A Fairfield actor is promoting his role in his new show, "The Gilded Age," which he shot during the height of the pandemic.

"I've always loved roles where I get to kind of play both sides of things and be a little bit devious, but earnest as well," said Ward K. Horton.

Actor Ward K. Horton has made his home in Fairfield for the last 13 years while scoring TV and film roles, including the lead in horror hit "Annabelle."

"Obviously, it makes some things a little more difficult but at the end of the day, I come home to a house, where I have a little bit of space, I can breathe and I can just get away from the business," he said.

Horton was getting ready to shoot "The Gilded Age" for HBO in early 2020 when the pandemic hit.

"We were doing table reads and doing etiquette classes and all of that, and about a week before we were about to start production, the world shut down," Horton recalled.

He said when production was finally ready to start on his scenes early the following year, pandemic precautions were still at their height.

"You were seeing, sometimes, seeing people really for the first time that you had ever actually really spoken with them without a mask on, when the cameras were rolling. Which is really pretty crazy," Horton said.

The drama is set in 19th century New York. Horton says preparing for his role as the wealthy Charles Fane included etiquette classes.

"We sat down for hours with some wonderful etiquette trainers of that time period, who talked us through what silverware to use, who to talk to at the table," he said.

The show depicts the power struggle between New York's old elite and new money.

"We underestimate the power that this new group of people has, and it turns out to bite us in the wrong place," said Horton.

Horton made his debut on The Gilded Age this week. The show airs Mondays at 9 p.m. on HBO.