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In an interview with Soap Opera Digest, The Young and the Restless actor Jacob Aaron Gaines got candid about his time on the CBS soap and how his on-screen brother, Bryton James, has helped him.
Gaines, who portrays Moses Winters on the show, had nothing but positive things to say about his co-star.
“He has been the best. As soon as I got there, he didn’t try to be my mentor, he just wanted to be my friend. He showed me where everything was and where to get food and who to talk to for what I need. He also helped me with my lines and helped me to get better. I’m really grateful for him.”
On joining the show, he explained, “I didn’t really know what I was getting into. The only person in my family who watched a soap was my great-grandmother. Still, it seemed like an awesome opportunity, so I was really excited.”
“It was a little nerve-racking but everybody was really nice and really sweet,” he said of his first day working on the show. “I didn’t realize how bright the lights were on set. It was hot so I was sweating and couldn’t see. I thought the sound people were the directors and I didn’t know where to look. I was kind of frantic. When my best friend watched me on TV, he said, ‘Oh, you looked nervous, but it worked really well with the scene.’ I didn’t tell him I was actually scared to death.”
Gaines is not the first actor to heap praise on James. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, actress Telma Hopkins discussed reuniting with the Emmy Award-winning actor on the set of the show saying it was “kind of like coming home.” Both James and Hopkins previously worked together on the classic ‘90s sitcom Family Matters.
“It is full circle,” she said. “I don’t feel I have ever lost touch with him but certainly it is nice to look across a room and see that smiling face that I am so used to. It feels like home, like family, like Family Matters.”
The Young and the Restless airs weekdays on CBS.
