Marco Dapper started his career in the popular gay flick Eating Out 2 (Sloppy Seconds). He recently landed on the number one soap in the U.S., The Young and the Restless, and in the process gained more adoring fans. He talks to Michael Fairman about being shirtless, his gay following and being a reluctant soap star.
Here are some excerpts from his Frontier LA interview.
The LGBT community knows you originally from your performance in Eating Out 2 and all the subsequent shirtless and body shots. Was this the career path you had carved out for yourself and envisioned?
It just happened that way. I got a big following from Eating Out, and then photographers would approach me to say they want to shoot pictures of me. I thought, “Sure! Why not? What have I got to do on a Tuesday?” So then I got a modeling agent out of that and I made money modeling. But, I was an actor first. I was not trying to be a model. But it started with Eating Out, and then I got the cover of DNA, the Australian magazine. Then it became about being half-naked. But I was an actor as a kid. The modeling got me sidetracked there. But hell, I was waiting tables or selling shoes at Big Five, so yeah, I am going to do it and take the money. Look, if it’s a choice between taking my shirt off or selling a size nine, I will take my shirt off! [Laughs]
You gained a very big following from the cult-film Eating Out 2!
Absolutely! It was a very welcoming environment and they were supportive. The thing was so many people told me that doing that film was going to ruin my career. And my whole thing was, I don’t care. I am not going to subscribe to fear. With that kind of film, I put myself on the map. This was a 100 percent gamble. Eating Out 2 was a risqué film. Let’s be honest with ourselves. I took the risk and I had a lot of fun with it. I had a great community follow it. There was no guarantee I would get support from the gay community. I feel lucky to have gotten that support and I rode it. It’s all about the risk-taking. I had a fun time on that shoot, and it is my roots, man, absolutely.
Being a friend to the LGBT community, where do you stand on the issue of gay marriage, and what has happened with Prop. 8, and how it is brought up in the current presidential political campaigns, etc.?
Straight marriage ain’t doing so well! There is like an 80 percent divorce rate. So why not let the gay people be as miserable as the straight people? Seriously! [Laughs] Look, it’s absurd the laws and the stipulations of marriage. I am very middle-of-the-road, both conservative and liberal, and grew up in a conservative family. I grew up in Catholic school all my life, so I know all about Jesus. And what I know about Jesus is that this guy, if he was around today, he hung out with all the rejects of society and wasn’t very popular, either. So what do you think he would do in this situation? I may be going out on a limb here, but I think he would be very cool with the gay marriage thing. That is the vibe I get off of him and all these leaders, Gandhi, Buddha, etc. I would say all would be cool with it. They are all about love and not rules. It’s about two consenting adults doing what they want to do. This is America. Aren’t we the land of the free? I feel bad, honestly. It’s not a pity sorry, but I have a lot of gay friends, and it sucks!
What is it like being you? Do you get hit on all the time? When you get a compliment, do you take that in and acknowledge it, or do you deflect it?
I am really bad at taking compliments. I shy away just because I don’t know how to respond to that. Sometimes I feel people make compliments because they want one back. You know someone will say, “You look really great! “ And they are waiting for me to say, “And so do YOU!” And I don’t want to lie to them if it’s not true. [Laughs]
Do you feel pressure being a hunky guy on a soap to keep up the looks?
I guess in some ways, sure. I got this job and I have to keep that physique the same. I got this job when I was working out really hard. So I have to keep that going. There was awhile there that I let it go. I thought I did not want to be the in-shape guy anymore. I noticed then I didn’t book very much! [Laughs]
See! What did we learn?
Take more acting classes! [Laughs] I am not the tallest guy on the block. You have these guys that are 6'2'' and they are very handsome men. They have that tall, lean, dark thing going on. I thought if I have a better body than these guys, at least I have an edge on them! Let’s be honest. I go on auditions all the time. These guys are the Supermen of men. I am like, “holy crap!” These guys are chiseled. I am thinking, “I am not going to compete against him!” Bottom line is, I am a product. How do I sell? I figured at 5'10'' I have to have a better body than these guys and have that edge. If I can have that, then maybe I can be in the running, and make it hard for people to choose who they want to go with for the role.
