I remember an interview Ryan did a few years ago with Jane Pauley (CBS Sunday Mornings, I think?) and her time on ATWT was mentioned (they showed clips but those could have been edited into the segment in post). She didn't seem particularly fazed by it. She said had very little experience then.
In a podcast interview, Scott Bryce told an anecdote about how when Ryan was leaving, he mentioned to Larry Bryggman that he believe she would make it big in movies and Larry had an incredulous expression, because he thought Ryan was very quirky (when quirky was bad, apparently). In the interview last summer, Bryce was like 'Was it right, or was I right?'
Marisa Tomei has been very candid about feeling overwhelmed by the rapid pace and little rehearsal time of daytime soaps. The irony is, with all her theater experience, I think she'd be much more capable of handling the pace now.