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<p>By the time Haiduk joined <em>Days of Our Lives</em> as Kristen DiMera and Susan Banks, playing two characters at once was old hat to her. She’d already done it on <em>The Young and the Restless</em>, where she’d brought to life both shrink Emily Peterson and Patty Williams, the crazy cat lady who’d undergone plastic surgery to resemble her favorite therapist.</p>
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<p>When Jen Lilley reprised her role of <em>Days of Our Lives</em>’ Theresa Donovan so that the character could say goodbye to Victor Kiriakis, whose portrayer John Aniston passed away in 2022, she thought that she’d be playing out a whole little arc. Come to find out, Theresa did have a storyline coming up — but Lilley didn’t. The powers that be explained to the gobsmacked actress that she was being replaced by a bewigged O’Brien, who was already playing Gwen Rizczech on the show. (Listen in as <a href="https://soaps.sheknows.com/days-of-our-lives/comings-and-goings/690205/theresa-recast-emily-obrien/" target="_blank">Lilley tells the tale here</a>.)</p>
Image: ABC/Courtesy of the Everett Collection (2)
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<p>Following a 1978-84 stint on <em>General Hospital</em> that was so wildly successful, it made him the envy of every other soap star, the actor, ultimately an eight-time Emmy winner, returned to the show in 1991, but not as mega-popular Luke Spencer, as his cousin, Bill Eckert. He’d wanted to try something new. Who wouldn’t, right? But when viewers’ reaction to the character was more lukewarm than Luke-hot, Geary reclaimed his original role, frizz and all, and played it until he retired to Amsterdam in 2015.</p>
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<p>It was an outbreak of SORAS on <em>The Young and the Restless</em> in 2008 that transformed Victor Newman and Ashley Abbott’s daughter Abby from lil’ Darcy Rose Byrnes to teenage Erin. Fifteen years and an Emmy-winning stint on <em>General Hospital</em> (as Kiki Jerome) later, the actress returned to Genoa City. But since Melissa Ordway was by then rocking the role of Abby, Erin was handed the plum part of Claire Grace. “I’ve had twice as much life experience since I was last here,” she told <a href="https://www.tvinsider.com/1106634/the-young-and-the-restless-hayley-erin-returning-new-character-airdate/" target="_blank">TV Insider</a>. “It’s great to come on and play a new character as I’m a new person myself.”</p>
Image: John Paschal/JPI, Lorimar/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
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<p>Back in the late ’70s, this soap icon made his mark as <em>Days of our Lives</em>’ Chris Kositchek, aka the non-throttling-inclined big brother of the Salem Strangler. After he left the soap in 1987 in order to focus on his primetime series — <em>Valerie</em>, which was suddenly without its lead, Valerie Harper —he returned 10 years later, but in the role of Roman Brady, which had been handily vacated by Wayne Northrop.</p>
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<p>Debuts don’t get any more impressive than Brown’s. After she landed in Port Charles as <em>General Hospital</em> spitfire Carly Roberts, she picked up Emmy after Emmy after Emmy. Then, seven years after she took her leave, she went back to the ABC soap in the new role of Mafia princess Claudia Zacchara — who awesomely got to lock horns with the show’s <em>current</em> Carly, Laura Wright!</p>
Image: CBS screenshot, CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
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<p><em>The Young and the Restless</em> must have known a good thing when it saw it. So after <a href="https://soaps.sheknows.com/gallery/soap-opera-stars-oscar-nominees-winners-photos/" target="_blank">the Oscar winner</a> wrapped his short stint as the future Nikki Newman’s abusive father Nick Reed in 1979, the soap put him back on the payroll as the character he seemed born to play: Katherine Chancellor’s true love, reformed con man Rex Sterling.</p>
Image: CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection, Aaron Montgomery/JPI
8/34
