I Wanna Be a Limited Range Actor!

August 09, 2006

Apparently, there aren’t any actors coming out of undergrad theatre programs anymore.

So the Soap Opera Network is training actors for us. They have produced three seasons of “I Wanna Be A Soap Star,” wherein contestants compete for a 13-week contract on “One Life to Live.”

Season One winner Mykel Shannon Jenkins did his 13 weeks on “General Hospital” and the show signed him for a second season. Season Two winner Alex Musser ended up on “All My Children,” is now a series regular with a multi-year contract.

The final contestants for season three are down to two:

Kelly- a yoga enthusiast who can cry on cue, and is “good at playing the victim.”
Mikey- a bartender from New York who is certain his “positive attitude” and “ability to show emotion” will help him win.

The reality show’s big finale reveal will be when the character debuts this Friday on "One Life to Live." The real challenge has been keeping the winner a secret, as the soap is currently filming the winner on set.

Contestants on "I Wanna Be a Soap Star" are put through soap opera challenges such as kissing (convincingly) on cue, feigning amnesia, and returning from the dead.

Says Michael Bruno, a casting director and judge on the show, “As in daytime television, and television and film in general, there is no one voice in the casting process … the one I really like may not be the one who gets it.''