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From Soap Stars to Superstars

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Jul 08, 2025 10:30 PM
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Brad Pitt, Another World
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Brad Pitt

Ah yes, one of the world's biggest movie stars landed his first speaking role on Another World. It was for only two episodes that he played a young basketball player. Everyone has to start somewhere and then end up an Academy Award winner.


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Elizabeth Banks

Elizabeth Banks appeared only in one scene of All My Children as none other than a waitress that Josh Duhamel's character is flirting with. The episode aired in 1999, two years before Banks starred in cult star-studded classic Wet Hot American Summer. 


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Leonardo DiCaprio

Leonardo DiCaprio is Hollywood gold, but few know he was on sitcoms like Roseanne and Growing Pains before his Titanic fame. He even made an appearance in soap opera Santa Barbara in a brief flashback sequence in 1990.

 


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Demi Moore

Before becoming a screen icon, Demi Moore did her her time (1982-83, to be exact) on General Hospital. She played Jackie Templeton, an investigative reporter from New York City trying to track down her missing sister.


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Julianne Moore

The Academy Award winner also landed a Daytime Emmy Award in 1988 for her portrayal of long-lost half-sisters Frannie and Sabrina Hughes on As The World Turns.


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Kelly Ripa

The Live With Kelly and Ryan host played Hayley Vaughan on All My Children from 1990 to 2002. It was here that she met her real husband, Mark Consuelos—who also played her husband on the series. 


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Mark Consuelos

Prior to being a famed baddie mob boss on Riverdale, Mark Consuelos got his first big break on All My Children in 1995.


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John Stamos

Prior to being Uncle Jesse on Full House, heartthrob John Stamos played teen rocker Blackie Parrish on General Hospital. 


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Josh Duhamel

 The Jupiter's Legacy star started out in soaps with the role of Leo du Pres on All My Children; his character eventually perished in a freak waterfall accident.


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JC Olivera/Getty Images/Cliff Lipson/CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images

Eva Longoria

There's nothing like playing a crazy wife who was put away in a mental hospital after trying to kill her lover's first wife to kick off a career. At least, that's how Eva Longoria made it happen on The Young and the Restless from 2001 to 2003. 


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\James Gourley/Getty Images; NBC

Lindsay Lohan

Before capturing hearts with Parent Trap, a young Lindsay Lohan played the adorable Alli Fowler on Another World from 1996 to 1997. 


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Peter KramerNBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images; Steve Fenn/Walt Disney Television via Getty Images

Ryan Phillipe

A then-18 year old Ryan Phillipe's role on One Life to Live as Billy Douglas made history as the first only gay teenager on daytime TV. 


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Hayden Panettiere

From 1996 to 2001, the Nashville star played the first incarnation of Guiding Light's Lizzie Spaulding. 


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Susan Sarandon

Susan Sarandon was the leading actress on A World Apart from 1970 to 1971, with a whopping 325 episodes total—and Sarandon appeared in every single one as main character Patrice Kahlman. 


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Justin Hartley

Justin Hartley is heartbreaker actor Kevin Pearson in This Is Us and it seems art does imitate life: Hartley first got his start on Passions before wooing audiences in The Young and the Restless.


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Chrishell Strause

The former Mrs. Justin Hartley is now a real estate agent on Selling Sunset, but before earning her realtor license, Chrishell Strause sold every line on The Days of Our Lives and The Young and the Restless.


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Naomi Watts

Naomi Watts may be best known for thriller Mulholland Drive yet the talented star first started on Home and Away. 


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Michael B. Jordan

Michael B. Jordan proved his talent on critically-acclaimed drama The Wire before landing a coveted role on All My Children as teen Reggie Montgomery. Chadwick Boseman originally was cast as Reggie but famously left following claims of perpetuating a stereotype. Jordan parted ways with AMC in 2006 and went on to star in Parenthood before captivating audiences with turns in Black Panther and Creed.


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Nathan Fillion

You fell in love with him as Castle's sexy crime-solving mystery writer Richard Castle, but the fan-fave Canadian first made his name as favorite son Joey Buchanan on One Life to Live from 1994 to 1997. 


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Christian Slater

The Dr. Death star was a high schooler with a secret in Ryan's Hope for 20 episodes in 1985.


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Marcia Cross

Before she was a Desperate Housewife, before she was Linda on Everwood, heck, before she was eccentric Kimberly Shaw on Melrose Place, the redhead played a feisty archeologist named Katheryn "Kate" Sanders who came between Cord and Tina on One Life to Live from 1986 to 1987.


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Walt Disney Television via Getty Images Photo Archives/Walt Disney Television via Getty Images/Rodin Eckenroth/WireImage

Laurence Fishburne

Morpheus began as a teenager with a three-year stint on One Life to Live, playing the role of Joshua Hall.


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Heather Locklear

The Melrose Place star first captivated audiences as Sammy Jo Dean in Dynasty from 1981 to 1989. 


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Walt Disney Television via Getty Images Photo Archives/Walt Disney Television via Getty Images/Paul Morigi/Getty Images

Tommy Lee Jones

Before he was married to a Coal Miner's Daughter or schooling aliens with Will Smith in Men in Black, the Harvard-educated actor played sneaky Dr. Mark Toland on One Life to Live from 1971 to 1975.


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