Scott Foley is known for playing the nice guy, but unfortunately for the actor, it didn’t get him the girl in two of his biggest shows, Felicity and Scandal.
Yahoo Entertainment spoke with Foley, who was promoting his new Netflix movie La Dolce Villa, and had to ask: Who got it more wrong — Felicity or Olivia Pope? His answer was definitive.
“Olivia Pope got it more wrong,” he said.
“It’s weird because I want to be like, ‘Ben? Who wants a Ben?’ Everyone kind of wants a Ben when you’re that age, you know? I get it,” he said, referring to Scott Speedman’s character in Felicity. Foley played Noel, and the whole “Ben vs. Noel” debate has raged on for decades.
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But Foley doesn’t understand how Kerry Washington’s Scandal character ultimately overlooked him because of one very “simple” reason.
“Fitz was married! It’s really that simple. [Fitz is] not available [and me], available and willing,” said Foley, who played Jake Ballard on the ABC drama, which ran from 2012 to 2018. “I come at it from a Noel point of view in both sides, right? Like, I’m the better guy! Doesn’t matter. Seems to not matter.”
Luckily, Foley’s whole nice-guy thing did work in real life. He’s been married to his wife, actress Marika Dominczyk, for 17 years. They share three kids: daughter Malina, 15, and sons Keller, 12, and Konrad, 10.
In La Dolce Villa (a play on “la dolce vita,” or “the sweet life”), Foley plays a successful businessman who travels to Italy to try to stop his daydreaming daughter from buying and renovating a villa. (The romantic country has other plans.) When asked if Foley would intervene if any of his children were interested in acting, the actor gave a thoughtful response.
“You know, my wife and I have a lot of conversations about that because they are all really talented. And a couple of them have shown a propensity for it. I’m not talking them out of anything,” he said. “‘Listen, figure it out and if you want help, I’ll help you. You don’t [want help], I won’t.'”
Foley continued, “I’m a big fan of everybody making their own way and I’m here to support you. I’m here whenever you want. If the bills get too bad, come home. If a relationship’s shitty, come home. But otherwise get out there and figure it out. Go buy the villa. Go start something.”
Scott Foley, Marika Dominczyk and their children, Konrad, Keller and Malina, attend a special screening of La Dolce Villa. (Jason Mendez/Getty Images for Netflix)
Foley believes he’s living the sweet life now at 52.
“I’m so fortunate to be blessed with a healthy family, a loving family and a wife who is interested in me and what I do. And I’m the same with her,” he said. “I always wanted to make a living as an actor, and the fact that I’ve been able to do it for the better part of 30 years now is … knock on wood!”
Foley hopes La Dolce Villa gives viewers a similar satisfied feeling.
“The world we live in right now can be a little dark and scary sometimes, and this movie has a sense of levity and wanderlust about it,” he said. “That was appealing to me and I hope to other people too.”
La Dolce Villa is streaming on Netflix now.
