Miami Spice

Y&R newcomer Jason Canela is bringing a new flavor to Genoa City

- Devin Owens

“It was just another audition,” says Jason Canela of trying out for the role of Y&R’s Arturo Rosales. “When I walked into the casting room, I gave 100 percent and walked out. I didn’t hear back from them for a long time, so I honestly put it in the back of my mind and went home to spend time with my family. And then I got the call.”

That would be for a chemistry test with Melody Thomas Scott (Nikki) and Joshua Morrow (Nick), but bad luck almost kept him from making it to the soap’s studio. “I’m super-punctual, because I value people’s time way too much, so I’ll be early and sit in the parking lot if I have to,” he explains. “That day, I left very early but I put in the wrong address for CBS! I realized what I did, but when I went to do a turn, I got T-boned. It was a terrible accident and I had to kick my door open to get out of the car. Once I knew that we were both safe, I got really upset that I wasn’t going to make it to this chemistry read. I still had about 40 minutes and I was 14 minutes away, so I got in my banged-up car and drove to the chemistry read and just made it on time.”

He may have been punctual, but the actor looked worse for wear when he arrived at CBS. “I was so frazzled and they asked, ‘Whoa, are you okay?’ ” Canela recalls. “I don’t even know what I said but we did the chemistry read and Josh was unbelievable and Melody was incredible. It was just a really good experience, and then a few days later

I got the call that I had booked the job!” Before Canela could report to work, misfortune stepped in again. “My first day was January 3, but the night before, I ended up rolling my ankle,” he shares. “I tore every ligament on the right side of my foot!”