<p>The world wept when in 1990, <em>The Bold and the Beautiful</em> killed off its virtuous original heroine, Caroline Spencer. So it didn’t take long for the CBS soap to attempt to dry our tears with pages upon pages of script rewrites. Only a year later, Johnson was reintroduced to the canvas as Caroline’s brunette twin sister, Karen, who hung around for three years before returning in 2012 with a new significant other, wife Danielle (<em>Days of our Lives</em>’ Carly Manning, Crystal Chappell).</p>
Image: John Paschal/JPI, Jill Johnson/JPI
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<p>When SORAS struck <em>Days of Our Lives</em>’ Brady Black, this soap-hopper landed the role of John and Isabella’s son. Thirteen years after he departed in 2005, he returned — but at that point, his old character already had a new portrayer, <em>Passions</em> vet Eric Martsolf. No matter: Lowder simply took over as Rex Brady, the legacy character that Eric Winter had originated on his way to starring on <em>The Rookie.</em></p>
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10/34
<p>Over the years, <em>Young & Restless</em>’ Lauren Fenmore has occasionally been called two-faced. But in 2010, she — or, rather, her portrayer — really <em>was</em>. For three eventful months, the Emmy winner played not only her regular character but also tormentor Sheila Carter’s twisted sister, lookalike Sarah Smythe (who fans nicknamed “Lipstick Lauren” owing to the shade of gloss that distinguished her from Michael Baldwin’s wife).</p>
Image: Kristin Callahan/Courtesy of the Everett Collection, ABC
11/34
<p>The saying “You can never go home again” simply doesn’t apply to Braun. A dozen years after leaving <em>General Hospital</em> as a stunningly well-received recast Carly Corinthos, she made tracks back to Port Charles in the new role of Dr. Kim Nero. She also doubled up at <em>Days of our Lives</em>, where she first played the Patch Johnson-obsessed Ava Vitali, then Nicole Walker’s sister, Taylor (the less said about that, the better), then trouble-magnet Ava again.</p>
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12/34
<p>The <em>Young & Restless</em> Emmy winner is always willing to rise to any challenge that’s presented him. But he would have just as soon not have been presented with the one that found him playing not only Jack Abbott but doppelgänger Marco Annicelli in 2015. “It wasn’t strongly based in anything,” he told <a href="https://soaps.sheknows.com/gallery/storylines-stars-hated/" target="_blank"><em>Soap Opera Digest</em></a> in 2023. “It was [former headwriter Charles Pratt Jr.] deciding there’s a guy in a prison in South America who looks and sounds exactly like Jack [to the point]… It was so hard to do, and I was just dying every day trying to make it work.”</p>
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<p>For a few months in 2003, <em>Bold & Beautiful</em> fans thought that they were seeing double — and, technically, they were. That’s because the Emmy winner who played mischievous Amber Moore took on a second role: that of the troublemaker’s p*rn-star twin sister, April Knight.</p>
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14/34
<p>After the fan fave played the OG Roman Brady on <em>Days of Our Lives</em> for two stints of three years apiece, it was tough for the audience to see him as anyone but. Damn near impossible was accepting Northrop as Alex North in 2005. The conniving doctor was Marlena Evans’ heretofore-unknown first husband and a card-carrying rat bastard who wouldn’t be known for long thereafter. (He was killed off only a year later.)</p>
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<p>At 17 years old, the future <em>One Tree Hill</em> star was cast by <em>Guiding Light</em> in a role that completely and totally shouldn’t have worked — that of Reva Shayne’s rapidly-maturing clone. The odds were stacked against the daytime newcomer, yet she struck a nerve and so impressed the powers that be, as well as the audience, that after the remake was aged into Kim Zimmer, Lenz was hired by the CBS soap to replace Rebecca Budig (later Greenlee Smythe on <em>All My Children</em>) as ingenue Michelle Bauer.</p>
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<p>After the veteran actor was killed off <em>The Young and the Restless</em> as Abbott family patriarch John in 2006, the show attempted to unmake that grave mistake, first by bringing him back as his character’s ghost and then, in the new role of con artist Alistair Wallingford.</p>
