15 Soap Stars Who Appeared On Both Days of our Lives And General Hospital

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(From l. to r.) Steve Burton (Jason, GH; ex-Harris, DAYS), Stephen Nichols (Steve, DAYS; ex-Stefan, GH), Genie Francis (Laura, GH; ex-Diana, DAYS) and Greg Vaughan (Eric, DAYS; ex-Lucky, GH).

It is not uncommon for soap actors to hop around from one daytime drama to another. Take Charles Shaughnessy, for example, the actor soon to return as Days of our Lives’s Shane Donovan who also appeared on General Hospital as Victor Cassadine. Here’s a look back at 15 daytime favorites — including Shaughnessy — who have spent time in the soap cities of both Salem and Port Charles.

NBC

DAYS’s “Roman” (Drake Hogestyn) — and Diana’s (Genie Francis) romance got off to a passionate start in Greece.

1. Genie Francis

Genie Francis rose to daytime fame on GH, where she portrayed Laura Webber Baldwin Spencer from 1977-82. In 1987, she made her way to DAYS as journalist Diana Colville, who entered into a steamy romance with Roman Brady (later revealed to be John Black). Francis left the show in 1989 and eventually rejoined the GH cast.

2. Michael Easton

Soap-hopper Michael Easton made his daytime debut as DAYS’s Tanner Scofield, portraying the rebellious son of The Spectator’s former editor, Vern, from 1990-92. Almost a decade after he left Salem, Easton made his way to Port Charles, playing Steven Clay and Caleb Morley on the eponymously named GH spinoff. But it wasn’t until a decade after that, in 2012, that the actor finally landed on GH proper, bringing to life the first of three characters he’d play during a 12-year tenure: John McBain, Silas Clay and Hamilton Finn.

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After they played besties Jason and Carly on GH, Steve Burton’s Harris and Tamara Braun’s Ava dated on DAYS.

3. Steve Burton

Steve Burton’s first soap role was a short-term stint on DAYS as teen Harris Michaels in 1988, but he truly made his mark in the genre after joining GH in 1991 as Jason Quartermaine, who became Jason Morgan after sustaining a brain injury in 1995. Between runs on GH, he rejoined the DAYS ranks as Harris in 2022, first on the streaming spinoff Beyond Salem and, in 2023, on the main show.

4. Tamara Braun

Tamara Braun has the distinction of playing two roles — a recast and a new character — on each of the two soaps. She made her daytime debut on GH as the second Carly Corinthos, a role she claimed from 2001-05, then joined DAYS in 2008 as Steve’s ex, Mafia princess Ava Vitale, for a six-month storyline that won her a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress. After briefly returning to DAYS in 2011 to take over as Taylor Walker, Braun went back to GH from 2017-19, creating the role of Drew’s ex, Dr. Kim Nero, before reprising DAYS’s Ava once again in 2020.

5. Thaao Penghlis

Thaao Penghlis created the role of Victor Cassadine during the Ice Princess storyline in the summer of 1981. He exited the canvas when the character was sent to prison, and then returned again in 2014 when the villain was supposedly killed off. Several months after his first Port Charles stay, Penghlis moved over to DAYS, where he found a new soap home playing the dual roles of Count Anthony “Tony” and Andre DiMera. The actor appeared off and on as one character or the other — and sometimes both — from 1981 to 2023, and is slated to reprise Tony again later this year.

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Jane Elliot (top) as DAYS’s Anjelica with Judi Evans (Adrienne) and Wally Kurth (Justin).

6-7. Jane Elliot & Wally Kurth

Best known to daytime audiences for her on-again, off-again run as GH’s Tracy Quartermaine, Jane Elliot first played the Port Charles heiress from 1978-80. The actress had dalliances with several other daytime dramas before landing at DAYS in 1987 as Anjelica Deveraux. During Elliot’s two-year stint in Salem, Anjelica had an affair with the much-younger Justin Kiriakis — played by Wally Kurth — and became pregnant with his child. Elliot left DAYS in 1989 to return to GH and was reunited with Kurth in 1991 when he joined the cast as Tracy’s son, Ned Ashton. Exiting the ABC soap once again in 1993, Elliot reprised the role a decade later and has appeared on and off as Tracy ever since. Following Kurth’s initial GH run (which lasted until 2007), he rejoined DAYS in 2009. In 2013, he began appearing again on GH — and has continued to juggle his roles on both soap operas.

