Monsters' Nicholas Alexander Chavez on His 'Paradigm Shift of Epic Proportions' After General Hospital Breakout Role (Exclusive)

The life of Nicholas Alexander Chavez has been a whirlwind for the past year.

The actor who first made waves as Spencer Cassadine in the General Hospitalstarring in two of Ryan Murphy’s latest series, Monsters: The Story of Lyle and Erik Menendez and Grotesquenessand both premiere within a week of each other.

“It’s a paradigm shift of epic proportions,” he tells PEOPLE.

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Chavez, 25, jokes that he tackled “slightly different roles” as he transitioned from playing the son of a prince in a soap opera to portraying one half of the infamous Menendez brothers – then playing a priest who works as a Peloton instructor in Grotesqueness.

“It was an absolute dream come true and it fills my heart in a way I can’t even describe that Ryan saw so much promise in me and decided to give me this opportunity,” Chavez said at the film’s premiere in New York. Grotesqueness September 23. “I owe him a debt of gratitude and he’s been an amazing friend.”

Brad Culver as Gerald Chaleff, Nicholas Chavez as Lyle Menendez, Cooper Koch as Erik Menendez in ‘Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story’.

Miles Crist/Netflix

Chavez knew it Monsters and Grotesqueness will be released back-to-back, and admits that he was “trying to mentally prepare as best I could in my head for this, but I don’t think anything can prepare you for the reality of this – which is that it’s so much fun, and honestly, just a dream come true.”

His exit from General Hospital came between two projects. In May, he confirmed in a statement on Xu (formerly known as Twitter) that he has “no current plans” to reprise his role as Spencer on the soap — which he joined in 2021 — while expressing his gratitude for “the most loyal and loving fan base in the entertainment universe. ”

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Nicholas Alexander Chavez in ‘General Hospital’.

ABC/Nick Argo

Monsters marks his first post-soap role, and was especially difficult as he played Lyle Menendez opposite Erik Cooper Koch.

“I really feel for the brothers, the fact that this was the most traumatic moment of their lives, and then putting it on television for the world to see,” he says of the Netflix series and the response to it. “I imagine that would be incredibly difficult.”

Nicholas Alexander Chavez as Father Charlie Mayhew in ‘Grotesquerie’.

Prashant Gupta/FX

Monsters then led to Grotesqueness. “Ryan called me and has a very confident way of talking about his projects,” Chavez recalls. “I mean, right when he started telling me about it Grotesquenessit sounded like such an interesting world and it sounded like an opportunity to take part in something really creepy and disturbing and horrible, which is a palette I didn’t really understand… I definitely went in [it]but it’s a more imaginative space.”

Chavez teases that his character, Father Charlie Mayhew, has an almost “Shakespearean quality” that drew him to the role.

“You could almost feel your way through this character as if you were playing a piece of music or performing a Shakespearean soliloquy. I mean, it just came out through a series of really, really impulsive behaviors and actions.”

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Monsters: The Story of Lyle and Erik Menendez now streaming on Netflix and Grotesqueness premieres Wednesday, September 25 at 10:00 PM ET on FX.

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education