Tristan Rogers Biography

Tristan Rogers (born 3 June 1946 in Melbourne) is an Australian American actor. He is best known for playing Robert Scorpio on the ABC soap opera General Hospital and for voicing Jake in Walt Disney's The Rescuers Down Under.

Early acting roles were on Australian television and he completed short stints in soap operas Bellbird, Number 96 (in 1974) and The Box (in 1975). He was a regular in police drama series The Link Men (1970) which lasted 13 episodes, and had guest roles in programs including Barrier Reef, Division 4. He also had a role in 1976 miniseries Power Without Glory.

United States roles

General Hospital

He originally appeared on General Hospital from December 1980 until February 1992. The popularity and longevity of the character Robert Scorpio in General Hospital came as a result of his involvement with the monumentally popular "supercouple" Luke and Laura, whose 1981 wedding brought in 30 million viewers and remains the highest-rated hour in American soap opera history.

While Rogers' Scorpio had been "killed with no body found" when he left the series in 1992, Rogers returned briefly in 1995 as Scorpio's spirit to comfort the character's daughter Robin Scorpio (Kimberly McCullough), who is dealing with the loss of her boyfriend to AIDS-related illness and is herself HIV-positive. He returned again in January 2006 for six weeks, this time with Scorpio being very much alive. Rogers reappeared in April 2006 and left again that November.

Rogers has taken the lead recently in the soap industry, calling for an evolution of the medium in light of its dwindling audience. An active proponent of the entertainment industry's expansion onto the internet, Tristan is producing his own web-based talk show.

From 5 August 2008 through 21 October 2008, Rogers reprised the role of Robert Scorpio on the second season of SOAPnet's General Hospital: Night Shift, a prime time spin-off of General Hospital which stars Scorpio's daughter Robin. He was featured in 12 of the season's 14 episodes, and Soap Opera Digest named the appearance their "Best Return" of 2008. Rogers later reappeared on General Hospital for four episodes starting 22 December 2008 as Scorpio attends Robin's wedding.

Rogers returned to General Hospital as Robert Scorpio on March 1, 2012 after Anna Devane (Finola Hughes) called him back to Port Charles to tell him that their daughter Robin Scorpio-Drake had been killed in a lab accident. After seven episodes, he left again on March 8, 2012. Rogers expressed disappointment that his return was cut short on his Twitter account and Facebook page.

The Young and the Restless

Rogers returned to daytime television on December 8, 2010 when he joined the cast of The Young and the Restless as Colin Atkinson. He was placed on contract with the show in February 2011. However, Rogers' character was written out of the series in October 2011.

On March 29, 2012 - only weeks after his short return to General Hospital - it was announced that Rogers will bring back Colin to Y&R. Rogers himself said that he will only be back briefly; hinting that he'll be back for more later.

Other roles

Rogers starred in the CINE award-winning short Opportunity Knocks, portraying Death himself. Co-produced by Aaron Wells and Suzanne Niedland, there are plans to develop the short into a feature-length film.

In 1994 Rogers guest-starred in season one episode "The War Prayer" of science fiction TV series Babylon 5.

Rogers has also done voice-over work representing restaurant chain Outback Steakhouse, Foster's Lager, Reebok, Epson and others. Rogers also voiced Jake the kangaroo mouse in The Rescuers Down Under.