8. Kirsten Storms

Kirsten Storms first charmed daytime audiences when she played DAYS legacy character Isabella “Belle” Black, the daughter of supercouple John and Marlena, from 1999 t0 2004. After her Belle ping-ponged back and forth between Philip and Shawn for a few years, Storms exited Salem and took on the mantle of another legacy soap opera character when she joined GH as a recast of Frisco and Felicia’s older daughter, Mariah Maximilliana “Maxie” Jones.

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Stephen Nichols as Stefan, Mary Beth Evans as Katherine, and Tyler Christopher as Nikolas on GH.

9. Tyler Christopher

The late Tyler Christopher played Laura Spencer’s son, GH’s Prince Nikolas Mikail Stavrosovich Cassadine, on and off for 20 years: from 1996-99, 2003-11, and a third and final stint from 2013-16. So, when the opportunity presented itself to create a new character — Stefano and Vivian’s son, Stefan — on DAYS in 2017, he jumped at the chance. “I kind of felt like I was starting over again, so I had that renewed sense of spirit for the work,” he told Digest at the start of his two-year Salem run.

10-11. Stephen Nichols & Mary Beth Evans

Stephen Nichols and Mary Beth Evans rose to fame during the 1980s as one of DAYS’s iconic supercouples, Patch and Kayla. Nichols joined the soap first, playing Steve from 1985-90, with Evans making her debut in 1986. Shortly after leaving DAYS in 1992, Evans moved over to GH, where she played Katherine Bell from 1993-99. Between their DAYS stints, Evans and Nichols were reunited when he joined GH as Stefan Cassadine from 1996-2003. Post-Port Charles, both actors reunited once more in Salem in 2006.

12. Brandon Barash

Brandon Barash’s daytime debut was as GH’s Johnny Zacchara, the younger of mob boss Anthony Zacchara’s two children — who was actually Anthony’s grandchild, since big sister Claudia was actually his mother! After playing Johnny from 2007-13, Barash reprised the role for a 2014 story arc and then returned full-time from 2015-16. In 2019, he joined the ranks of DAYS, switching between DiMera twins Stefan and Jake before exiting in 2024.

13. Greg Vaughan

Fans of the two soaps first got to know Greg Vaughan when he took over the role of GH’s Lucky Spencer, playing the detective son of iconic soap couple Luke and Laura from 2003-09. In 2012, the actor joined the family tree of another iconic soap couple when DAYS recast the role of Roman and Marlena’s son, Father Eric Brady. Although Eric’s time as a priest was short-lived, Vaughan’s tenure in the role lasted until the character left town with the love of his life, Nicole, in 2024. He’s been back for short visits since and will do so again later in 2025.

JPI

Theresa (Jen Lilley) with her parents, Shane (Charles Shaughnessy) and Kimberly (Patsy Pease).

14. Charles Shaughnessy

After Charles Shaughnessy briefly appeared on GH as Alistair Durban in 1984, Shane Donovan arrived in Salem that same year to investigate Stefano DiMera for global security agency ISA. The actor played the spy until 1992, briefly returning in 2002 and 2012 before settling in for longer runs from 2012-13 and 2015-17. (During 2017, he also played Shane’s twin, Drew). In 2021, GH resurrected Victor Cassadine as the head of another global security agency, the WSB, recasting the role with Shaughnessy. That same year, he reprised the brothers for DAYS’s Beyond Salem streaming spinoff, and most recently played Shane on the mothership in 2023 before his upcoming appearance on March 17.

15. Jen Lilley

Long before she was a Hallmark leading lady, Jen Lilley was put in the unenviable position of playing GH’s Maxie as a long-term replacement while fan favorite Kirsten Storms was out on medical leave in 2011. Having caught the attention of DAYS producers during her 11-month Port Charles run, Lilley moved to Salem to portray Shane and Kimberly’s trouble-making daughter, Theresa, from 2013-16. She popped back in again in 2018 and 2023 before the soap recast the role.