Although Sean Kanan has been playing A.J. Quartermaine on GENERAL HOSPITAL for a short while, he already has a handle on who the troubled young man is and where he's coming from. "A.J. is kind of this white-collar rebel, who one minute is angry and has all this inner-turmoil, and the next minute can show a deep vulnerability and sensitivity with his brother," surmises Kanan. "He's very multi-dimensional with so many different colors to him."

While it would be easy to see Karen or Brenda warming up to the newly-reformed A.J., the actor has his sights set on mixing things up with a few of the more mature women in Port Charles. "The guy was engaged and he's still doing a firewalk about losing Nikki and his bout with alcoholism. I think that he's matured to the point where it's more realistic for him to go after a woman who's been around the block and is a little bit older, who could offer an understanding that one of the younger women might not have. Just life experience sort of stuff."

Who does Kanan have in mind for A.J.'s first post-rehab liaison? "I'd love to see something materialize with Tiffany, on the rebound from Sean. I'd also like to see him pull himself together and assert his position at ELQ, because A.J. is actually the true heir-apparent Quartermaine. I'd like to give Ned some trouble there and maybe see something develop with Julia Barrett."

If it sounds like Kanan has put a lot of thought into A.J.'s character, he has. He was actually up for the role several years back when it was instead given to Gerald Hopkins (interestingly enough, Steve Burton, now Jason Quartermaine, was also up for the role), and he says that he's long wanted to be associated with GH. The Pennsylvania native moved to L.A. six years ago and has spent his time doing a variety of television appearances and two feature films (most notably "The Karate Kid III"). He continues to take acting classes and recently received his political science degree from UCLA.

The grueling schedule of daytime, mixed in with his love for karate, cooking and travel, keeps Kanan on the go. "I'm a closet workaholic," he admits. "Actors spend so much time pursuing work, once you actually have a job, you have to use up all of this stored-up energy, so for me this is great. They can't work me enough. I just love it."

Kanan is much more down-to-earth and easy-going than his edgy on-screen counterpart. "I tend to play very confident, forthright characters, and I think that maybe I'm not quite as confident and sure of myself as the characters that I play," he says. "But you know, I hope that makes me a more approachable individual to people. In the past I've played some real bad guys and some very arrogant characters. I'd like to think I'm a little bit nicer guy."