They Started on Soaps...and then came back...

[John]

An almost come back

On Brandon's Buzz Erika Slezak revealed that for the 40th in 2008 OLTL tried recasting Joey but couldnt find anyone. Erika suggested Nathan Fillion. ABC semed to think his agent wouldnt allow it. Later Erika told Nathan about it and he said he would have come back full time. That was the year before Castle began

[Paul Raven]

Looking at that list it seems that nightime soaps used a lot of daytime people.I don't think that gave them much more credibility than daytime soaps in terms of casting for other roles. So it was back to daytime for them.

Corbin Bernsen started on soaps (Ryan's Hope) and then landed LA Law,which at the time was quite a prestigious gig. He got Golden Globe and Emmy noms and kept working before Y&R and GH. Guess his connection to Jeanne Cooper may have colored his feelings about accepting a soap gig.

Eric Roberts started on AW and was on his way to stardom until personal stuff got in the way.Y&R welcomed him a few years back.

[Vee]

There's a difference between people who came "crawling back" (or at least opting for a steady paycheck) vs. choosing to return while still viable in primetime and film. The former list is much longer: Jack Wagner, Rena Sofer, Emma Samms, etc. The difference is that people like Jonathan Jackson and to a lesser extent Vanessa still have an outside soap profile which allows them to go back and forth. JJ is doing fine in primetime, and Vanessa, well, I have no clue what she's up to but if she needed the dough she'd be back. Justin Hartley also cultivated enough of a primetime rep in his years away to be able to net the big role on This is Us. He, Vanessa, and Jonathan all played the return stints right.

[NothinButAttitude]

I still get pissed that Debbi wasn't pivoted into something bigger after Eve's Bayou. Her performance along with the rest of the cast was stellar. One of the many movies with a predominate Black cast in the 90s that was criminally overlooked by the academy. 

[Melroser]

Alicia Coppola has done a lot of primetime between AW and Y&R

[applcin]

Re Eric Roberts, he seems to be one of those actors that has no snobbery about any genre, from soaps to "reality shows", LMN movies, I've even seen him on an Italian miniseries. He appears to be very in demand. He may not have commanded as big bucks as Julia did at one point but his resume' is a lot longer and he shows no signs of slowing down. I've seen some of his projects over the years but, I have to say, his recent appearance on "A Haunting Of" was really interesting in terms of seeing his personality and where he's at in life right now. Even seeing the house he lives in is pretty modest by Hollywood standards and a little away from it all. Hearing about some of the stuff he had to deal with in his earlier life, particularly from parents and stepfather and a horrific accident, and then seeing how he is now, gave me a new respect for the guy. 

[SoapDope]

After her stint on Dynasty, Deborah Adair was cast on that show FInder Of Lost Love's by Aaron Spelling. He loved that woman.