MANY celebrities have gotten their start in acting by working on soap operas – and have gone on to become A-listers.
From Demi Moore‘s role in General Hospital to Brad Pitt’s turn as a young basketball player in Another Word, soaps have been a career launching pad for many Hollywood stars.
Here are the actors who got their start in soap operas before breaking into Hollywood films.
DEMI MOORE
After appearing in the 1982 sci-fi horror B-movie Parasite, Demi, 61, made her first big splash in the acting world as investigative journalist Jackie Templeton on General Hospital from 1982 to 1983.
She would go on to star in the upcoming Brat Pack reunion documentary, St. Elmo’s Fire in 1985, the year’s highest-grossing film Ghost in 1990, opposite Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson in 1992’s A Few Good Men, and alongside Woody Harrelson in 1993’s Indecent Proposal.
The actress also had high-profile marriages to Bruce Willis and Ashton Kutcher and always remained at the forefront of culture with her headline-grabbing roles in Striptease (1996) and GI Jane (1997).
BRAD PITT
Before Brad, 60, lit up the silver screen as Tyler Durden in 1999’s Fight Club or Rusty Ryan in 2001’s Ocean’s Eleven, the Hollywood star appeared in the soap opera Another World in 1987 as a young basketball player named Chris.
The same year, Brad would appear in small background roles in the movie Hunk as Man at the Beach with Drink and in the Charlie Sheen-led crime drama No Man’s Land as a waiter.
The actor would go on to have a storied career, landing starring roles in huge Hollywood blockbusters like Troy (2004) and Inglorious Basterds (2009) and winning an Oscar for starring alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019).
MICHAEL B. JORDAN
Michael B. Jordan, 37, may be known for his role as the hard-punching son of boxer Apollo Creed now, but before he launched to superstardom by taking the lead in the Rocky spin-off series, he played troubled teen Reggie Montgomery in All My Children.
After appearing as Wallace in Season 1 of The Wire in 2002, he starred in the soap opera for 59 episodes, from 2003 to 2006.
Since leaving the soap, Michael has starred in the topical and award-winning Fruitville Station (2009) and took a villainous turn as Killmonger in the second-highest-grossing film of 2018, Black Panther.
JULIANNE MOORE
Julianne, 63, was garnering accolades long before she took home the Best Actress Academy Award for 2014’s Still Alice.
The May December star won a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series all the way back in 1988 for portraying Frannie and Sabrina Hughes on As the World Turns.
From 1985 to 1988, Julianne played Frannie and Frannie’s identical half-sister and cousin, Sabrina.
Julianne has been nominated for an Oscar five times in her career – for her work in Boogie Nights (1998), The End of the Affair (2000), Far From Heaven (2003), The Hours (2003), and Still Alice.
EVA LONGORIA
Actor-turned-director Eva, 49, may have hit her stride as Gabrielle Solis on the ABC comedy Desperate Housewives, but she got her start playing Isabella Braña on The Young and the Restless from 2001 to 2003.
While the actress made an appearance in another soap, General Hospital, in 2000, it was her role on The Young and the Restless that boosted her acting career.
Recently, Eva landed a recurring role in Only Murders in the Building and made her directorial debut for 2023’s Flamin’ Hot.
NATHAN FILLION
Before starring as the titular, best-selling mystery novelist Richard Castle on TV series Castle or as captain of the Serenity in the space-western Firefly, Nathan Fillion, 53, portrayed teenager Joey Buchanan on One Life to Live.
Nathan played the character from 1994 to 1997 and briefly reprised the role in 2007 for the funeral of Joey’s adopted grandfather.
Since departing the series, Nathan has had roles in Serenity (2005) and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023) and has starred in the police procedural, The Rookie, since 2018.
SHEMAR MOORE
Perhaps the longest-tenured soap opera star on the list, Shemar Moore, 54, starred as Malcolm Winters on The Young and the Restless from 1994 to 2005.
The actor briefly returned to the role in 2014 and again in 2019, the latter to honor cast member Kristoff St. John, who died that year.
From 1999 to 2003, Shemar hosted the revival of the music variety show Soul Train before landing a role in Diary of a Mad Black Woman (2005).
The actor returned to television in the same year and starred as Derek Morgan on Criminal Minds until 2017.
Since 2018, Shemar has starred as Sergeant Daniel “Hondo” Harrelson in the CBS action drama, SWAT.
JOSH DUHAMEL
Before he took on Decepticons alongside the Autobots in Transformers, Josh Duhamel, 51, starred in All My Children as part of the super-couple Leo and Greenlee.
He garnered a Daytime Emmy for the part but exited the show in 2002, leaving his character of Leo to die in a shocking twist.
Josh returned to the role of Leo Du Pres in 2011, visiting Greenlee in a dream.
Josh would go on to star as Danny McCoy in NBC’s Las Vegas from 2003 to 2008 and in the Transformers film franchise from 2007 to 2017.
