Actor Ian Kahn Talks About His Roles On and Off-screen

Steve Adubato goes one-on-one with Actor Ian Kahn, to talk about his role as George Washington on the AMC hit series "Turn", and his role as a family man off-screen.

7/18/2017 #2061

Excerpt:

"One cannot speak truth to power, if power has no use for truth. Well at least I ain't a Judas who sold out his whole country for a pile of silver! I've been appointed Spyhunter General. He must be captured. To Hell with Washington. I'm in the war now father. This is how it's done. No survivors. That's a powerful series. It is called Turn: Washington's Spies on AMC. And by the way, you were just seeing Ian Kahn in there. How you doing? I'm doing great. Tell us about that series. This is a show... You play George Washington? I do, I play General George Washington as a younger man during the American... Of course. Well, during the American Revolution. He was sort of a man of my age in sort of his early to mid 40's, and we... it's a... but it's really a show. Not just about General Washington, but also certainly about the Culper Spy Ring, which was a group of young people in their 20's who had found their way to becoming spies for George Washington during the Revolutionary War. This was really like sort of... the Americans were sort of like a Triple A ball club versus the New York Yankees at their height, which was the British Army. Right. So the chance of General Washington and the Continental Army winning this war were extremely small, so he had to use guerrilla tactics and spies to to really have a chance in this war. And he did. And it's really a show about that. As well as Benedict Arnold. It's really the story of how Benedict Arnold went from being this great general and this revered hero in this country to somebody who we now look at as the greatest traitor that ever lived in this country. The most surprising piece of what you learned about George Washington is? Was? Is that he's actually not the grumpy old man that I think all of us think of his as. He was really a charismatic leader. He was someone who was able to get his men to get behind him during this Revolutionary War in this incredible fight. Hmm. And then later on became the leader of a country that really didn't have an bearings at all. And with his guidance, and his strength, and his presence, really lead us. Hmm. leading into this role, you have had a range of experiences as a performer? As an actor? In such works of art as? Well in the TV world... That's a setup, come on. I'm sorry man, I missed the... Did you not date Carrie in...? I... yes I did. In Sex and the City. In Sex and the City? You did..."