New Xpose host Peter O’Riordan has revealed he has once starred in one of Americas biggest soap operas – All My Children.
The Cork native revealed that he picked up many “cool” acting roles while working in Trader Joes – the US equivalant of Aldi.
But the best was being paid to play a barman on the ABC soap opera – which was seen by more than six million people when he was on it.
“I got a scholarship to an acting school, I booked a Superbowl commercial with Pepsi and I had a weird incident in a dog park, which led me to a job in a soap opera,” he said.
Actor: Peter had a role in US soap opera
“I was the yacht club bartender in All My Children, and I would have five lines or less in every episode I was asked for, about two or three times a month.
“I’d be like Captain Cheese in the background, ‘Your drink madam?’ But it would be about $750 for about two or three hours’ work.”
Peter and his fiancee Stephanie have a five-month-old son Olivier and recently moved back to Ireland from Los Angeles when he landed the Xpose role.
Leader: Peter ran the assignment desk for tabloid site TMZ | TMZ
The Cork man previously ran the assignment desk for TMZ in Los Angeles –Â but decided he needed to move despite the chance of getting more money at the US website.
He said: “I had a really good life in LA, and I could have renegotiated my contract and make a lot of money, but I wanted to come back and try this.”
And Peter insisted that LA isn’t as great as everyone thought – with Ireland a much better place to be.
Team: Peter and the Xpose girls |Â BRIAN MCEVOY
“To be honest, Los Angeles is great, looking from the outside, but when you’re there it’s different. It’s a bottomless pit of soulless vipers; everyone is just there for one reason and one reason only, to get famous,” he said.
“I had gone from nothing to running the assignment desk on the most popular pop culture website in the world, I’m very proud of that – but my passion wasn’t in it.
“TV3 reached out to me then and I saw it as a good opportunity and a huge challenge.”
