Y&R Stars on the move!
Soap operas are hard work. No, really, they are. Think about what it's like for someone in front burner story: come in at dawn's early light having had to memorize sometimes 40 pages of dialogue, block your scenes for a half-hour, maybe you get a little bit of rehearsal time with your scene partner, then shoot the scene - often the first of many throughout the day, then you go home with forty more pages of dialogue to study FOR THE NEXT DAY. Not to mention that depending on your scenes, you could be getting married, falling from a cliff, or being possessed by the devil. Hard work.

Which is why soaps are like the New York of the acting world: you make it there, you can make it anywhere. Some of our biggest movie and primetime stars got their start on soaps and many of them came from The Young and the Restless. Or, stars have had such success on Y&R that they've been able to go to other soaps in new roles. There are WAY too many to name them all, but check out some of Y&R's most well known "defectors!"

They came, they acted, they conquered the silver screen:

Steven Ford played Paul Williams' best friend Andy Richards in the 80s but when he grew tired of the detective's antics, Ford popped up along fellow former daytimer Meg Ryan (ex-Besty, ATWT) in the romantic comedy, When Harry Met Sally, playing the beau that jilted her.

Vivica Fox was well acquainted with daytime when she joined Y&R as Stephanie Simmons. She had previously played a central character on the now defunct sudser, Generations. Not only did she go on to marry Will Smith in Independence Day, she brawled old-school style with Uma Thurman in Kill Bill Volume I.

Before dying a gristly death as Tony Viscardi, Nick Scotti made trouble for his paramour Grace. Scotti, however, went on to a better life as the star of the indie fave Kiss Me, Guido.

Where hasn't Shemar Moore been since leaving Y&R is the question. He enjoyed a long run as host of the dance/music show, Soul Train; he was the star of films like, The Brothers and Diary of a Mad Black Woman; he lead the cast of the short-lived TV tale Birds of Prey, and now, he's making waves on the drama Criminal Minds. And to top it all off, he's never forgotten his daytime roots and returns to his role as Malcolm Winters whenever he can.

They conquered other mediums and stayed in Genoa City:

It wasn't too much of a stress for Eric Braeden to play doomed multimillionaire Jacob Astor in Titanic since he still plays mogul Victor Newman.


When he's not making the girls cry as JT, Thad Luckinbill crosses over to primetime on shows like 8 Simple Rules and movies like teen hit, Sleepover.

Proving she's got talent to spare, for years Victoria Rowell played Dru on Y&R as well as Amanda on Diagnosis Murder. You can also spot her in many feature films including Dumb and Dumber and Eve's Bayou.

Michelle Stafford doesn't just keep busy causing trouble as Phyllis, she's left her mark on the primetime shows, Charmed, Diagnosis Murder and "Frasier" as well as co-hosting on several talk shows.

Daytime trained these stars for primetime:

Carlos Bernard smoldered as Rafael Delgado before firing things up on 24 with Keifer Sutherland. Of course, his character was recently killed off, but I suspect we'll see him again.

Another actor who spent a day in the life on 24 is Francesco Quinn, who got a good start as Tomas del Cerro on Y&R. He's even done a stint on Criminal Minds with Shemar Moore.

Long before he became famous for imitating Johnnie Cochrane as Jackie Chiles on Seinfeld, Phil Morris made history on Y&R by briefly portraying his black character Tyrone Jackson as a white man. It was all a ruse to bring down some criminals but it led to bigger things for Phil.

Another Seinfeld fave was John O'Hurley as the catalogue king, J. Peterman. But before he went Dancing with the Stars, O'Hurley was Christine's father, Jim Grainger.

Playing bad boy Matt gave Eddie Cibrian the chance to do more than flash those dynamic dimples. Not only did he shine on the now-cancelled soap, Sunset Beach, he went on to don firefighter gear for his role on Third Watch. Now, you can catch him fighting aliens on ABC's Invasion.


Tom Selleck's mustache became famous on Magnum, P.I. but he got his start as Jed Andrews on Y&R.

Ever heard of Eva Longoria? Before she went diva on Desperate Housewives, she played Isabella, the truly desperate housewife of Paul Williams. She schemed and lied to keep her man on Y&R just the way she schemes and lies to keep her money on DH. We're sensing something of a theme here…

And sometimes they sing:

Michael Damian had the rare pleasure of acting out several of his dreams simultaneously: he was a rock star who became a soap star playing a rock star! With hits like "Rock On," earning him gold records, Damian found life imitating art .His character Danny Romalotti may have endured heartache at the hands of Christine and Phyllis but Damian still rocks on.

Of course, he's also known as the king of the beach from Baywatch, but David Hasselhoff also deserves props for sustaining an internationally successful music career. Even as he was playing Jill's brother, Snapper Foster, Hasselhoff was tuning up his vocal pipes and making women swoon all over the world.

Scott Reeves wooed Victor Newman's teenage daughter, Victoria as Ryan MacNeil but in real life, he was wooing tons of country music fans with the vocal stylings from his band, Blue County who has just released their first eponymous album.

They jumped from soap to soap:

He was a lawyer on L.A. Law and is now a prosecuting attorney on General Hospital but on Y&R, Corbin Bernsen played a priest! And let's not forget that his soap story goes even deeper since his mother is none other than Y&R's Jeanne Cooper (Katherine Chancellor).

Keith Hamilton Cobb had some of the most famous dreadlocks in daytime when he was
AMC's Noah but he had shaved them off by the time he hit Genoa City as Jabot Cosmetics star employee, Damon.

Greg Vaughan is now a Lucky fellow as that's who he plays on General Hospital. But he once tempted Sharon to sin as Diego.

Daddy's little girl wasn't always Amelia Heinle (who came from AMC); at one time she was played by Heather Tom who is now stirring up trouble as Kelly on One Life to Live.

Though GH'sLuke Spencer is the role that made him an international star, Tony Geary's first daytime role was as George Curtis on Y&R!

The Bells must have seen the future when Katherine Kelly Lang played the bit part of Gretchen because many years later, she became The Bold and the Beautiful's favorite heartbreaker Brooke Logan.



Though she has become synonymous with her Days of our Lives alter ego Dr. Marlena Evans, Deidre Hall actually started out on Y&R as Barbara Anderson.



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