Thursday Morning Man: Matt Bomer!

Hello?

How has Matt Bomer slipped underneath my radar all this time? It’s my job to keep track of all of the exceptionally handsome man on television and, somehow, Matt has managed to allude me.

But no more!

I discovered Matt on Wednesday at the Television Critics Assn. Summer Press Tour event in Pasadena where he was on hand to promote his new USA network show White Collar on which he plays con man Neal Caffrey.

Matt was not familiar to me because I do not watch any of the shows he’s been on but he’s been on several. He got his first big break playing Ben Reade on the soon-to-be-canceled CBS soap Guiding Light then segued to primetime with a role in the drama Tru Calling. Next he was the lead in the short-lived series Traveler and most recently had a recurring role on the NBC comedy Chuck.

A group of us chatted with Matt after the panel discussion about his new show on Wednesday.

“For me, it’s really fun to play because you’re not just the perfect person – you have flaws and an achilles heel and stuff like that. There’s more humanity to the characters that way,” he said of his role on White Collar. “What’s great about this character is you really have permission to do whatever you want. That’s always really fun to play.”

He was also asked about the demise of Guiding Light: “I’m definitely sad to see it go. It’s the longest running show on TV and there’s incredible history there. The amazing thing about getting to work on a soap is that it really is like a family. It’s kind of a 9-5 thing, you’re there together every day, you have actors of all different ages – people who have been there a long time and people like me who were there for a very brief time. It’s really kind of a communal existence. You don’t get that as much on movies or prime-time stuff.”

“There are so many wonderful actors on there who created incredible characters who I hope will get to move on to other things,” he added. “I’ll always be grateful for that experience in my career.”