Cast against type

[j swift]

As I was reading @slick jones excellent work on recording Soap Hoppers, it occurred to me that some soap actors have been cast as characters, on different soaps, that were so diametrically opposed one would never assume that they would cast the same actor.

 

Susan Pratt - from Anne the Virgin Nurse on GH to vixens like Claire(GL) and Barbara(AMC)

 

Jerry Ver Dorn - from Mid Atlantic Ross (GL) to Texan Clint (OLTL)

 

Meave Kinkaid - from blue collar/sweet Angie Peretti (AW) to high class/bitchy Vanessa (GL)  

 

far too often we see actors play the same type from soap to soap, I would be interested in any other examples of actors breaking the mold

[Vee]

Cady McClain as Rosanna.

 

I tuned in to her on ATWT after years of disliking late 90s Dixie and was blown away. She was a completely different person, and brilliant in her first stint.

[Faulkner]

Sonia Satra as evil Nurse Barbara on OLTL after playing sniveling Lucy Cooper on GL.

[P.J.]

Vincent Irizarry, from troubled Lujack to slimy everyone else except Nick McHenry.

[j swift]

I think it's interesting to note that of all the volleying of actors between GH and Y&R most of them wound up with similar roles.  Billy Miller is still a moody scallywag, Kristen Storms is always a blond in need of rescue, and Michelle Stafford is a slightly off-center bad girl.  The personalities and professions of their characters have small differences between shows, but they all play a similar part within the canvas as a whole.  In other words, Billy Abbott isn't a doctor, but Jason Thompson is still playing a cad who needs to be reformed by the love of woman.  In each case there may have been an attempt to introduce them with different characteristics, (like when Nina first emerged from the coma), but they have all fallen back on their established persona.

 

I wonder if executives or fans are more to blame for not casting more recent soap actors against type when they switch shows?  I'm willing to bet that if Sonia Satra could pull off two different roles, Maura West could probably play someone a bit more differentiated from Carly.

[Franko]

Let's go with John Wesley Shipp, from Kelly on GL to Doug on ATWT. That reveal had to have surprised a few fans of both shows.

[applcin]

Michael Zaslow from villainous Roger Thorpe (GL) to good guy David Renaldi (OLTL) twice over for each

Michael Easton - vampire Caleb on PC to cop John McBain on OLTL

Kassie DePaiva and Laura Wright both played basically nice girls on GL (Chelsea and Cassie) and not-so-nice girls on OLTL (Blair) & GH ( Carly)

Stephen Nichols from streetwise hero Patch (DOOL) to wealthy, manipulative Stefan (GH)

[Faulkner]

Nancy Addison: Wasn’t strong-willed heroine Jill Coleridge on RH a very different character from Kit Vested on GL, who was known as a psycho? Never seen any GL clips from the early ‘70s featuring Kit.

 

 

[j swift]

Not to contradict, just to converse, but I would say Cassie and Carly became very alike over the years.  The character descriptions vary but the performance is the same.  I would also attribute the differences between Blair and Cassie as being more about the maturation of Kassie Depaiva into a better soap actress, but both were leading lady/damsel in distress types, Blair's evil ways tended to ebb and flow based on how she was written.  However, both actress seem to have a limited number of tricks to truly differentiate their characterizations in the same way that Susan Pratt achieved.

 

SO, I would argue that they weren't really cast against type, they just tried to play a new character and fell back on old techniques.

[applcin]

I see what you're saying j swift. I guess I was thinking more about character motivations than the actress' performances. 

OTOH, I definitely wouldn't have pegged Stephen Nichols for the role of Stefan Cassadine after he had made such an impression as Patch who was, quite literally, the polar opposite.