Parker Young – Imposters

By: Jamie Steinberg

Q) What are the recent projects that you have been working on?

A) It’s a very exciting project called “growing a baby.” My fiancée and I are having a daughter in four months. We’ve been busy getting ready for that. When we got done shooting “Imposters” in Toronto we were actually homeless so we tried to figure out where we wanted to live. We moved down to San Diego, which is where my parents live so we could be closer to built in babysitters. We’ve been getting the baby’s room ready and that’s really what we’ve been doing so far.

Q) What can you tease is new this season on “Imposters?

A) We’ve got a really fun season. We kind of pick up where we left off, which is the bumblers getting on this bus and we’re sort of on a high because we’ve essentially conned the FBI and got this ring back. We finally feel like we know what we’re doing and not just a bunch of bumbling idiots. We take off into the sunset and Season Two picks up with us getting off the bus, still on this high. In about six seconds we realize we don’t know what to do next. We are directionless. So, Richard decides that he knows where we can go to sell this ring – this million-dollar ring. I know some people in my home town that I’d previously worked with – some sketchy people that was actually part of what was in my envelope that was used to blackmail me. I know these people and think we can sell this ring. It’s exciting because we get to see where Richard comes from and the house he grew up in and his friends he grew up with, which is really cool for me since up to this point we don’t really know that much about him. Of course, in pretty normal Richard fashion, everything sort of goes up in flames and nothing goes as planned so we find ourselves fleeing to Mexico to escape the FBI. Then, we’re there for a while trying to rebuild our lives and figure out where we want to go next, who we want to become and what we want out of our lives. Do we want to continue on this pursuit to get even with our ex-wife or do we want to stay in Mexico? Where do we want to take our lives from here? That’s kind of one of the exciting parts about the show for me. One of the themes of this show is identity and rediscovering who you are and becoming who you want to be.

Q) What continues to challenge you about playing Richard? Is it the constant changing of identities on the show?

A) It’s what is exciting about it and also challenging. It’s more exciting. It’s one of the things I love about television – we have this time to go through the evolutions and ups and downs. The reimagining of who we are and what is important to us. It’s a challenging part, but also exciting part about the show and the character for me.

Q) Richard, Ezra and Jules are pretty inseparable on screen. What is it like off screen?

A) [laughs] We’re definitely pretty close. I would say it’s pretty similar to our characters on screen. I feel like we don’t see each other as much. Rob [Heaps] lives in the UK and Marianne [Rendon] is living in Canada now. So, we don’t really see each other all that much. When we’re filming we spend so much time together on set, but I’d say it’s a little bit less in Season Two than Season One because the storylines start to separate in Season Two. We’re not stuck together as much in Season Two as we were in Season One. But I love those guys!

Q) The infamous Doctor was looming over you last season. Is he ever apparent this season as well?

A) Oh yeah! He’s always in the back of our minds – this scary mysterious guy who has an insane amount of power somehow. He’s a genius and he’s evil. So, we’re always motivated by trying to find a way to stay a step ahead of him, which is as difficult as trying to stay a step ahead of Maddie. He’s always there and we get to see him more this season than we did in Season One. There is some funny stuff with The Doctor this year.

Q) Last season everyone was in love with Maddie. Have you all let your broken hearts go?

A) [laughs] Yes and no. I feel like we have, but I know that for my character he at least pretends. He really just pretends that he has. His heart is so broken and he hasn’t really found a way to patch that up yet. He pretends that he’s over her, but Richard has a such a big heart and when a person with that big of a heart is broken it takes a little longer than normal to patch it up and let the scars heal. No, he’s not over it. I’d be curious what the writers and creators would say. They might say, “Yeah, they’re all over her. He’s all over her,” but I know the truth. [laughs] And the truth is that Richard is very much motivated by his broken heart and still trying to patch it up and figure out who he wants to be in the absence of this girl. He’s still trying to discover how he can love again.

Q) What do you think it is about the series “Imposters” that has made it a fast fan favorite?

A) There is this really handsome actor named Parker on the show. He’s irresistible. [laughs] No, I don’t know. I think the show is really well done. I think it has awesome creators, writers and actors. Everyone is just so committed to doing their best, but one of the things that is so great about it is…Season One unfolds in a way that makes you just want to keep watching episodes. It’s so funny. I was at a wedding recently and I met this guy who was this older cowboy. He had heard I was an actor from some of the people at the wedding and he was chatting with me. We exchanged numbers and he called me and asked, “Can you talk for a minute? My wife and I started your show yesterday. We don’t really watch much TV. We were going to watch one episode, but we watched five episodes last night! We finished it all today and we just love it!” I was cracking up. For some reason, people have this response to it where it is a very binge-able show. It’s really awesome to be on a show where people want to see what happens next and I hope they continue to feel that with Season Two. Part of it is I think the tone of the show. It’s a cool, very undefinable tone in a way. I think the best way to define it is a dark comedy, which is what we call it. It definitely has these serious moments that are peppered with thee light comedic elements. I find it so refreshing and it’s such a joy to work on a show like that – one that strives to find humor in situations. It’s fun to watch.