FROM SOD ONLINE
Star: CLIVE ROBERTSON 

                            Role: Ben Evans, SUNSET BEACH 

                            Birthday: December 17 

                            Bens Behaving Soaply: Christopher Cazenove, who played Ben Carrington on
                            DYNASTY, shares Robertson's birthday 

                            High Profiles: PROFILER's Julian McMahon shares Robertson's manager 

                            Par Wars: Castmates Sam Behrens and Peter Barton share
                            Robertson's golf addiction 

                            Uproots, Downroots: Robertson is the son of an RAF fighter pilot. As a military
                            child, Robertson was uprooted about every 3 years or so, when his dad's post
                            would change. "We were always moving, but it did give me a chance to live in
                            some interesting places, such as Singapore and Cyprus." 

                            Significant Other: Girlfriend of 4 years, Libby Purvis, starred on the Australian
                            soap, THE POWER, THE PASSION (They met in drama school in London.) 

                            Evans-escent: When he landed on SUNSET BEACH, here's how Robertson
                            celebrated: "I went out to dinner with my girlfriend and my manager, and we
                            toasted with a very expensive bottle of champagne." 

                            BEN THERE, DONE THAT 

                            Hollywood newcomer CLIVE ROBERTSON has pitched his tent all over
                            the world (he even bummed around East Africa for a while), but getting
                            lost in L.A. nearly cost him his job! 

                            DIGEST ONLINE: How did you happen to wind up on SUNSET BEACH? 

                            CLIVE ROBERTSON: To put it simply, I came over here from England just
                            briefly on a reconnaissance trip. I wanted to check things out, and see if I'd like
                            to come out to Los Angeles permanently. I wasn't expecting to be put up for any
                            part, let alone get a part. So this whole thing was a big surprise. 

                            DIGEST ONLINE: But people don't just get off a plane at LAX and wind up
                            in Aaron Spelling's office auditioning for a new soap. 

                            ROBERTSON: What happened was, I came over here with my girlfriend,
                            Libby, and, as I say, we were just sort of checking out possibilities. I had an
                            agent contact, who sent me up for a couple of roles, and my girlfriend had a
                            manager out here. I went to meet her manager one afternoon and he said, "Oh,
                            there's something you could be right for." That's how the whole thing got started.
                            Then, Libby and I went down to Mexico for a few days; meanwhile, he was
                            trying to contact me about SUNSET BEACH. So time was pretty short. In fact,
                            when we came back, I immediately had to get in my car and race halfway across
                            L.A. and try to find NBC. Of course, I got lost and was two hours late for the
                            meeting. They sent me on the 101 Freeway, and I was going the wrong way. I
                            was all over town, everywhere. Well, anyway, eventually I got there. The casting
                            people had already seen my audition tapes; they were quite excited with my
                            tapes, and I had a series of interviews. And then came the Aaron Spelling
                            meeting. 

                            DIGEST ONLINE: What was that like? 

                            ROBERTSON: It was the most daunting meeting I've ever had. I mean it was
                            funny in hindsight. To get to his office, you walked through thick pile carpet down
                            this long corridor -- it all looked a little like DYNASTY. I think there were
                            probably four or five guys there besides myself. I wasn't sure what nationality
                            they were; I think they were American, actually -- and we all had to wait outside.
                            You know what that's like. It's nerve-wracking. You just stand around twiddling
                            your thumbs. Then they opened the door and said, "All right, we're ready for
                            you." I walked into this enormous office, with a bank of sofas down the left hand
                            side. It looked like the sofas stretched from one end of the room to the other --
                            and they were filled with maybe 15 people. There was a little chair in the middle
                            of the room, where I sat. It was difficult for me, very difficult. Luckily, I had just
                            happened to be in a bookstore earlier that week. I'd been browsing through a
                            copy of Mr. Spelling's autobiography, I think, and I'd seen his photograph.
                            Otherwise, I never would have known which person in the room he was. He was
                            sort sitting down the end. He wasn't wearing a suit. I think he was in a track suit
                            or something, just sitting there looking very relaxed and calm. So I sort of
                            recognized him and made eye contact with him. I did my scene, which went very
                            smoothly, and he then he asked me a question or two. It was incredibly daunting.


                            DIGEST ONLINE: What happened after you got the role? 

                            ROBERTSON: I had to go right back to London in order to obtain my visa. I
                            didn't have a visa at the time to work out here. And I had to get one before I
                            could screen test. When I came back to L.A., I only brought one suitcase,
                            because I wasn't sure I'd actually get the part. But I did get the part, and I started
                            working so quickly that I haven't been back to London since. 

                            DIGEST ONLINE: Are you still living out of a suitcase in a hotel? 

