Wil Traval Unpacks His ‘General Hospital’ Debut & Chemistry With Kelly Thiebaud

Wil Traval made his General Hospital debut on Friday, October 16, as a mysterious stranger who encountered Britt Westbourne (Kelly Thiebaud) in a bar.

The Australian actor was recovering from a car accident that left him with a broken back when he got the call to submit a self-tape for the soap in June. A callback led to a chemistry read with Thiebaud, who quickly made an impression.

“I can’t speak more highly of her,” Traval tells TV Insider. “I think she’s fantastic. It’s the biggest delight in my life to be working with her. Originally, it was going to be a short guest role, I believe, and at the end of the week I got a call saying they might want to offer me a contract on the show, which was a real surprise and delight. And the rest is history from there.”

The role of Jude marks a new chapter for Traval, who has lived in the United States for 16 years but has worked primarily in primetime television. Although he had auditioned for GH and Days of our Lives in the past, he quickly discovered that daytime presented a different set of demands.

Disney / Christine Bartolucci

“I’ve been through the process of what it might be like, and I was kind of familiar with what I might be getting into,” he notes. “I didn’t know it was as rigorous and fast-paced as it is, and it’s a huge credit to any actor who thrives on soap opera television because it’s much more of an athletic acting experience than any other job that I’ve done. You’ve got to be a marathon runner versus a great sprinter. You’ve got to have a lot of dedication and perseverance. It’s a big job.”

He describes his first day as “bewildering,” but Traval soon found his footing — and discovered just how much he enjoys the work. “There’s something about it; I’m in my element,” he observes. “I was at the gym the other day, and I was working out and people were looking at me. I was like, ‘Why are people looking at me?’ And then I realized that I was happy. I was just glowing with a little bounce in my step and a stupid smile all over my face, and I was like, ‘Oh, that’s right. I haven’t felt like this for a really long time.’ So that’s really the whole experience for me so far. It’s returned me to a stupidly grinning happy man.”

Traval’s path to Port Charles has been anything but conventional. He graduated high school at 16 and earned a mathematics scholarship to attend university in Australia, but a summer of classes prompted him to reconsider his academic future.

“I felt like my scholarship was given probably too generously,” he says with a laugh. “I was like, ‘These people are much better than me. I’m not that smart.’ So, I ended up returning the scholarship.”

Disney / Christine Bartolucci

Although acting wasn’t necessarily on his radar at the time, Traval can see signs of his eventual career in his younger self. “If you look at any of the photos of me in high school, you’ll realize something was up because I was always putting on costumes and stuff like that without being an actor,” he muses. “I’m just one of those natural weirdos.”

A friend encouraged him to audition for the prestigious National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA). Traval gave it a shot, but the school had other advice for the teenage hopeful. “They were like, ‘You’re very young. We normally don’t accept people until they’re 18. How about you just go away and try living,'” he recalls. “So I took their advice. I went to university in Melbourne and started a lit degree or some kind of art thing. And then I auditioned the following year, got into NIDA, and I was like, ‘Goodbye, let’s try this out.'”

Traval’s first big break came in 2003 with All Saints, an Australian medical drama. He initially appeared as a priest in a brief guest role before the show created a more permanent place for him as Dr. Jack Quade.

“I worked with some amazing people,” he shares. “I had a phenomenal time. We were shooting 42 weeks out of the year, creating a whole bunch of shows. General Hospital really reminds me of the work mentality, and the work environment has that real camaraderie that that production had as well, and it makes me feel really at home. I think that’s maybe why the transition’s been so good.”

When his All Saints gig wrapped in 2008, Traval headed to the United States to audition for an ABC pilot. He didn’t land the part, and with a flight back to Australia looming, he had little reason to stay — until an unexpected encounter changed his plans.

“To commiserate, the casting agent took me to a couple of bars,” he explains. “Fortunately, I ran into a girl [Terasa Livingstone] that I’d met in Australia. I didn’t know she was going to be in the bar, but she gave me a big kiss and said, ‘What are you doing here?’ And I said, ‘I’m here auditioning. I’ve gotta fly back tomorrow.’ She said, ‘Well, let me take you out to lunch.’ And I said, ‘Great, yeah. Can you drive me to the airport?’ During that lunch, I canceled my flight back and hung out with her for a while. Then after about three weeks, I flew home to Australia, I sold all my stuff, came back, and got married to her.”

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Traval went on to build a varied television résumé, with roles in Netflix’s Messiah and Jessica Jones, The CW’s Arrow and Dynasty, as well as appearances on Chicago P.D. and Grey’s Anatomy, among others. Now, he’s turning his attention to GH, where his character’s identity and connections to Port Charles will come into focus in the weeks ahead.

In the meantime, he has big plans for his debut. “There’s a buddy of mine, Josh, who is so thrilled,” says Traval. “He’s like, ‘I’m setting up a whole viewing party. We’re going to get friends over. You’re in America’s all-time greatest soap, and we’re not gonna let this first episode go by without celebrating you.’ I’m pretty excited. I feel good. I feel really happy.”

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