On December 13, 2013, Thorsten Kaye made his first appearance on The Bold And The Beautiful as Ridge Forrester, a character previously played by Ronn Moss for 25 years.
A decade later, Thorsten, 57, is well-established as the much-married fashion executive, although he still wonders how he ended up in the role.
Thorsten started playing Ridge in 2013.
(Image: Supplied)“I felt it was a bit of a mistake to call somebody like me, because I know what the guy looked like before me,” he jokes. “They might have called the wrong guy! Ronn Moss is just a really pretty man, and I’ve never been that. So I don’t know what they were thinking, but it’s too late now.”
Jokes aside, Thorsten is aware the recasting of Ridge was a big step – but a necessary one.
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“I think the character’s a lot more important to the show than the guy playing him,” he says. “They needed Ridge back for the dynamics [of the show] and I’m not sure it made a difference who played him.”
All these years later, those dynamics continue to amuse Thorsten.
Thorsten is aware the recasting of Ridge was a big step.
(Image: Supplied)“You do a Christmas party [scene] and there are all these people and you think, ‘Everybody in this room has slept with each other,'” he says. “It’s still surprising to me.”
Ridge is responsible for many of those tangled relationships – and that’s one of the reasons why Thorsten says, “I don’t know that he’s really a likeable character. You see the way he’s treated women and what he’s done…
“But I think he loves his children – I like that aspect, and that’s maybe why the scenes I get to do with my kids, Jacqui [MacInnes Wood, who plays Ridge’s daughter Steffy] especially, are the most fun to play.”
Also fun for Thorsten was being able to bring one of his real-life daughters to Australia in 2017 when Bold filmed on location in Sydney.
“McKenna got to meet kangaroos for the first time,” he recalls. “Us bonding over that was really special. What a great place, man! I liked the people – they seem real and honest and tell you what they think. It’s not as pretentious as Hollywood.”
Another highlight is working with his on-screen father.
“What I will always remember [about my first day on set] is meeting John McCook [who plays patriarch Eric Forrester], who is one of my favourite people in the world,” he says. “The way I see it, this is his show and he welcomed me with open arms.
“My favourite storyline is maybe that thing with Quinn [Rena Sofer], where Ridge couldn’t keep his hands off his dad’s wife, but then his dad couldn’t keep his hands off Ridge’s wife either. So this whole family is sort of screwy, but I liked the dynamics of that.”
In terms of the many women Ridge has been involved with, Thorsten is clear who he thinks is the best romantic match.
Thorsten can’t say if another 10 years of Bold is on the cards for him.
(Image: Supplied)“It has to be Brooke [Katherine Kelly Lang], because they seem to keep finding their way back to each other,” he says. “Maybe they complement each other enough to know that they’re both going to screw up and do something they know is human and maybe forgiveable.”
Although Thorsten can’t say if another 10 years of Bold is on the cards for him, he does reveal “there’s a lot of good stuff” coming up.
“We get scripts and go, ‘How do you keep coming up with new stuff?'” he says. “Every time you think you’ve painted yourself into a corner, they come up with a story that does make sense.”