                            ROBERTSON: No, I've rented this big place in the hills [in the Studio City
                            vicinity] with my girlfriend. I don't have many clothes, but they do buy clothes for
                            me on the show. So I feel like I have clothes, and when I get home I end up
                            wearing the same clothes every day. I just haven't had time to go shopping yet. 

                            DIGEST ONLINE: Have you adjusted to the California lifestyle yet? 

                            ROBERTSON: It's my first time in Los Angeles, and I like it a lot. I love the
                            sun. You must remember, London is very cold. I lived abroad a lot when I was a
                            child, and I never got used to the cold in England. Living up here in the hills, it's
                            pretty; I have such a lovely view, and the pace is so relaxed as well. I don't find it
                            as stressful as living in London. London is much more manic, probably much
                            more similar to New York. And I love the fact that everyone here has a car to
                            get places. I love driving. I just hate the idea of driving in London where I never
                            get a chance to put my foot down, if you know what I mean. In Los Angeles, I
                            can actually drive and go somewhere and not sit in a traffic jam. 

                            DIGEST ONLINE: Tell us a little bit about your castmates. What's the
                            backstage atmosphere like at SUNSET BEACH? 

                            ROBERTSON: Well, Susan Ward [Meg] and Sarah Buxton [Annie] are very
                            different kinds of actresses, basically, but they're both fun to work with. The
                            more I work with them, the more interesting it becomes. The fact that we all
                            started on a new show together created a feeling of instant camaraderie. I
                            worked in theater, where it's the same experience. You start off with a new cast
                            and nobody knows anybody, but because you have to work with each other,
                            you're forced to get to know people quickly. On SUNSET BEACH, everyone
                            -- the cast, the crew -- is trying very hard to make the show succeed, and it's a
                            nice experience. Everybody is very friendly, and there are no cliques. The whole
                            medium of daytime is actually new to me. I've never done anything like this
                            before. I've mainly done theater, so the experience of turning out a new show
                            every day is simply unique to me. It's a lot of hard work. Susan Ward and I have
                            probably been on more than almost anybody -- that's a helluva lot of dialogue to
                            learn. When you're on the show five days a week, you have to go into the studio,
                            be in all your scenes, do all the work, then learn your dialogue for the next day
                            when you get home. It's a hard process really. You don't have time to sit down
                            and relax. 

                            DIGEST ONLINE: You probably start to feel like you don't have a life outside
                            the studio? 

                            ROBERTSON: It's a question of finding the time. When you start out on a new
                            project, you're going to put all the time you have to into it -- I'm always like that.
                            I like to make the work good. So I enjoy putting in as much time as I need to get
                            it right. But as time goes on, I think one can find the time to do other things. For
                            instance, I played golf yesterday. I hadn't played in a while, but I went out on this
                            wonderful course with Sam Behrens, and I beat him! I also play golf with Peter
                            Barton, and the other day I went to an ice hockey game with Nick Stabile
                            [Mark]. 

                            DIGEST ONLINE: According to your resume, you earned a B.A. from the
                            Oxford School of Business and worked in marketing. Then, you escaped to East
                            Africa "to reassess your life." After that, you enrolled in acting school. What
                            originally prompted you to study business? 

                            ROBERTSON: My father died when I was about 15. Basically, I think my
                            father had always envisioned me becoming a businessman of sorts. You see,
                            unlike his father, who was a very successful doctor, my father sort of burned
                            bridges, if you like, in favor of flying. He went down that route -- and you don't
                            become a pilot in order to make money. We were never poor, but I think he
                            wanted me to earn money. So when the time came for me to make choices, I
                            went toward business, not that I had any particular bent in that direction. It just
                            seemed to be the right thing to do at the time. I mean the truth is, deep down, if I
                            had really sat down and listened to my true instincts at the time, I probably would
                            have gone in another direction, but that didn't happen. 

                            DIGEST ONLINE: Do you ever regret the time spent in the business world?
                            After all, you could have been out on the audition circuit maybe 5 years earlier. 

                            ROBERTSON: I don't know. I never regret anything I've done. What's the
                            point? It's funny, isn't it? You do different things. If I hadn't gone to business
                            school, if I hadn't worked in business, which I did for a couple of years, I may
                            not have been the person that I am now. Everything grounds you in a certain
                            way. It's good for an actor to have some outside experience; there are some
                            actors that have only ever done acting, and they've never experienced much out
                            there in the real world. I came to acting late, you see; I was 25; so it's different
                            for me. In a funny way, what attracted me to acting wasn't the fact that I was any
                            good at it. It was the idea of making something real; that's always fascinated me
                            and still does. I think I made the right choice ultimately, because almost
                            everything else I've ever done in my life, including business, sooner or later I got
                            bored with. Acting is like golf -- it's an amazing challenge. It's never bored me,
                            but the moment I think I've finally cracked it will be the moment I give it up.