took acting classes but I never pursued it,
which was weird. My first year there was
rough ’cause I had a girlfriend in Atlanta.
After that first year, the second year started
looking better and I got into a groove.”
Despite not actively searching for any
showbiz work, a small television part came
Dominic’s way in 2009. “A friend said,
‘Hey, I know this director. Do you want to
come out and audition?’ and that’s how I
got ROYAL PAINS,” he relays. “I knew
half the guys and it was fun. I also watched
the lead guy and what his method was for
acting. I didn’t see anything that made me
think, ‘Oh, man! That’s so hard to do.’ He
was just committed to what he was doing.”
Dominic ultimately walked away from
modeling — “It just became a pain” —
and after working as a bartender at a Big
Apple comedy club, his future began to
find direction. “I became friends with the
comedians, especially a lot of new come-
dians,” he remembers. “Michelle Wolf is a
beast right now. She has a Netflix special
and she used to write for LATE NIGHT
WITH SETH MEYERS, but I remember
seeing people like her just coming into
the club and trying to get up onstage to
do a check spot. A check spot is where
you don’t get paid, you go up while the
customers are paying their checks. A lot of
times they’re not even paying attention [to
the comedian] so it’s a tough spot to do.
But seeing people like her and a bunch of
other comics just coming in almost every
night, I was like, ‘Man, they have this hus-
tle.’ It was something that I needed to see.”
When Dominic unexpectedly lost his
job, he finally stepped out of his comfort
zone. “I just hit it from the ground up:
web series, short films, just doing any and
everything and not worrying about pay.
I’ve always kept this quote in my head:
Be so good they can’t ignore you. Even
if I didn’t book something I auditioned
for, I knew my name was getting spread
out there a little bit. That’s how I kept it
going. I pushed and I pushed and almost
five years later I’m here in L.A. on Y&R!”
Now that he’s settling into life in Genoa
City, Dominic is grappling with a surprising
new challenge at the cavernous CBS Studio
City, which Y&R calls home. “I’m just real-
ly trying to not get lost,” he laughs. “At first
I was always getting off on the wrong floor
— and it’s only three floors! Now I know my
way around but every so often I’ll get off on
the wrong floor, so I’m still learning.” wSimply The Best: “She makes the job so easy,” says
Dominic of co-star Melissa Ordway (Abby). “She’s
very personable and makes the environment com-
fortable. She’s just a breeze to work with.”
Top Dog: “She’s a
big lap dog,” says
Dominic of his canine
companion, Niah.SOAP OPERA DIGEST