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Catching up with Vincent Irizarry (ex-Deimos, DAYS OF OUR LIVES) at Starstruck’s YesterDAYS Fan Event, November 10th, 2017.

WHAT DID YOU ENJOY THE MOST ABOUT PLAYING “DEIMOS” ON DAYS OF OUR LIVES?

Vincent: There was a lot that I loved about playing Deimos. I loved the development of the character from when I first came on. I love when you get a great back story to a character; and it all made sense. I understood the reasons why he came into town with a major chip on his shoulder. I understood why he wanted to seek vengeance against his older brother. And I also understood though that in the transition for a period of time there that he genuinely was longing for family, for acceptance, being the bastard son that he was. I just loved that; and also that he had a longing to experience true love in a relationship after having been in prison for 30 years and losing the love of his life, the one woman that he ever loved before, Helena. So I loved it. It was so rich. It was so much fun to dive into that. And I loved also the element of bringing in the piano; and that he played classical piano, romantic piano music. That showed another layer to the character, that he had a romantic side to his nature, at his heart. That he had the tendency that he could do some evil things but at the same time there was something that was very genuine and very loving and a very human side to him that I thought was very special.

HOW SURPRISED WERE YOU WHEN YOU WERE CALLED BACK TO DAYS FOR THE FLASHBACK SEQUENCE WHERE DEIMOS MARRIED EVE (KASSIE DEPAIVA)?

Vincent: It was a very big surprise! I was trying to understand it in the context of what was happening in that period when they said it happened. It was a little confusing. I wasn’t sure how it fit but considering that there was a distance between the time that I had left the show and when they brought that in, its fine. Most people wouldn’t realize that. I just knew that because I was studying the character for so long.

AS A FAN OF ALL MY CHILDREN AND ONE LIFE TO LIVE, I GOT A KICK OUT OF SEEING “DAVID” AND “BLAIR” TOGETHER.

Vincent: It’s funny because I’ve known Kassie for about 25 years. And we have been missing each other on every show practically. I left Guiding Light and she came on Guiding Light way back when. Even when we were working online during the All My Children and One Life to Live reboot, I’d be there for my week stint; then she would come in and she would have my dressing room during that period. When I was first hired on DAYS, I thought “This is great! Kassie’s on there. I’ll get to work with her.” I go to work. It’s my first day on the show as Deimos; and I’m like “Kassie, it’s so great. I’ll get to work with you.” And she goes, “No, this is my last day.” And I’m get the…Are you serious?! She says, “Yeah, I’m leaving.” And it was sad because then the story they had actually written was for the two of us to get together before I left the show. I don’t know if you remember that she came on the show for a period of time. Ken Corday came up to me during the Emmys the year before; and he said, “I just want you to know, between us, but Kassie’s coming back on the show; and we’re going to put the two of you together.” And I said, “Wow, that’s fantastic!” I was really excited about it! And she came on for a couple of weeks. Then she got sick as we all know. I was very saddened by that. I had gotten the script. We had some really good scenes together. Then about two days before we came to shoot the scenes, I got rewrites and she was written out of the scenes. They were now scenes with me and Eric Martsolf. We were talking about what happened in those scenes but it was off camera. I went up to Albert Alaar, the executive producer at the time, and said, “What’s going on? Why isn’t Kassie in these scenes?” And he said, “We’re not going to make an announcement about this right now but Kassie let us know that she’s very sick.” And my heart was like, Oh my God. So I’m so happy that she’s doing well. I’m really happy for her. She looks fantastic and she’s so incredibly talented. It was fun to work even for just a few scenes with her recently. It was cool.

IF YOU COULD PLAY ANY OTHER CHARACTER ON DAYS BESIDES DEIMOS, WHO WOULD YOU WANT TO PLAY?

Vincent: Maggie maybe because she’s such a saint. Everybody loves her! The opposite of Deimos, that’s what I’m going for. Something totally different. It was funny when I first came on the show and when Maggie fell and I mixed her pills. And she fell down the stairs. Which was an unintentional consequence. That wasn’t planned! But she fell down the stairs and became paralyzed. Everybody was like “Oh, I hate him! Oh, I can’t believe what he did to Maggie!” I was like, I didn’t mean to do it. That wasn’t supposed to happen. But anyway, I love her too. Suzanne is fantastic.

WHAT PROJECTS ARE GOING ON FOR YOU RIGHT NOW THAT YOU CAN TELL US ABOUT?

Vincent: I do real estate. Apart from that, I have two projects. One is a project that I helped develop. It was an original manuscript and has since been published as an e-book. It’s based on a true story. A murder that took place in Texas. And I with several people, we got a screenwriter and developed the screenplay together and trying to get that off the ground as a producer. Another project that I was asked to do, it’s a co-lead in a film, an independent feature; and they are just trying to raise the financing for it right now. So that’s what’s happening right now.

WHAT MESSAGE DO YOU HAVE FOR YOUR FANS WHO HAVE FOLLOWED YOU THROUGHOUT YOUR ACTING CAREER?

Vincent: This has been quite an odyssey. And I’m very grateful to all of you. It’s interesting. I started out on Guiding Light; it was a three day role as Lujack. And here I am thirty plus years later and still in and out of this medium. Watching this medium shrink like a really sad game of musical chairs. One more chair gets removed and everything gets shrunken down. But it’s been a joy. It really has been a joy. And I’m so grateful to everybody who’s been watching all of these years on all of the shows that I’ve done. And I look forward to doing more. It would be fun.