WEDNESDAY'S HUNTER DOOHAN [IN PRINT]

INTERVIEW BY IRVIN RIVERA

On being yourself, the trick is to not hide.

PHOTOGRAPHER: IRVIN RIVERA, FASHION STYLING: ANDREW PHILIP NGUYEN, GROOMING: JOSEPH ADIVARI, GRAPHICS DESIGN: PHIL LIMPRASERTWONG
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Bare it all, stick to your truth, preserve your integrity and the rest will flow beautifully. It sounds easy to say and do, but in reality, given that there are several factors affecting and involving life, being yourself, heck, finding yourself, is a journey in itself that requires conscious effort and constant practice.

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The main theme of this Collectors Print Issue, is being yourself - self-love at its core. Because like our featured talent in this issue, the breakout star of Netflix’s Wednesday- Hunter Doohan, when you stick to your truth, you’ll shine and your glow will emanate throughout whoever sees you. Like most actors, Hunter’s journey is akin to a rollercoaster ride of yes and no, a constant navigation of playing different roles and shifting identities that would fit the job. But to what extent? How do you balance your personal identity with what the role calls for? Can a gay actor play a straight role and vice versa? How truthful do you need to be? How does one balance it out? Does an actor’s personal life affect the way they perform? These were just some of the common floating questions that often surface whenever an actor’s personal life blends in with the beloved characters they play.

[From the editors note]

In this Collectors Print Issue, we caught up with rising star Hunter Doohan, who plays Tyler on Netflix’s Wednesday, post holiday and chatted about his life after the massive global success of the show. Hunter’s nuanced character evolution throughout the episodes actually added more layers of suspense and mystery on top of all the intriguing and beautiful elements already present in it.

Hunter has always been creative throughout his life. Aside from acting, he also writes and directs. He thrives off collaboration and creation and has been filming short films with his friends since he was young.

With more than 24 IMDB credits under his belt (for film and TV), Hunter is continuously evolving as a star who is definitely one to watch. Prior to Wednesday, he starred alongside Bryan Cranston in Your Honor, a legal drama involving family, crime, moral choices and everything in between. In the show, Hunter plays Adam Desiato, son of a respected New Orleans judge, Michael Desiato who got involved in an accidental hit-and-run. Initially, his dad encouraged him to turn himself in until he learned that the person that his son hit was the son of a mob kingpin.

How have you been since the release of Wednesday?

I've been good. It's been crazy. I just didn't expect it to be so massive. The response has been overwhelming but in a totally, mostly positive way.

It's such a massive global success. How did you take that and its huge positive global reception from the audience everywhere? People are still talking about it right now. It's great.

Yes, I think it's still number one on Netflix.

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As of this time, it's still on the top of the list and dominating. I will watch it again, for sure.

I love that.

It's just one of those shows that you can't stop watching so you binge it.

I think it turned out to be so much fun. I was so proud of it when I got to see it. And I had waited because I didn't want to see anything that wasn't totally finished - because we just spent so much time on it. I was like, I'm just going to wait. So, by the time it premiered, I had only seen the first two episodes they'd sent us so we could talk about it for press events. But a lot of people had seen the whole thing by then but I waited until it came out and watched it with all of my family and friends. So, I actually went back to Arkansas for Thanksgiving, and we got together in a big group and watched it and it was so fun for me. And I'm just really proud of what we made. It was just so validating and exciting for so many other people to want to watch it at all. And then, to love it on top of that, was just more than we could ask for, for real.

You really did an amazing job. And a lot of people online kept saying that you tricked them good.

I love that.

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They kept saying, “you tricked me!” “Tyler tricked us!” And that's a great thing, right? It's a compliment, a testament to you as a good actor - on how you did such a great job in hiding Tyler's character.

Yes, I actually got a lot of comments like, “how dare you do this to me?”

GET HUNTER'S COLLECTORS PRINT ISSUE HERE

What's a valuable lesson that you learned throughout your life that you always carry with you?

Oh, God. I don't know. I mean, we kind of touched on being yourself and I think another level to that is, just becoming an adult and realizing you don't have to spend time with anyone really, you can create your own world with the people you surround yourself with - there's no obligation to see anyone. So, if you're unhappy, it's like, make sure you're surrounding yourself with good people that you just enjoy being around. That's the only requirement really.

If you were a book, what book would you be and why? So, this is an open question. It could be a genre, it could be an existing title, you can create your own title, whatever, anything.

I want to be a sketchbook. You can do something different in it every day. And I'd like to get a tool board, I'd like to keep things, keep moving and do different things and never get stuck too much in a routine.