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Wednesday, 5 June 2013

Secret Life of the American Teenager': Daren Kagasoff on Series Finale

Hailing from 7th Heaven's Brenda Hampton, Secret Life turned heads when it debuted in the summer of 2008. The one-hour drama, featuring breakout star Shailene Woodley, focused on the relationships between families and friends and how they dealt with unexpected teen pregnancies. By no means a critical darling, Secret Life had an audience and its growth in viewership showed that. By the second-season premiere in June 2009, it would attract a series high 4.7 million viewers.
Daren Kagasoff, who plays bad boy Ricky, hopes that viewers will be happy with the way things end for all the characters. "I want them to have a sense of closure," he tells The Hollywood Reporter. "It's been five years and the show has had its ups and downs with relationships and people coming on the show and off the show. Of course, you want the audience to be happy, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do to make TV exciting."
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THR also exclusively debuts a tense scene between Amy (Woodley) and Ricky as they encounter Ben (Ken Baumann) in the school hallway. To say Ben won't go away easily is an understatement. (Watch the scene above.)
Kagasoff talks to THR about starring on Secret Life (his first big Hollywood gig), the final day on set, whether Ricky/Amy fans will be happy with their resolution and what's next.
The Hollywood Reporter: The Secret Life of the American Teenager was your first big gig. What have the past few years been like?
Daren Kagasoff: It's been an amazing journey for me. I think everybody in the cast when we first signed on to do the show, nobody knew how big of a success it was going to be. And now coming up to the finale of five seasons and more than 120 episodes later, it's crazy. As an actor, you just want to be working and I'm just so thankful for that time.
THR: When you were going through the audition process, what was that like for you?
Kagasoff: This was like my sixth audition ever. I never acted before. I went in and read, and ended up reading for the creator of the show. I must have read five, six times after that. It came down to Brenda Hampton, who made the final decision of giving me the part, because the network wasn't too fond of me at the time. I was pretty green. It was a pretty substantial character in the show and I don't think they necessarily trusted me with the material, but Brenda did. She fought for me and said she wasn't going to do the show without me, so that's how I got the job. It was basically because of her.
THR: Did she share any particular reasons why she was gravitating toward you for Ricky?
Kagasoff: She never really got into that with me. She just said that it's a feeling. When [Shailene Woodley] walked in and read for her role, the second she saw her, she knew she was the girl. It's a feeling you get. You could have a hundred actors reading for one part and they could all be spectacular but one sticks out for some reason.

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