"Anger Management" - SOW

Think OLTL's Nathaniel Marston is a Loose Cannon? Get Over It

Nathaniel Marston has been a "bad boy" most of his life. From fistfights in elementary school to his arrest in his early 20s, the actor seems to be a a magnet for trouble. But Marston, who has been playing One Life to Live's Al for a year and a half with no on-set altercations or off-set run-ins with the law, is hopeful that his image is changing.

When Marston joined OLTL in December of 2001, his 1999 arrest for the assault of an ATM was still fresh on people's minds. "I got questions from most of the people I worked with, asking me what the deal was," he admits. "It's one of those things, as far as this medium goes, that's an infamous event. People remember me for it. But people have lightened up a little bit since then."

Marston says the negative association ticks him off. "A while ago [an OLTL co-star] said, 'I was afraid to say this to you. I wasn't sure what you'd do.' I said, 'Did you intend on hitting me during this question?' He said, 'No.' I said, 'Well, then you don't have a problem. If you want to talk, that's fine. I can speak like a normal human being. But the second you're going to hit me, then we're in trouble.' I'm not a small person, either. I think that figures into it."

Indeed. With his dark, brooding looks (he says he's been referred to as "Frankenstein" by online posters), his bulky 6-foot frame and deep, booming voice, Marston is a bit intimidating. His resounding victory at a recent fund-raising event only added to his thug image. "Oh, yeah! Now I'm a big, bad bruiser," he laughs.

Boxing is not a new hobby. Marston took it up as a kid to defend himself. "We traveled around a lot," he says of himself and his mom, Elizabeth, an actress who performed in dinner and community theaters around the country. "Being new everywhere, you end up being the butt of a lot of humiliation. I was overweight as a kid. I was really fat. And people would say things..."

Instead of being the bullies' punching bag, Marston fought back "I have this -- I'm beginning to control it -- but it's called lack of impulse control. [A person without the disorder might] think, I'm gonna pick this book up and hit this guy on the head with it. But by the time they pick it up, they're going, 'I can't do that.' I'd pick up the book and whack them over the head with it. I was the kid who'd sit there in class, real quiet, didn't scream or yell until someone would mess with me. And then I'd explode: Boom! It was fierce and violent."

Marston also has a learning disability, which contributed to his anger and frustration in school. "I can't draw, and I have a hard time writing things down," he says. "It's a condition called dyslexia (dysgraphia). When I was a kid, I could draw and write very well. I was very artistically inclined. But everything I wrote was backward." Marston was taught to write forward, but it never clicked. "I could write faster at 4 than I can now."

He was diagnosed at 9, but "then I moved around so much it got lost in the shuffle. At the end of 10th grade they said, 'Wow, this kid can't write!'" Marston got through that school year by dictating his work to someone, but then he moved again -- to Los Angeles -- "and there was no help. I slipped back into not doing my work and being quiet in class. I would always answer questions, but I Was not turning in homework or assignments. That really makes teachers mad."

Marston left school in 12th grade to concentrate on acting -- which he dabble in as a child -- and passed a GED test. With a cat-that-swallowed-the-canary grin he says, "I'd always tell them I was going to be an actor and they'd say, 'Yeah, OK, but what are you really going to do? Out of everybody in this school, there are maybe 10 people who want to be actors. And none of them are going to make it.' I said, 'Well, I hope you're not counting me, because that's what I'm going to do.'"

The young actor appeared in the film The Craft and was a regular on the Montel Williams series Matt Waters before landing the role of As the World Turns' Eddie Silva in 1998. His acting future appeared to be in jeopardy, however, when the show dismissed him a month after his 1999 arrest, supposedly for storyline reasons.

Marston insists that the ATM incident did not involve the impulse control. "No! It took thought!" he says seriously. When he put his card in the machine and heard it drop down a hole he thought: "How am I going to get my card back? All right, here's a little ledge. I stuck my finger in there. I put my foot on the wall, and I pulled it open. I didn't beat it or kick it or stomp around like a maniac."

The proof is in the verdict. "When the DA watched the [surveillance] tape, he said, 'Charges dismissed. He pays for the machine. What are we doing here? I thought I had some kind of violent offenter on my hands.'"

Still, Marston had to deal with the aftermath. "For about six months, every time I opened [the New York Post], there was a new story about me. And a lot of them were just nonsense. There was one that said I attacked a guy in a park with my dog. I was in L.A. [They made it seem like] I was just this bad, crazy person who was going around the city terrorizing people."

Fortunately, not everyone believed the negative press. Two years later he was hired to take over the role of Al from Michael Tipps. "When I talked to Gary Tomlin (then executive producer), it wasn't even mentioned. What was talked about was whether I thought I could dedicate my time to doing this. And knowing that I'd have to come in and make up ground with this character. This was a last-ditch attempt to keep the character. I appreciated that faith being put into me."

Marston is intent on living up to the vote of confidence. "I used to argue a lot, whereas now I just do my job. I walk in and do it and go home. Respect the people you're working with and that's it."

He's having fun with the role, especially Al's romance with Marcie (Kathy Brier) -- "She's great! She's good to work with; she's very professional, smart. And her voice, her voice! It's like grating cheese or something!" -- and recent drug addiction storyline. "It's wild. I didn't understand how much it was going to take out of me. After jumping around and twitching all day, I got tired! I'd get done and was beat. I'd go home and go to the gym. And the next day, I'd sleep the whole day."

Work, work out and sleep. A good way to stay out of trouble.

Marston traied with police officers for two months before getting into the ring with -- and defeating -- Eric Gomez of the Denver Police Department at a charity event. It was Gomez's first loss.




Home