# Actors Who Got Their Start On Soap Operas

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-got-their-start-on-soap-operas/520625>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [December 9, 2009, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-got-their-start-on-soap-operas/520625 "2009-12-09T20:24:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![akrako1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@akrako1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akrako1)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-got-their-start-on-soap-operas/520625/21 "2009-12-10T22:30:19Z")

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my mother watched Guiding Light and As The World Turns… so I’ve got a few:

Guiding Light:

Michelle Forbes (Ensign Ro on ST:TNG and Admiral Cain on Battlestar Galactica) played Sonni, as well as her unknown, evil identical twin sister - Solita.

Elizabeth Dennehy (Brian Dennehy’s daughter, ST:TNG’s Lt. Cmdr. Shelby, etc)

Hayden Panettiere

Melina Kanakaredes (CSI, Providence, etc)

and a bit before my time… Kevin Bacon!  
As the World Turns:

Scott Bryce (Popular, misc)

Amanda Seyfried

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**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\
**Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-got-their-start-on-soap-operas/520625/22 "2009-12-11T01:36:48Z")

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer Sarah Michelle Gellar was on “All My Children”, but she got her start as a little kid doing Burger King commercials.

[Link](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1EMffQ6XPw)

[Link](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqVSZJvp8K8)

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**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\
**Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-got-their-start-on-soap-operas/520625/23 "2009-12-11T13:55:29Z")

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> [@akrako1](#):
>
> my mother watched Guiding Light and As The World Turns.. so I’ve got a few:
> 
> Guiding Light:
> 
> …Melina Kanakaredes (CSI, Providence, etc)
> 
> …

I first “met” Melina as Victoria Metcalf on _Due South_. She was “the only woman Constable Fraser ever loved”–and a murderous, cheating, lying bitch.

The character, not the actress!

But I’ve never trusted her in any other role. The woman is **evil**!

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**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\
**Post date:** [December 13, 2009, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-got-their-start-on-soap-operas/520625/24 "2009-12-13T18:23:33Z")

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Nobody has mentioned John de Lancie. Marvelous as Eugene Bradford on _Days of Our Lives_ before being Q on _Voyager_.

Long before _Knight Ridger, Baywatch, Jeckyll & Hyde_ and that infamous home video, David Hasselhoff was the second Dr. Snapper Foster on _The Young & the Restless_

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**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\
**Post date:** [December 13, 2009, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-got-their-start-on-soap-operas/520625/25 "2009-12-13T22:43:13Z")

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Kevin Bacon was on a couple soaps early in his career _Search for Tomorrow_ and _Guiding Light_.

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