Stars Who Started Out on Soap Operas: Brad Pitt and More

Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos famously got their start in daytime drama, but they aren’t the only ones who kicked off their career with a dip in the suds.

Demi Moore on ‘General Hospital’

Demi spent two years as reporter Jackie Templeton on the then red-hot soap, but knew she wanted bigger things, although the 60-year-old later admitted she had no clue what she was doing. “I was fully faking it till I made it,” she recalled, adding, “But the soap opera was not where I wanted to be. It was just a starting-off point.” (And how, she went on to become one of the highest-paid stars in Hollywood!)

Eva Longoria on ‘The Young and the Restless’

The Desperate Housewives alum was a series regular on the soap, playing Isabella Braña Williams from 2001 to 2003. But the 48-year-old doesn’t have fond memories of the gig. The Texas native recently told Andy Cohen she faced racism and sexism on set. “Oh yeah, ‘Could you do that more spicy?’ when I was on Young and the Restless,” she said one exec asked. “‘Could you do that more Latin-y and spicy?’ and I was like, I don’t know what that means.”

Brad Pitt on ‘Another World’

In 1987, the former high school basketball player got his first speaking part on the show, which ran from 1964 to 1999. For two episodes, the 59-year-old played Chris, a smart-mouthed high school basketball player, delivering such memorable lines as, “Woodrow Wilson hasn’t had a winning team since my old man was here!”

Michael B. Jordan on ‘All My Children’

The 36-year-old actually replaced his future Black Panther costar Chadwick Boseman as troubled teen Reggie Montgomery when he joined the sudser in 2003. Both actors later criticized the writing of the character. “No dad, no mom, a f–king stereotypical Black role in a soap,” Michael said. “And I saw the stereotype, so moving forward I was like, ‘Nah, those are the roles I don’t want to play.’”

Julianne Moore on ‘As the World Turns’

Playing half sisters Frannie and Sabrina Hughes garnered the 62-year-old a 1988 Daytime Emmy. She gave the show a shout-out in her 2015 acceptance speech after winning a Screen Actors Guild Award for Still Alice. “I was so excited when they wrote two parts for me: the classic twin sister role, the good and the evil one, and I couldn’t wait to do it,” she told the crowd. “I was so excited, and then I realized it was super boring to act by myself.”