If Adrian Bellani (Miguel) never knew the meaning of the words, "smash hit," he certainly does now. From the moment he appeared on screen, fans took to him almost instantly, making him one of the most successful recasts in recent daytime history.

I catch Adrian after taping, on a warm and sunny Los Angeles day, and he seemed a little surprised to hear the overwhelming positive response to him and his interpretation of Miguel. He made the immediate decision to make the role his own and says, "I’d never seen Jesse (Metcalf) work, and I didn’t expect to do what he did. I really wanted to make him my own. I can’t really change Miguel, because he is the way he is. But I wanted to him an “Adrian-esque” Miguel. So just bring my own little Latin spice to the role, I guess." That "Latin Spice" includes taking off his shirt and the actor laughs, "I have my shirt off in every single episode. I can’t take it off anymore! And it’ll be off a lot more. I’m such a tease. It keeps coming off!"

Needless to say, modeling is what drew Bellani to the industry in general in the first place. "Ever since I was a little kid, I used to love modeling and just the industry in general," he shares, "I was one of those guys who would watch E Entertainment and see all that stuff, and always watch the Emmys and the Grammys and the Golden Globes. It was just something that I was really drawn to since I was a little kid. I finished school in Texas and I came out here to do some modeling, and every agency I went to shut me down. They told me I was never going to work as a model. And I was like, “Well, since that didn’t work, I’m just going to start taking some acting classes and see if that’ll work a little better.” Then I took my first acting class ever and I fell in love with it and said “I’m not going to stop until I book something”, and make this work. And less than a year later, here I am."

Determination and luck clearly on his side, the Florida-born and El Salvador-raised actor settled into the intricacies of Harmony-style storytelling, and is enjoying his stay. I ask Bellani where Miguel's sudden love for Kay is coming from and he says, "He still loves Charity, he still thinks about her. But he’s just come back home and he realized that looking for Charity probably wasn’t the best decision. And he loves his daughter and has tried to help out as much as he could. And being back home and realizing his daughter’s calling Fox “daddy” really affects him. And I think his parenting role is really coming out, and he really wants to be a family." Bellani also enjoys the supernatural aspect that the show is known for. "You know, it’s hard sometimes to play that stuff, because you have a scene where there’s smoke surrounding you and you’re supposed to be dizzy or something, but there’s really no smoke, or there’s a really big fog and there’s really no fog, and things explode. It’s weird, but we really have to try and make it real, and that’s what makes it fun!"

Bellani has nothing but praise for his co-stars but one little lady stands out: Nicole Cox (Endora). "(She) plays it so well," he enthuses, referring to Endora's infamous pop-up bubbles. "She knows when they’re rolling, she knows when they’re speeding, she knows when it’s a bye, she knows when the camera’s on her, and sometimes without even knowing, she’ll just cross her arms and then the bubble will come up and she’ll say something, and it’s great. It’s really fun." The gushing doesn't stop there and of Juliet Mills (Tabitha), he says, "I think out of all the storylines, I think our storyline has the most supernatural and special effects and magic stuff to it. It’s some of the stuff that Juliet says that’s hysterical. We really have a lot of fun doing the work we do."

The common theme is starting to appear with Bellani and that theme is "fun." He is certainly having a lot of fun playing Miguel and being a part of Passions. "I’m loving it. I love it more and more every single day. I’m really enjoying everything I’m doing." What would he like to see happen for his character? "There’s tons of stuff. We never know where our storyline is going, so me and Mark (Wystrach; Fox) will sit and talk about where this is going to go," he states, "But I don’t know what’s going to happen. I would really like for Miguel to get a better job. I don’t like working with fish! Now that Theresa’s head of Crane Industries, he needs to get a job and start wearing those Armani suits that Fox wears!" Shortly after this interview was conducted, Bellani found himself working with "fish" again, only this time in the form of mermaid Siren! But there are other co-stars he is looking forward to sharing more scenes with, such as Ben Masters (Julian) and on-screen siblings Galen Gering (Luis) and Silvana Arias (Paloma). "It’s weird because I’d gotten to work with Silvana one day and I never got to work with her again," he sadly states.

In the meantime, the actor, who graduated from Southern Methodist University in Texas, is also partaking in some of the perks that come along with being a daytime star. He attended his very first event (for the premiere of NBC's Heist) and excitedly tells me, "I thought it was a great show! It had some comedy to it. Primetime is something that I’ve always been into. It was my first premiere, my first red carpet event, so it was really interesting, very surreal." Does he have a primetime guest appearance wish list? "There’s tons of them. I don’t know. I really like Entourage. Everyone says I look like Adrian Grenier!"

What else does Bellani like to do away from the set? How does he keep that buff body camera-ready? "I like to work out more, now that I have my shirt off in every single episode," he laughs, "I like to work out. I’ve always been really athletic, so now that I’m doing this I don’t have time to really do the stuff I used to do back home. I used to play volleyball and basketball, and horseback riding. So I just lift weights and run and try to keep myself busy."

"I’m a real homebody," he admits, "I like to watch movies, and I’m really laid back. I’m not a drinker, I don’t really like to go out and party all that much. I really keep to myself, I guess."

As for professional aspirations, Bellani plans to keep on keeping on. "I want to stay active and I want to keep working and do good stuff that makes me happy," he says, matter-of-factly. "It’s something I really want to do for the rest of my life and something I’m going to have to work hard on. I just want to do stuff, whether it’s a movie or primetime show or a sitcom or a soap, just stuff that really gets me and I really want to do interesting stuff. Not just work in general, just stuff I want to do."

With the good fortune that he seems to carry around with him, his plan should not be too difficult and he will surely have fun along the way.

I would like to thank Adrian Bellani for taking the time for this interview and to Scott for setting it up.

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