It’s inevitable, you’re watching nighttime TV or a movie and say, “Oh, Wow! It’s [insert actor name here]”. Many stars started out on soaps, but some of those roles turned out to be good luck charms for more than one actress.
In 2007, Annie Wersching played Amelia Joffe on GENERAL HOSPITAL. The TV producer hired Sam to host her own talk show EVERDAY HEROES, but she had an ulterior motive. Amelia blamed Sam for killing her father. Back in her con artist days, Sam, a.k.a. Angela, married Bill Monroe for his money and ended up killing him. (As it turned out, Bill was violent and Sam killed him in self-defense.) Wersching went on to prominent roles in several prime-time shows, including FBI agent Renee Walker on 24, bloodsucker Lily Salvatore on THE VAMPIRE DIARIES and time machine pilot Emma Whitmore on TIMELESS.
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Darby Stanchfield also played vengeance-seeker Joffe. She made a short-term visit to Port Charles while Wersching was filming the Company Man pilot for FOX. Stanchfield’s biggest role came in 2012, as Abby Whelan on SCANDAL, one of Olivia Pope’s former crisis-management “Gladiators” who advanced to White House Chief of Staff.
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AS THE WORLD TURNS alum Amanda Seyfried landed her first role as Lucy Montgomery in 1999 when she was 15. Seyfried departed in 2001. The actress went on to major roles in various films and series including
Mean Girls, VERONICA MARS,
Mama Mia! and the upcoming TWIN PEAKS reboot. In a 2010
interview with Backstage, Seyfried good-naturedly admitted she was let go from the daytime show because her acting skills weren’t so hot. Seyfried, said, “I was so bad they had to ship my character off.”
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Peyton List stepped into the role of Lucy in 2001 and the character entered into a popular complicated romance with older man Dusty Donovan (Grayson McCouch). The actress, who left ATWT in 2005, has been featured in a number of shows including MAD MEN. She currently stars as detective Raimy Sullivan in the fantasy series FREQUENCY on The CW.
Paige Turco’s first role was troubled teen Dinah Marler on GUIDING LIGHT. After two years on the soap, Turco departed in 1989. Her first major post-soap role was reporter April O’Neil in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movies. She currently stars in the sci-fi show THE 100 on The CW.
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Dinah returned to Springfield in 1995 with Wendy Moniz in the role. Now Dinah was spoiled, scheming and money-grubbing. After four years, Moniz left the show. Her next big role was on NASH BRIDGES. She’s recently had recurring roles on HOUSE OF CARDS, KINGDOM with her husband Frank Grillo (ex-Hart, GL) and most recently, she’s appeared as Julianna Wallace, the wife of the protagonist, in the CBS medical drama PURE GENIUS.