Hollywood newcomer CLIVE ROBERTSON has pitched his tent all over the world (he even bummed around East Africa for a while), but getting lost in L.A. nearly cost him his job!

DIGEST ONLINE: How did you happen to wind up on SUNSET BEACH?

CLIVE ROBERTSON: To put it simply, I came over here from England just briefly on a reconnaissance trip. I wanted to check things out, and see if I'd like to come out to Los Angeles permanently. I wasn't expecting to be put up for any part, let alone get a part. So this whole thing was a big surprise.

DIGEST ONLINE: But people don't just get off a plane at LAX and wind up in Aaron Spelling's office auditioning for a new soap.

ROBERTSON: What happened was, I came over here with my girlfriend, Libby, and, as I say, we were just sort of checking out possibilities. I had an agent contact, who sent me up for a couple of roles, and my girlfriend had a manager out here. I went to meet her manager one afternoon and he said, "Oh, there's something you could be right for." That's how the whole thing got started. Then, Libby and I went down to Mexico for a few days; meanwhile, he was trying to contact me about SUNSET BEACH. So time was pretty short. In fact, when we came back, I immediately had to get in my car and race halfway across L.A. and try to find NBC. Of course, I got lost and was two hours late for the meeting. They sent me on the 101 Freeway, and I was going the wrong way. I was all over town, everywhere. Well, anyway, eventually I got there. The casting people had already seen my audition tapes; they were quite excited with my tapes, and I had a series of interviews. And then came the Aaron Spelling meeting.

DIGEST ONLINE: What was that like?

ROBERTSON: It was the most daunting meeting I've ever had. I mean it was funny in hindsight. To get to his office, you walked through thick pile carpet down this long corridor -- it all looked a little like DYNASTY. I think there were probably four or five guys there besides myself. I wasn't sure what nationality they were; I think they were American, actually -- and we all had to wait outside. You know what that's like. It's nerve-wracking. You just stand around twiddling your thumbs. Then they opened the door and said, "All right, we're ready for you." I walked into this enormous office, with a bank of sofas down the left hand side. It looked like the sofas stretched from one end of the room to the other -- and they were filled with maybe 15 people. There was a little chair in the middle of the room, where I sat. It was difficult for me, very difficult. Luckily, I had just happened to be in a bookstore earlier that week. I'd been browsing through a copy of Mr. Spelling's autobiography, I think, and I'd seen his photograph. Otherwise, I never would have known which person in the room he was. He was sort sitting down the end. He wasn't wearing a suit. I think he was in a track suit or something, just sitting there looking very relaxed and calm. So I sort of recognized him and made eye contact with him. I did my scene, which went very smoothly, and he then he asked me a question or two. It was incredibly daunting.

DIGEST ONLINE: What happened after you got the role?

ROBERTSON: I had to go right back to London in order to obtain my visa. I didn't have a visa at the time to work out here. And I had to get one before I could screen test. When I came back to L.A., I only brought one suitcase, because I wasn't sure I'd actually get the part. But I did get the part, and I started working so quickly that I haven't been back to London since.

DIGEST ONLINE: Are you still living out of a suitcase in a hotel?

ROBERTSON: No, I've rented this big place in the hills [in the Studio City vicinity] with my girlfriend. I don't have many clothes, but they do buy clothes for me on the show. So I feel like I have clothes, and when I get home I end up wearing the same clothes every day. I just haven't had time to go shopping yet.

DIGEST ONLINE: Have you adjusted to the California lifestyle yet?

ROBERTSON: It's my first time in Los Angeles, and I like it a lot. I love the sun. You must remember, London is very cold. I lived abroad a lot when I was a child, and I never got used to the cold in England. Living up here in the hills, it's pretty; I have such a lovely view, and the pace is so relaxed as well. I don't find it as stressful as living in London. London is much more manic, probably much more similar to New York. And I love the fact that everyone here has a car to get places. I love driving. I just hate the idea of driving in London where I never get a chance to put my foot down, if you know what I mean. In Los Angeles, I can actually drive and go somewhere and not sit in a traffic jam.

DIGEST ONLINE: Tell us a little bit about your castmates. What's the backstage atmosphere like at SUNSET BEACH?

ROBERTSON: Well, Susan Ward [Meg] and Sarah Buxton [Annie] are very different kinds of actresses, basically, but they're both fun to work with. The more I work with them, the more interesting it becomes. The fact that we all started on a new show together created a feeling of instant camaraderie. I worked in theater, where it's the same experience. You start off with a new cast and nobody knows anybody, but because you have to work with each other, you're forced to get to know people quickly. On SUNSET BEACH, everyone -- the cast, the crew -- is trying very hard to make the show succeed, and it's a nice experience. Everybody is very friendly, and there are no cliques. The whole medium of daytime is actually new to me. I've never done anything like this before. I've mainly done theater, so the experience of turning out a new show every day is simply unique to me. It's a lot of hard work. Susan Ward and I have probably been on more than almost anybody -- that's a helluva lot of dialogue to learn. When you're on the show five days a week, you have to go into the studio, be in all your scenes, do all the work, then learn your dialogue for the next day when you get home. It's a hard process really. You don't have time to sit down and relax.

DIGEST ONLINE: You probably start to feel like you don't have a life outside the studio?

ROBERTSON: It's a question of finding the time. When you start out on a new project, you're going to put all the time you have to into it -- I'm always like that. I like to make the work good. So I enjoy putting in as much time as I need to get it right. But as time goes on, I think one can find the time to do other things. For instance, I played golf yesterday. I hadn't played in a while, but I went out on this wonderful course with Sam Behrens, and I beat him! I also play golf with Peter Barton, and the other day I went to an ice hockey game with Nick Stabile [Mark].

DIGEST ONLINE: According to your resume, you earned a B.A. from the Oxford School of Business and worked in marketing. Then, you escaped to East Africa "to reassess your life." After that, you enrolled in acting school. What originally prompted you to study business?

ROBERTSON: My father died when I was about 15. Basically, I think my father had always envisioned me becoming a businessman of sorts. You see, unlike his father, who was a very successful doctor, my father sort of burned bridges, if you like, in favor of flying. He went down that route -- and you don't become a pilot in order to make money. We were never poor, but I think he wanted me to earn money. So when the time came for me to make choices, I went toward business, not that I had any particular bent in that direction. It just seemed to be the right thing to do at the time. I mean the truth is, deep down, if I had really sat down and listened to my true instincts at the time, I probably would have gone in another direction, but that didn't happen.

DIGEST ONLINE: Do you ever regret the time spent in the business world? After all, you could have been out on the audition circuit maybe 5 years earlier.

ROBERTSON: I don't know. I never regret anything I've done. What's the point? It's funny, isn't it? You do different things. If I hadn't gone to business school, if I hadn't worked in business, which I did for a couple of years, I may not have been the person that I am now. Everything grounds you in a certain way. It's good for an actor to have some outside experience; there are some actors that have only ever done acting, and they've never experienced much out there in the real world. I came to acting late, you see; I was 25; so it's different for me. In a funny way, what attracted me to acting wasn't the fact that I was any good at it. It was the idea of making something real; that's always fascinated me and still does. I think I made the right choice ultimately, because almost everything else I've ever done in my life, including business, sooner or later I got bored with. Acting is like golf -- it's an amazing challenge. It's never bored me, but the moment I think I've finally cracked it will be the moment I give it up.