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<p>The <em>Days of Our Lives</em> leading lady had been playing Hope Williams for ages before she was issued a crown and a cigarette and told that the good girl had a lookalike in royal pain Princess Gina Van Amberg. Before all was said and done — that is, if it’s even done now — flashbacks, mistaken identities, computer chips and mind control kept her highness alive long after she had died.</p>
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18/34
<p>After ABC made the boneheaded decision to cancel <em>One Life to Live</em> in 2011 — still pissed, BTW —this Emmy winner was invited to cross over his popular character to <em>General Hospital.</em> When legal issues subsequently sent Todd Manning packing, the actor took on James Franco’s former role and miraculously transformed psychotic Franco Baldwin into Mr. Popularity. After yet another boneheaded decision sent the redeemed baddie to an early grave, Howarth was re-recast as surprise Quartermaine Austin Gatlin-Holt. And killed off yet again!</p>
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<p>From 2013-18, the then-soap newcomer succeeded against all odds at <em>The Young and the Restless</em>, overcoming a godawful introduction storyline to make Hilary Curtis a fan favorite. When contract renegotiations <a href="https://tvsourcemagazine.com/2018/06/interview-mishael-morgan-agent-david-ritchie-on-why-contract-talks-with-the-young-and-the-restless-ceased-exclusive/" target="_blank">broke down over salary squabbles</a>, she exited stage left, only to return in 2019 as Amanda Sinclair, a lookalike lawyer who turned out to be — what were the odds! — Hilary’s heretofore-unknown twin sister.</p>
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20/34
<p>By the time <em>Days of Our Lives</em> had made Ben Weston an off-his-rocker serial killer, both the show and viewers were crazy about the <em>All My Children</em> alum (who’d played Palmer and Opal Cortlandt’s son, Pete). So the suits restored the character to mental health — yes, Marlena Evans is just that good — and capitalized on his chemistry with Victoria Konefal’s Ciara Brady. When she decided to set sail in 2022, rather than break up the supercouple,<em> Days of Our Lives</em> let Ben leave with his bride while Wilson stayed behind to tackle the new role of bespectacled (but still shirt-averse) Alexander Kiriakis.</p>
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<p>Technically, it may not count as playing different roles on the same show since all of the alters into which <em>The Young and the Restless</em>’ Ashley Abbott splintered in 2024 were a part of her. But no one can say that Belle, Mrs. Abbott, etc., weren’t hella distinct personalities, right down to their manner of speaking and sense of style.</p>
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<p>Kids on soaps are generally sent to their rooms and/or shipped off to a Swiss boarding school. But not <em>The Young and the Restless</em>’ Cassie Newman. So adorable and talented was her portrayer that in 2000, the 10-year-old became the youngest-ever winner of the Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Younger Actress. Following her character’s heartrending demise in 2005, she was “resurrected” in a sense in 2014, when the CBS soap rehired her to play Cassie’s heretofore-unknown twin sister, Mariah Copeland.</p>
Image: NBC/Courtesy of the Everett Collection, John Paschal/JPI
23/34
<p>After a highly successful —enviable, even! — run as <em>Days of our Lives</em>’ Adrienne Kiriakis, the Emmy winner (for her work as Beth Raines on <em>Guiding Light</em>) jumped ship to play Paulina Cory on <em>Another World</em>. She then returned to <em>Days of our Lives</em>, but as Bonnie Lockhart, who was basically the antithesis of sweet Adrienne. In the years that followed, she’s played one, the other and sometimes both, only further cementing her status in our heads as a soap legend.</p>
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<p>More than a dozen years after <em>Days of Our Lives</em> killed off Berris as nasty Nick Fallon, the actor was given a new lease on life. Kinda two of ’em, in fact. In 2023, he boomeranged back to the soap in the new role of Everett Lynch… who might also be named Bobby Stein. Was there a split-personality thing going on or what? It would be a while before we’d find out!</p>
