They say that life often influences art, and that may be true for Eric Martsolf, who plays the role of Brady on “Days of Our Lives.” Eric is the real-life father of 19-year-old twins, which likely gives him a lot of emotion to work with when parenting his character’s teenage son, Tate.
“I’ve been able to extrapolate my own experiences and just stick them right into the puzzle,” shares Martsolf in a new interview with Soap Opera Digest. “It’s actually… I don’t want to say easy, but it is certainly easy to have those feelings accessible.”
Eric Martsolf on Fatherhood
The actor’s onscreen son is dealing with his ex-girlfriend Sophia’s surprise pregnancy. leading to plenty of deep conversations that can sometimes mirror real life, for Martsolf.
“I laugh about it sometimes, because I’ll look at Leo Howard, who plays Tate, and I’m like, ‘I just had this conversation with my son three days ago.’ So it’s really interesting. I still don’t think of myself as this dad. I think of myself as a dad with kids, but you blink and all of a sudden you’re a father to a young man, a young adult. It just creeps up on you, and that’s what happened to Brady. I mean, in the soap world, we do it pretty quickly. They’ll go from your kid is 8 to your kid is 18! ‘Ready? Go.’ Luckily, I was in a place in my life where I completely got it.”
Back in 2023, the powers that be decided to rapidly age Tate, and he has been smack in the middle of drama ever since. “My gosh, they just have thrown this character into the fire, and there’s so much drama going on as the dad having to deal with it,” says Martsolf. “It’s a lot of fun. It’s a crazy parental roller coaster I’ve been on.”
Brady Follows John Black’s Parenting Style
“Days of Our Lives” has decided to explore the teen pregnancy story from two different perspectives. While Sophia’s mother, Amy, believes the two teens should wed for the sake of their baby-to-be, Brady supports his son’s resistance.
“Shi Ne is a terrific actress in her own right,” explains Martsolf. “She came in just that stern stubborn parent: ‘This is the way it’s going to be.’ And you had Brady on the other hand going, ‘Excuse me. No.’ It’s like two Leos going at it with claws out. It’s not a fight. It’s just a very stern, ‘Excuse me. No.’ It’s a great way to set up a battle between those two camps, and both positions are justified and completely understandable. So there’s frustration on that front too.”
“You can only guide the horse to the water, but you can’t make him drink it. And that’s exactly how he’s playing it, which was always reminiscent of the way Drake [Hogestyn, ex-John] played it with me. He’d always have that reassuring hand on the shoulder and say, ‘Hey kid, I trust you to make the right decision.’ He’d always leave you with your own thoughts. So you were able to make your own decision, but your father’s voice was always there.”
Martsolf is thrilled to have Brady follow in John Black’s footsteps. “It’s beautiful,” reflects the actor. “There have been moments in the script where I can just hear John Black talking to his son Brady, and now Brady’s talking to his son Tate the same way. It’s the way it should be. It honors him.”
