“GH” Casting Director Mark Teschner: He Never Misses!

“General Hospital” is having its best summer in years. Sonny Corinthos has a clever and tireless enemy in Sidwell. Super stressed Willow, who left Drew standing at the altar, is having a nervous breakdown because her ex-husband Michael won’t let her see their kids. The action at the Metro Court pool is refreshingly seasonal and entertaining. On recent days we found kinky Ava seducing Cody with the help of ice cubes. Lifeguard Gio plays with his girlfriend Emma’s beagle, the adorable Outback. (A new canine star is born?) Meanwhile, secret agents Josslyn and her new beau, the hunky Vaughn, fetchingly attired in trendy swimwear, pretend to be married in order to catch a bad guy.

So, who gets the credit for the welcome summer fun in Port Charles? The show’s executive producer and headwriter? Of course, but they haven’t done it alone. Right here and now I’m honoring casting director Mark Teschner, who chose these actors from the hundreds who auditioned, and matched them so perfectly to their roles. All in a summer’s work for Teschner, who has been casting director of “General Hospital” since 1991. I always call him “The Casting Director Who Never Misses.”

It’s true. Just look at his latest right-on choices. He cast British Canadian Carlo Rota of “Little Mosque on the Prairie” fame as the dangerous Jenz Sidwell and handsome Adrian Anchondo as Sidwell’s gay son, the hero Marco Rios. Giovanni Mazza, a shy young actor, has made quite a splash as the scantily clad teen lifeguard Gio. Katelyn McMullen’s Willow is a classic suffering soap heroine. Rory Gibson, the new Michael, is a movie star in the making. As I’ve written before, he looks just like Gregory Peck.

Teschner calls his actors “my babies.” He says nothing is more satisfying to him than seeing them blend beautifully into an ensemble, bringing to life the creative team’s vision of the show’s storylines and the world in which they are portrayed. “When that happens, it’s magic,” he says.

Teschner is from Scarsdale, New York, not far from the Broadway he came to adore. The son of “very artsy” parents, he says “I grew up seeing Broadway, ballet, and a lot of Yankee games. Broadway shaped my love for the art of theater.” He was seven when he was taken to his first Broadway show, “It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Superman” directed by Hal Prince. “It started with that. Then there were the Broadway show albums. Show biz was always in my blood, I guess.”

He wanted to be an actor and, when he was old enough, he plunged into training. It turned out to be just the first step on a life-long journey. “I was an actor for a couple of years before I realized I liked the idea of being an actor more than actually being one. My acting training segued nicely into preparation for a career as a casting director.”

Struggling as an actor, he heard of an opening for an assistant casting director. “I’d never done any casting, but I went for the interview anyway and got the job. I had found my calling. It’s really a miraculous story. I tell young actors, you can’t be a casting director without knowing the craft of acting. Lucky for me all this morphed into the career I love.”

He landed his first soap gig in 1983 on a new ABC soap titled “Loving,” created by Agnes Nixon and Douglas Marland. Joe Hardy was executive producer. Teschner became the casting director of “Loving” in 1985 and served until 1989. When Hardy moved to Los Angeles to work on “General Hospital” in 1989, he took Teschner with him as assistant. Teschner became casting director two years later.

During 35 years as “General Hospital” casting director, Teschner worked with a succession of executive producers including Gloria Monty, Jill Farren Phelps, Wendy Riche, and the current “GH” executive producer Frank Valentini. Says Teschner, “Every producer has different tastes and as casting director it’s my job not to compromise the e.p.’s taste. Every e.p. has a different vision and it’s my job to help realize that vision. My priorities have never changed though the personalities have.”

A casting director has a serious responsibility, he says. “I don’t take this job lightly. Our show is watched by millions every day. I want my casting to be impactful. When a soap comes together with the right actors matched with great storylines, it’s magic.”

Teschner says a casting director of a soap must have a good memory. Often he’ll audition an actor for one role and if that actor isn’t right for that particular role, he’ll remember them for another role later on. The recently departed Sofia Mattson auditioned for the role of Willow and didn’t get it, but later Teschner cast her as Sasha.

Over the years Teschner has made enormously successful calls. He hired Vanessa Marcil as Brenda Barrett, the great long-standing love of Maurice Benard’s Sonny. Together they were one of the most popular supercouples of all time.

Although Teschner says a nice part of his job is casting actors who go on to success outside of soaps, it’s not his chief interest. An example: Nicholas Chavez who was spectacular as Spencer Cassidine and immediately upon leaving “GH” went on to star in “Monsters, The Lyle and Eric Menendez Story.” Even so, Teschner says, “I never measure my success as a casting director by what an actor has gone on to. My success is measured by how impactful they are on the show. If they’re magic on ‘GH,’ to me they’re magic wherever they go.”

Teschner says he is especially proud of the talent he has discovered and nurtured. The newcomers often have few credits. The casting director acts on the gut instinct he has developed over the years and takes a chance. Many of Teschner’s gut instincts have paid off tremendously. A recent example is Vanessa Marcil, cast as Sonny’s passionate love interest.

“When she came in to read maybe 250 actors were being considered. I read 500 before we were finished,” he recalls. “Vanessa was very new to the business and very raw, but there was something so charismatic and interesting about her she was the front runner from Day One for that role. To watch her go from first acting gig to the success she had was so exciting. It validates our instinct that we have a star in her.”

Teschner scored a similar hit with Nicholas Chavez, chosen over 400 other hopefuls for the role of Spencer. “He had never even screen-tested, but I had a feeling about him. If I weren’t open to looking at auditions as they come in, I would have missed a real find.”

This summer’s hit newcomer is Giovanni Mazza as the hunky lifeguard Gio, who has all the girls in a tizzy. Teschner says, “I was looking at 15-year-old actors for a very different role. He submitted an audition. At 19, he was obviously too mature for the role. But there was something so sweet and authentic about him. He wasn’t right for the role at all, but I told Frank (Valentini) he should take a look at him anyway. Frank is very open to seeing people. ‘Show me someone you think I would respond to’ he always says.” He did take a look and once more, a new star was born.

And the violin, employed by Gio as a unique instrument of charm? Mazza really plays it, so they wrote it in for him.

Teschner says, “He’s a great example of casting somebody because you see something in them. He went from raw and inexperienced, only in LA I think for a month. It’s wonderful to see his growth. The fans love him.”

Teschner’s decades of doing the work he loves have earned him a dazzling list of honors. He’s won 11 Daytime Emmys out of 23 nominations. He’s been honored as a member of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Silver Circle. And the Casting Society of America has honored him with seven Artios awards for excellence.

But it is we longtime “General Hospital” viewers who are really the winners, especially this special summer, thanks to the wonderful backstage collaboration of Mr. Valentini, head writers Elizabeth Korte and Chris Van Etten and casting director Mark Teschner, plus all the actors and the crew. As the old ABC Daytime advertising slogan used to warn us, “If you miss a day, you miss a lot.”