Bold and Beautiful’s Thorsten Kaye Marks 30 Years In Soaps — Relive His Daytime Career!

Kaye — and his flowing locks — was living in Los Angeles when he landed the role of Patrick on OLTL. He accepted ABC's offer to fly him out to do a screen test because "I’ve always liked New York and I had a lot of friends on Broadway, so it was a chance to go and drink beer with them," he told Soap Opera Digest in 2019. After going out and drinking with his chums the night before the screen test, Kaye didn't think much of his chances. "By the time I got to my screen test the next morning, I was convinced that I would not get this job. There was no way! And I also didn’t want it that much because of the same reason that people make fun of daytime now. I didn’t know how hard it was; I thought those were just the pretty people who didn’t go to [acting] school." Still, "Getting that first job felt great because you think, ‘Finally, somebody is going to pay me to act.' "

Not only was Kaye a hit in the role, but he hit it off rather famously with love interest Susan Haskell, his future wife. They exited the show together in 1997 after their characters said, "I do." Of the Patrick/Marty love story, Kaye told Digest in 2018, "I enjoyed that whole storyline and, obviously we’ve been together ever since. That’s my wife and the mother of my kids."

In 2000, Kaye was lured back to daytime to portray Ian Thornhart — Patrick's brother — on the General Hospital spinoff Port Charles. It was for playing Ian that he earned his first two Daytime Emmy nominations, with nods for Outstanding Lead Actor in both 2003 and 2004.

Ian had several romances during his three years on PC, including one with Lynn Herring's Lucy. But in 2017, Kaye cited his involvement in the show's supernatural storyline as a standout memory. "When Ian turned [into a vampire on PC]! I really liked that story, but unfortunately, it ended pretty much there. That was right before it was canceled [in 2003], so I think I canceled that show, as well, because of my turning to the dark side!”

In 2001, the actor briefly got to share the screen with Haskell once again when she made a guest appearance on PC in the role of Granya, Ian (and Patrick's) sister.

In 2004, Kaye returned to the East Coast to take on the part of Zach Slater on AMC. In 2011, reflecting on joining the Pine Valley ranks, Kaye mused to Digest, "It sounded like a nice opportunity to work with some people I knew, including Julie [Carruthers, executive producer], who I had worked with on Port Charles. Zach had more money than I'll ever have — he had boats and planes and Armani suits — so it was an escape for the actor, too. It's cool to become someone who is so removed from who you are and who you will ever be."

On AMC, Kaye's most popular pairing as Zach was with Alicia Minshew's Kendall Hart. The pair (pictured in 2006) forged a real-life friendship that continues to this day, in no small part because Kaye introduced Minshew to her husband, his longtime pal Richie Herschenfeld. Kaye teased to Digest of Zach and Kendall, known to their fans as "Zendall," "The ‘Zendall’ fans were a very vocal bunch about what they liked and what they didn’t like. I remember they sent a lot of gifts over to the studio. People can keep sending stuff, by the way. I’m okay with that.”

While on AMC, Kaye's Zach also occasionally interacted with Greenlee, played by Rebecca Budig, who would later play his on-again, off-again love interest on B&B, Taylor.

AMC went off the air in 2011, but in 2013, it was briefly revived online, and Kaye (pictured with Debbi Morgan as Angie Hubbard) was one of the actors who moved from the television cast to the Internet cast. "I knew I wanted Thorsten," Executive Producer Ginger Smith told Digest of how she went about assembling the reboot's players.

Later that same year came the surprise announcement that Kaye had been tapped to play the role of B&B's Ridge, which had been vacated the previous year by Ronn Moss, who had played the part since 1987. "I'm not really sure how this all happened," he told Digest when he first landed the gig. "I talked with Brad [Bell, head writer/executive producer], who is a real gentleman, and he said, 'Would you be interested in doing something?' I said, 'Of course.' I didn't know what this part was or what I was being asked to play, but it was grown-up money and a grown-up cast with dressing rooms." Learning who he would be playing "definitely was a shock," Kaye admitted, joking, "They got somebody at 47 who looks like he's 65 to replace someone who's 61 who looks like 43?"

In both 2023 — the year he hit the 10-year mark on B&B — and 2024, the actor took home the Outstanding Lead Actor prize at the Daytime Emmys for his work as Ridge. "I gotta tell you, this is the longest I’ve ever stayed anywhere,” the actor marveled to Digest upon the milestone moment of his decade at the show. “Usually six years is my cut-off!”