Nicholas Chavez, who made his name as the spoiled rich kid Spencer Cassadine in the ABC soap opera General Hospital, wasn’t simply another breakout star. That is because he bagged a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Performer in a Drama Series within a year of joining the series. Now, here’s the kicker: It’s his first-ever professional acting role!
Who is this guy? Well, let’s get to know him.
Chavez caught the acting bug in high school.
Nicholas Alexander Chavez was born in Houston, Texas, on September 6, 1999, and was raised in Denver, Colorado. When he was five, his parents separated – his mother settled in Denver while his father returned to his hometown in Arvada. He split his time between them but attended high school in Denver.
Chavez was very active in school, playing football and participating in the speech and debate team headed by his mentor, Matt Murphy. And so, when Murphy took over to head the drama department, he recruited Chavez.
According to the young actor, his role as Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird that gave him the acting bug. A student called out sick and was tasked to act in their stead.
After his performance, multiple faculty members pulled him aside and told him he should consider doing it as a profession. He didn’t know what he wanted to do in life, but acting sounded like a really crazy idea to him because it wasn’t something people in Denver did for work.
Nevertheless, he still decided to pursue his passion, dropping football and studying acting under Jennifer McCray Rincon at Visionbox Studio Theatre. He applied and passed to several top drama programs and attended Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers. Two years into his degree, he took a leave of absence and did acting full-time in Los Angeles.
He landed Spencer Cassadine just 24 hours after his screen test.
When COVID-19 hit, Chavez had to relocate to Florida with his father. He worked odd jobs during that time, but he didn’t give up on acting and continued submitting audition tapes. After some time, he got to do a screen test for General Hospital.
When he arrived for the test, he noticed the stiff competition. It made him nervous, but he ultimately reconciled with himself that all he could do was be the artist he was and “bring to it what I bring to it.” That internal pep talk worked out right for him.
A day later, he received a call notifying him that he got the role and was set to film in the next few days. He had to cancel the return ticket he had already bought, but it was all good.
He won a Daytime Emmy Award for his performance on the show.
It wasn’t easy for Chavez to take over Nicolas Bechtel’s role, especially since fans loved him so much as the spoiled rich kid Spencer. There was a lot of comparison between them, like how viewers liked the old Spencer. Admittedly, some of the comments had been getting to him.
Thankfully, the whole cast was there to support him. They told him to give fans time to get used to him and not think too hard about it. And they were right. Over time, Chavez was able to capture everyone’s hearts. “Now, it’s like fun to go online. It’s like rave reviews every time,” he shared.
And then, to add to his collection of early achievements, he took home a Daytime Emmy Award. Speaking with PEOPLE, he called that moment “a paradigm shift of epic proportions.” It felt surreal for him to stand up on stage and be recognized for the one thing he was more passionate about than anything in his life.
What made the win even sweeter was that he was selling cars in Florida just a year ago.
Nicholas Chavez hopes to stay in TV (join the cast of Euphoria *HBO, are you listening?*) and also do films. For now, you can catch him on General Hospital as Spencer Cassadine online at ABC.com.
