Life In The Fast Lane, the special section in the 11/20 issue of Digest, features characters on all the soaps who were born on-screen — and in most cases, aged to ridiculous extents. We focused on two from AS THE WORLD TURNS — Katie (born 1989) and Luke (born 1995) — but frankly, all nine pages could have been about the children of Oakdale. We find it endlessly amusing to remember that Bonnie was actually born the same year as Will, even though she was aged to be a contemporary of his late sister, Jennifer (born in 1990), and that Alison is actually the youngest of them all. Here’s the full list, and for those of you wondering about Paul? He wasn’t actually born on-screen, but was introduced in 1980 at age 3 — just six years before a teenaged Meg arrived on the Snyder farm. (Note to ATWT: If you’re thinking of bringing back Casey, you might want to remember that he was born the same year as Aaron and the also-absent Lucy.)
Thomas Christopher Hughes (b. 1961)
Number Of Portrayers: 13 (James Madden, Jerry Schaffer, Frankie Michaels, Richard Thomas, Paul O’Keefe, Peter Link, Peter Galman, C. David Colson, Tom Tammi, Justin Deas, Jason Kincaid, Gregg Marx, Scott Holmes)
By 1964, Tom’s age had already accelerated to about 10 — just in time to act out in response to his parents’ divorce. Shortly after that, his behavior got him shipped off to military school by Lisa, who had also poisoned his mind against Bob. By the late ’60s, he was a sullen teenager whose bad-influence college roommate, Hank, got him hooked on speed. After a tour in Vietnam, Tom returned to his rebellious lifestyle and then — in the year he should have turned 9 — he went on trial for murdering his stepfather, Michael Shea (because he thought Lisa had done it). In 1972, Tom got married for the first time, to Carol Deming. He entered his 30s when C. David Colson took over in 1973, and later got about seven years younger when Justin Deas began playing him in 1981, and another eight when Gregg Marx was cast in 1984. So, after spending nearly 20 years in his 30s, Tom finally hit his 40s in the 1990s, when Scott Holmes was well into his run as the 13th — and longest-running — Tom.
Emily Stewart (b. 1972)
Number Of Portrayers: 7 (Janine Sagan, Pat Reynolds, Jenny Harris, Marisa Morell, Colleen McDermott, Melanie Smith, Kelley Menighan Hensley)
Born to Susan and Dan Stewart in 1972, Emily was played by Marie Masters‘ real-life daughter, Jenny Harris, beginning in 1975, when she was 6. In 1986, Colleen McDermott was cast, making her a rebellious teen, and Melanie Smith (who was in her early 20s) took over the next year. ATWT now officially places her birth year at 1966, which makes Em older than her portrayer, Kelley Menighan Hensley.
Christopher Robert Hughes (b. August 30, 1986)
Number Of Portrayers: 8 (Adam Hirshan, Eren Ross Cannata, Christian Seifert, Ben Jorgensen, Paul Korver, Alan White, Bailey Chase, Dylan Bruce)
Delivered in the Hughes cabin by Dr. Casey Peretti, Kim and Bob’s youngest child, Chris, was aged by a couple of years when Christian Seifert took over in 1992, but his first big leap came in 1999, when Chris, now played by Ben Jorgensen, turned 18. Paul Korver aged him more when he was cast that year, and thus began the tradition of Chrises who looked older than they said they were. In 2002, Chris was supposedly only 25, even though portrayer Bailey Chase was about 30. At least the current Chris, Dylan Bruce, has brought the character (who would have just turned 21) back to the right decade: He’s about the same age that Korver was when he took over.
Aaron Snyder (b. July 2, 1991)
Number Of Portrayers: 2 (Mason Boccardo, Agim Kaba)
Aaron’s baby years were filled with so much drama about who his father was (Holden, from a one-night stand with Julie) and who would raise him (he was originally adopted by Iva), that he didn’t have time to age rapidly. But in 2002, after spending most of his formative years in Seattle with mom Julie and stepdad/uncle Caleb, Aaron returned to Oakdale as a surly 17-year-old and started dating Lucy Montgomery, who was also born in 1991.
William Ryan Munson (b. May 31, 1993)
Number Of Portrayers: 4 (John Pink, Bryan Abadrabo, Brett Groneman, Jesse Soffer)
Will stayed young and sweet until Barbara and Hal’s final divorce in 2000, when Brett Groneman took over and Will (who was acting out in school) saw his first psychologist at around age 9. The therapy didn’t work too well because in 2004, he was sent to a psychiatric institution for poisoning Rose (who had died). At the time of his release, Will (now played by Jesse Soffer) was16, but still deeply troubled. That would make him only 19 now, but he’s already married and desperately trying to have a kid of his own.
Bonnie Louise McKechnie (b. March 31, 1993)
Number Of Portrayers: 4 (Carolyn Aimetti, Chloe Morris, Napiera Danielle, Chauntee Schuler)
Bonnie is another child who was born and had a few uneventful childhood years before her parents, Jessica and Duncan, divorced and she was shipped off to a European boarding school. This spoiled girl showed up in 2001 after running away from her fianc, a duke, and has grown up a lot: Portrayer Napiera Danielle was in her mid-20s, though Bonnie was supposed to be about 21. Now, having made perhaps the most dramatic gains of any of Oakdale’s children, she has returned to town as a lawyer, though she should have just turned 14.
Alison (McDermott) Stewart (b. July 11, 1994)
Number Of Portrayers: 4 (Amy Princine, Sarah Hyland, Jessica Dunphy, Marnie Schulenburg)
Alison split her time between mom Susan’s house (where her sister/egg donor Emily was also usually living) and infrequent visits to her dad, Larry, in Chicago, and by 1999, she was 10. When Jessica Dunphy began playing her in 2002, she was 17, like Aaron and Lucy — and let a much younger Will take the fall for her arson regarding the Snyder barn. That made her 18 in time to lose her virginity to Chris in 2003.
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