwatch Comics. The story takes place in present-day New York City in the life of Danny Credence, a self-destructive, morally corrupt, methadone-addicted loner who has failed at both marriage and fatherhood. He’s left with only his career and family legacy as the most decorated detective in the city, and is also the only one disturbed enough to hunt an equally depraved serial killer who is terrorizing its streets.^[12]

Writing in Ain't It Cool News, Keith Howell said, "Easton excels at delivering the inner darkness of human depravity while finding subtle ways to pierce the shadow with the sharp light of beauty. It's one more example of Easton pushing the boundaries of the box of public expectations. It delivers the goods like a solid police drama, but with a deeper spiritual resonance of how the bad choices we make drive the direction of our lives."^[13]

Easton released a video and special preview edition of the sequel novel, with art by Steven Perkins,^[14] at San Diego Comic Con in 2015.

The Green Woman

Easton co-wrote The Green Woman for Vertigo Comics (a division of DC Comics) with award-winning horror writer Peter Straub. The artwork was by John Bolton. The story follows Fielding "Fee" Bandolier—the main character of Straub's Blue Rose Trilogy, as Fee plans to effectively retire from his serial-killer career. At the same time, New York Detective Bob Steele is equally determined to hunt Fee down and capture him, in a final attempt at his own redemption. The two characters end up meeting at The Green Woman, an abandoned, run-down pub in the Midwest and end up facing worse horror than either had imagined, and ultimately confront their fates.

Straub's novels have received several notable honors, including the Bram Stoker Award, World Fantasy Award, and International Horror Guild Award. The Green Woman was his first graphic novel collaboration.

Screenplays

Easton’s screenplay Beautiful Loser, a biopic of Montgomery Clift, is currently in development. Producer Norman Lear subsequently tapped him to write the screenplay Queen of Jazz, about Ella Fitzgerald’s life and legacy. While working on Two as the series lead, he also wrote the episode “A.D.”

In 2001 Easton adapted a short film based on an unfinished screenplay by Doors front man Jim Morrison. Daedelus is Dead appeared at more than a dozen film festivals and was later bought by The Sundance Channel.

In 2015, Easton’s Ultraviolent, chronicling the last, bizarre night of filmmaker Donald Cammell, won the Best Shorts Showcase at LA Shorts Fest and was awarded the Grand Prize at both the Barcelona and Canadian International Film Festivals. He followed up with First Strike Butcher Knife, which premiered at the 2017 Los Angeles Film Festival.

Personal life

Easton married model Ginevra Arabia in 2004. The couple have two children: Lilah Bell, born on April 15, 2011, and Jack Boru, born on September 7, 2013.^[15]

Filmography

Books

• Easton, Michael (1997). "Eighteen Straight Whiskeys". The Bowery Press. ISBN 0-9658674-0-4.
• Easton, Michael (2008). "Soul Stealer". ISBN 978-0-9809103-6-0.
• Easton, Michael (2009). "Soul Stealer Book Two: Blood and Rain". ISBN 978-0-9809966-5-4.
• Easton, Michael (2010). "Soul Stealer Book Three: Last To Die". ISBN 978-0-9809966-9-2.
• Straub, Peter & Easton, Michael (2010). "The Green Woman". ISBN 978-1-4012-1100-4.
• Easton, Michael (2011). "Soul Stealer The Collector's Edition". ISBN 978-1-926869-04-9.
• Easton, Michael (2013). "Credence". ISBN 978-0-9859804-9-8.

Awards and nominations

Daytime Emmy Awards {^[16]}

• 2018: Nominated, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series – General Hospital

Gemini Awards {^[17]}

1999: Nominated, Best Performance by an Actor in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role – Total Recall 2070

Soap Opera Digest Awards

• 2005: Won, Favorite Triangle – One Life to Live (shared with Melissa Archer and Renee Goldsberry)
• 2003: Nominated, Outstanding Younger Lead Actor – Port Charles

References

External links

• Official website
• Michael Easton on IMDb
• The Poetry of Michael Easton
• Soul Stealer by Michael Easton and Christopher Shy
• The Credence File
• Credence - Steven Perkins Art
• Credence - Michael Easton Official
• Daedelus is Dead - on IMDb
• Ultraviolent - on IMDb
• First Strike Butcher Knife - on IMDb
• Two - on IMDB