Soap operas excel in spinning the most outrageous romantic tales. Just ask Nathan Fillion and he will tell you. Fillion’s character in One Life to Live was named Joey Buchanan, and it was outrageous alright.
Teenage Buchanan apparently had a thing for older women, and he was often seen in the company of his lover, Dorian Lord, who was also his mother’s sworn enemy. Thank god it was just a show!
Naomi Watts
Naomi Watts was trying to pursue a career in modeling at first. Actually, that's how she met her friend Nicole Kidman. The two met as teens while auditioning for a bikini ad in Australia. Neither of them got the job but they both went on to become successful actresses.
Watts owes some of her success to Julie Gibson, her recurring role in the Australian soap opera Home and Away.
Judith Light
Highly respected in her field, Judith Light brought a lot to the set of One Life to Live. She played the melodramatic and manipulative Karen Wolek and even won an Emmy for the part.
She then went on to play on the iconic sitcom Who’s the Boss? opposite of Tony Danza. And make no mistakes, Angela was definitely the boss.
Meg Ryan
Meg Ryan’s face might as well appear in the dictionary under the definition of romantic comedy. She is Sally from When Harry Met Sally and Kate from Kate and Leopold. Basically, if it’s a rom-com — she’s there.
Before her days as ruler of the genre, Ryan was also part of a soap opera cast. The show was As the World Turns, and she played Betsey Stewart Montgomery Andropholous. A name longer than her marriage to Dennis Quaid.
Ellen Burstyn
Ellen Burstyn got her to break as a dancer on The Jackie Gleason Show during the mid-1950s. Soon after, various acting jobs began falling her way. One of those opportunities was starring as Dr. Kate Bartok in The Doctors. She later landed the lead in The Last Picture Show (1971 and her performance brought showbiz attention plus Oscar and Golden Globe award nominations.
For her role in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore directed by Martin Scorsese, Burstyn won the Best Actress Oscar. Three years later, in 1978, she received the Best Actress nomination for Same Time, Next Year, and in 1980 and in 2000 she received it for Resurrection and Requiem of a Dream, respectively. What a busy lady!