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<p>Well into the <em>Yellowstone</em> star’s 2005-08 run as hard-luck heroine Gwen Norbeck on <em>As the World Turns</em>, the soap decided to throw an extra challenge at her: a second role. So while still playing Will Munson’s true love, Landon started also playing Gwen’s kooky lookalike Cleo Babbitt, who only <em>wished</em> that she was Will’s true love.</p>
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<p>Over the decades, <em>Days of Our Lives</em> has served the iconic actress three ways: first and foremost as reliable Dr. Marlena Evans, then as the ultimate hell-raiser, Satan, and finally, as flashy-dressing lookalike Hattie Adams. Wait, does that make Satan only the <em>second</em>-wildest character she’s played?</p>
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<p>Once a working-class dog, always a working-class dog. Nearly a quarter of a century after the pop star’s initial 1981-83 <em>General Hospital</em> stint as Dr. Noah Drake, the playboy’s portrayer revisited Port Charles as his old character’s lookalike, rocker Eli Love. A few years after <em>that</em>, he came back yet again, this time to tackle a role for which he was beyond perfect: himself.</p>
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<p>In 1989, the much-missed <em>Young & Restless</em> Emmy winner got a chance to ditch Katherine Chancellor’s baubles for a spell to play her lookalike, rough-around-the-edges waitress Marge Cotrooke. Twenty years later, Cooper reprised the role for a storyline in which Katherine was mistakenly believed to have died when, in fact, is was Marge who had met her maker.</p>
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<p>In the late 1980s, this undervalued scene stealer from <em>The Young and the Restless</em> did what Shelley Taylor Morgan (ex-Lorena, <em>General Hospital</em>) couldn’t and successfully replaced Jane Elliot (ex-Tracy, <em>General Hospital</em>) as <em>Days of our Lives</em>man-eater Anjelica Deveraux. Nearly 30 years later, Chapman returned to Salem, albeit in a new role, that of Diana Colville, previously played by Genie Francis (Laura, <em>General Hospital</em>).</p>
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<p>In 2002, <em>General Hospital</em> tried to capture the same lightning in a bottle that <em>Santa Barbara</em> had when Davies was paired with Nancy Lee Grahn as Mason Capwell and Julia Wainwright in the 1980s. It didn’t quite work out for Cameron Lewis and Alexis Davis, but 22 years later, the show set the actors up for a rematch by casting Davies as Fergus Byrne, the brother of Alexis’ ill-fated lover, Neil.</p>
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<p>After <em>Young & Restless</em>’ Sheila Carter gave henchwoman Sugar Webber a makeover that turned her into a lookalike in 2005, Brown juggled both parts off and on until 2024. That was the year that Sugar resurfaced on <em>Bold & Beautiful</em> just in time for Steffy Forrester to take a literal stab at getting rid of her monster-in-law once and for all. Better luck next time, Stef!</p>
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<p>The year 2006 was a weird one on <em>The Young and the Restless</em>. Mere months after Sheila Carter and Sugar Webber were both running around with Kimberlin Brown’s face, the indestructible villainess turned up sporting the mug of <em>Stafford’s</em> character, Phyllis Summers. “I don’t know how well-received the storyline was,” the Emmy winner Instagrammed in 2023, “but it was <a href="https://soaps.sheknows.com/the-young-and-the-restless/news/691778/michelle-stafford-favorite-storyline/" target="_blank">one of my favorites</a> to play!”</p>
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<p>“Two-timer” doesn’t even begin to cover it where Easton is concerned. He first appeared on <em>General Hospital</em> in his former <em>One Life to Live</em> role of John McBain. Then he reprised his <em>Port Charles</em> role of Caleb Morley (Stephen Clay if you’re nasty!) and created not one but two new characters: doctors Silas Clay and Hamilton Finn. Can anybody beat his record for reinvention? Only one fellow soap star, and she is…</p>
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