Hip's Don't Lie

GH Alum Jeffrey Vincent Parise Boogies His Way To Prime-time.

- Mara Levinsky

In 2016, Jeffrey Vincent Parise bid his final adieu to Port Charles, which he’d called home off and on since 2013. The “on” kicked off in September of that year, when he was introduced as Sabrina’s mob connected ex, Carlos Rivera; the “offs” occurred in May 2015, when Carlos was seemingly shot dead by Anna during the show’s live episodes, then again in May 2016, when back-from-the dead Carlos was fatally stabbed by Julian, then yet a third time in September 2016,when his run as Carlos’s surprise twin, Dr. Joe Rivera, came to an end after just a few episodes.

The actor took the vicissitudes of his GH employment in stride. “I’m just a big believer in allowing timing to do its thing and accepting what’s happening,” he muses. “I was extremely grateful that Frank [Valentini, executive producer] had tried to bring me back and tried to make Joe work. I mean, I think everybody has their own feelings as to why Joe didn’t work out, but I think he did serve his purpose. He came in, he took Teddy,” Carlos’s son by Sabrina, “and created sort of an open possibility for something maybe in the future. So, Carlos was dead, but the legacy of Carlos wasn’t dead.”

Of course, having his next gig lined up before he wrapped at GH helped soften the blow. “That’s what was so special about this, and why it felt like it was completely meant to be,” Parise says. “Because the day I shot my last episode of Joe was the same day that I flew out to New York to start on THE DETOUR,” TBS’s critically acclaimed sitcom from the husband-and wife team of Jason Jones and Samantha Bee, starring Jones and Natalie Zea (exGwen, PASSIONS), which, in its second season, will heavily feature Parise — coincidentally, also as a character named Carlos.