Troy Lennon Appel Reveals the Incredible Reason He’s ‘Shocked’ to Be On ‘General Hospital’

General Hospital fans don’t know much about Hudson Parker except a smattering of information here and there. During his first few episodes, he beat up Ethan Lovett before returning to Port Charles as the mild-mannered JJE executive charged with working with new CEO, Josslyn Jacks (Eden McCoy).

On Friday, fans learned he has no problem taking a hefty sum from Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard) to keep Josslyn in check. However, fans don’t know who he really is or why he has taken such an interest in Phoebe, the baby Chase (Josh Swickard) and Brook Lynn (Amanda Setton) recently adopted. For Troy Lennon Appel, it’s all in a day’s work for a soap he feels lucky to be a part of.

As he told Steve Burton and Bradford Anderson on their podcast, That’s Awesome, he auditioned for six other GH roles before finally becoming mystery man Hudson.

“Every time I showed up [to audition], I was like, ‘All right, I gotta nail this because it’s General Hospital,'” Appel said. “It was my sixth one where I auditioned for Joe Fitzpatrick, Jonathan Bennett‘s character. That was last November.”

Bennett’s Joe didn’t debut until this past spring as the new cop in town who is now Lucas Jones’ (Van Hansis) new roommate, but GH clearly remembered Appel and that is how Hudson Parker was born.

Then, it was February of this year when I came in for an in-person callback. My wife and I were just like, ‘You gotta nail this.’ I didn’t get that character. Obviously, Jonathan got that, but then they created Hudson Parker for me. I’m shocked I’m even on this show right now!”

The news was so stunning to Appel that he had a physical reaction to hearing it.

“All at once, they were like, ‘We’re going to offer you a three-year contract and we’re creating a character for you,” he said. “It was just something you never expect to hear. I was on the phone and I just fell down to the ground. I went through the range of emotions you could have. I know I cried. I hyperventilated. I’ve never hyperventilated in my life. But now, I get to essentially live the dream I have.”

With Josslyn determined to bring down Sonny and Sonny paying Hudson a hefty sum to stop her, it sounds like Appel will have a lot to do as he lives his dream role.