CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Michael Blake Kruse, a BCLUW High School and Central College graduate, was recently cast in the role of Officer Rory Cabrera on the long-running daytime soap opera “General Hospital.”

LOS ANGELES — Michael Blake Kruse has lived in many states throughout his life, but after spending most of his formative years in Conrad, graduating from BCLUW High School, and then later attending Central College in Pella, he has come to call Iowa his home. It was here, after all, where he decided to pursue a career in acting.

During his time at Central, Kruse discovered his passion, and he started off with some small projects in the Midwest. After graduating from college in 2012, he chose to make the big move out to California, the state where he was born.

Over the years, Kruse has guest starred in several notable shows like “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Criminal Minds” and played minor roles in several other films and series. Most recently, Kruse has taken on the role of Officer Rory Cabrera in the soap opera “General Hospital.”

The wildly successful show, now in its 59th season, has been on air since 1963 and is one of the longest running soap operas ever. Kruse’s debut episode aired on March 30, and he said he was excited to be cast for the role as he related with the character during the auditioning process.

“I saw the breakdown of the character and I connected with him right away, and it was so similar to who I actually am as a person. And I thought I had a pretty good shot at maybe getting the role,” he said.

The character had an in-depth overview — “honest and by the book” — and Kruse said that drew him in as Cabrera’s morals mirrored his own.

After reading up on the character, Kruse sent in an audition tape. About a week later, he was invited for a producer’s session at the studio, where he auditioned again and met with the producers and directors of the show.

Several days after the producer’s session, he was asked to do a network test for the final step in the process, but that network test never ended up happening.

“I was prepared to do that, and then a couple days before the network test, they had told me that I did not need to do the test and that they were just going to offer me the role,” Kruse said. “I was pretty thrilled because I’m not a great auditioner anyways, and it would just be more nerves that I would have to deal with for that final stage.”

Kruse was offered the role at the end of February, and he began filming in early March with the whole casting process taking a little less than a month. Before he was cast for this part, he was actually considering taking a step back from acting.

“It’s funny because before I got this role, I was kind of ready to maybe take a back seat in the industry for a while and audition less. Because it’s such a grind, I feel like, with essentially having dozens of job interviews throughout the year, and most of them are rejection for a lack of a better word,” Kruse said. “I was kind of ready to maybe pursue other things but continue to collaborate with filmmakers that I was already connected with.”

Now, after being cast, Kruse’s perspective has changed. He wants to serve his current role on “General Hospital” to the best of his ability and focus on getting up to speed with the show. He also said he might take on some guest starring roles that he is passionate about or some additional feature film projects.

Officer Cabrera will likely be a recurring character in the show, so fans will have to keep an eye out for him in upcoming episodes.

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Contact Susanna Meyer at 641-753-6611 or

smeyer@timesrepublican.com.