Oscar winner and movie star Kathy Bates has been acting since 1963. When your acting career is that long, it should be safe to say you’ve done all that there is to do. Bates has done theater, been on Broadway, film, television, and yes — soap operas too.
Bates’s soap opera record includes roles in All My Children, One Life to Live, and The Doctors. She is still as active as ever and was most recently seen in American Horror Story.
Sarah Michelle Gellar
We don’t need to tell you what Sarah Michelle Gellar is best known for. Of course, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and who could forget Cruel Intentions? The star won five Teen Choice Awards and a Golden Globe Award nomination for the series.
Did you know that she too has had her days in the soaps? She was highly praised for her portrayal of Kendall Hart in All My Children. She has even won an Emmy for the part (much to the disapproval of her co-star Susan Lucci).
Lindsay Lohan
Many millennials grew up with Lindsay Lohan in the background. They first met her playing a double role in The Parent Trap, tapped into her teen angst in Freaky Friday, and learned about high school cliques with her in Mean Girls.
As it turns out, Lohan was on TV even before her Parent Trap days. She played little Allie Fowler in the soap opera Another World for four episodes.
Kelly Ripa
Kelly Ripa has been around the news block for a long time, and yet, it seems like she looks younger and younger by the day. She began her career in 1998 on the popular soap, All My Children where she played Hayley Vaughan. In 2000, she got her breakthrough role alongside Regis Philbin co-hosting Live With Regis and Kelly. When Regis left the show, Kelly took over the show as the lead host.
Ryan Seacrest started hosting with her in 2017. Ripa makes a salary of $22 million and has a net worth of $120 million. She has been married to her former co-star on All My Children, Mark Consuelos, since 1996.
Ricky Martin
If the song “Livin’ La Vida Loca” comes up and the people around you don’t get up to dance, you might want to reconsider being around them. Ricky Martin doesn’t only know how to make dance hits, he knows how to dance, how to sing, and how to make his many fans scream for the best reasons.
As it turns out, Martin can also act and has even appeared for a short while in General Hospital. He played Miguel Morez, a long-haired singer who had some issues to solve. Then again, don’t all soap opera characters have some issues to solve?