Scott Evans, who played Oliver Fish on “One Life to Live,” has pleaded guilty to attempted cocaine possession. From 2008-10 Evans was one half of the show’s popular, yet controversial gay couple nicknamed “Kish,” which also featured Brett Claywell as Fish’s love interest Kyle Lewis. However, according to TMZ, Evans isn’t expected to serve any jail time.
From “Cold Spring” to “Prosecuting Casey Anthony,” former soap stars Marisa Ramirez (“General Hospital“), Sam Page (“All My Children“), Patrick Muldoon (“Days of our Lives,” “Melrose Place”), Aiden Turner (“All My Children”), Elizabeth Rohm (“One Life to Live“), Sean Patrick Flannery (“The Young and the Restless”) and Scott Evans (“One Life to Live”) will grace the Lifetime movie screens this month as the group of actors help tell the networks tradition of stories involving stalkings, affairs and murder.
Rick Rowell/ABC
(SoapOperaNetwork.com) — With an amazing spirit that shines from the inside out and a very quick learning curve, Iraq war veteran and motivational speaker J.R. Martinez wasted little time winning over legions of “All My Children” fans after joining the cast of the popular daytime drama in November of 2008. The fearless 28-year old has gone on to win over the hearts of millions more since joining the cast of ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars.” Along with soaring to the top of the leaderboard on the popular dance show, the actor has emerged as arguably the most popular star of the 13th season and a role model to many who may have never heard of him before.
On November 1, Rick Jackson, the President of the Tournament of Roses announced the appointment of Martinez as Grand Marshal of the annual event that airs on January 2. The events theme for 2012 is “Just Imagine…” The theme celebrates the power of imagination, inspiration and determination to encourage people to reach higher and try harder. Jackson felt Martinez was the perfect embodiment of “Just Imagine…” Along with leading off the Rose Parade, Martinez will also toss the coin before the 98th Rose Bowl college football game. Former Grand Marshals of the event include Bob Hope, Richard Nixon, Walt Disney, Roy Rogers, Hank Aaron, Charles Schulz, Frank Sinatra, Gregory Peck and George Lucas to name just a few.
On Monday, November 7, Martinez earned a Tri-Union Diversity Award, along with the likes of television legend Bill Cosby. The Tri-Union Diversity Award is awarded by the three major unions covering actors – the Actors’ Equity Association (AEA), the American Federation of Television and Radio Actors (AFTRA) and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). The award celebrates performers and organizations that “have taken an active stand to make a difference toward a more representational, multicultural community by helping build a foundation for diversity within the industry.” Martinez was chosen for the honor for providing a strong voice to both burn victims and disabled veterans in the industry as a performer on both “AMC” and “DWTS.”
Just this past Friday, which happened to be Veterans Day, Martinez enjoyed his second visit to “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.” His first appearance was as a scheduled guest on October 12. The actor who within a month of his deployment to Iraq in 2003 suffered severe burns to nearly half of his body when his Humvee hit a land mine recently shared his personal story of triumph over tragedy with People Magazine for a cover story. He is on the cover of the November 7 issue. The aforementioned honors are not exactly everyday occurances for current or former daytime actors who have not made it in prime-time or films nor for war veterans. Along with being a fixture on entertainment shows such as EXTRA, Martinez also made a special guest appearance on “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” for its Veterans Day episode.
On “DWTS,” Martinez continues to show-off his quick learning curve and, in a first for the season, earned not just one but two consecutive perfect scores with partner Karina Smirnoff in the 8th week of competiton. On Monday, considered the favorite to take the top spot, Martinez joined soccer player Hope Solo, reality star Rob Kardashian, and probably his most fierce competition, talk show host Ricki Lake in the semifinals. Despite obvious discomfort from an ankle he injured in practice this past weekend, Martinez earned high marks for his efforts but landed in third place as Kardashian continued to show improvement. Tune in to “DWTS” tonite to see if Martinez makes it to the Finals scheduled to begin airing on Monday, November 21. Having made it to the semifinals in the current season of competition, Martinez has already out-danced former “AMC” co-stars and former “DWTS” competitors Cameron Mathison (finished in 5th place in season 5), Susan Lucci (finished in 6th place in season 7) and Aiden Turner (finished in 9th place in season 10).
Adam Taylor/ABC
(SoapOperaNetwork.com) — This evening, ABC confirmed the list of contestants for the 13th season of “Dancing with the Stars.” The list leaked earlier today on Twitter proved to be accurate. Both lists included actor J.R. Martinez, 28, from “All My Children.” Martinez is a veteran of the Iraq war and a highly sought-after motivational speaker for the causes that effect his fellow veterans. He joined the 41-year old ABC soap as Brot Monroe in November of 2008. Martinez follows in the foot steps of former “DWTS” winner Kelly Monaco (Sam, “General Hospital”) and his “AMC” co-stars and former “DWTS” contestants Cameron Mathison (Ryan) Susan Lucci (Erica) and Aiden Turner (ex-Aidan).
Joining Martinez will be a slew of figures from the entertainment (actors, reality stars, commentators, and musicians) and sports world including:
The professional dancers scheduled to partner with these performers include Cheryl Burke, Kym Johnson, Karina Smirnoff, Lacey Schwimmer, Anna Trebunskaya, Tony Dovolani, Derek Hough, Mark Ballas, Maksim Chmerkoviskiy, Val Chmerkoviskiy and Tristan MacManus.
Gilles Toucas
(SoapOperaNetwork.com) — Just days before next cycle’s “Dancing with the Stars” cast is announced during Monday’s episode of ABC’s “Bachelor Pad,” comes word that actor Jack Wagner, who portrays Nick Marone on CBS’ “The Bold and the Beautiful,” is rumored to be joining the cast in the upcoming 11th season of the hit ABC reality-competition series.
While ABC has had soap stars from the past and present appear on the series over the years, it was always someone from within the ABC/Disney family including the likes of “All My Children‘s” Susan Lucci and Cameron Mathison, along with Aiden Turner who appeared in this past spring’s 10th season just after being fired from the ABC soap. “General Hospital‘s” Kelly Monaco won it all in the first season of the program in the summer of 2005. Another notable alum is former “SoapTalk” (which aired on Disney cable network SOAPnet) co-host Lisa Rinna. When pressed for a response an ABC spokesman reminds us that the “network does not respond to casting rumors.”
While Jack Wagner portrayed the role of Frisco Jones on ABC’s “General Hospital” from 1983-1988, 1989-1991, 1994 and 1995, it is highly unlikely that the network would be willing to help promote a rivals competing series, so the chances of him appearing are slim. Meanwhile, Mario Lopez was the closest a daytime soap star from another network has ever come to appearing on the show as he had just completed a brief stint on “B&B” just before “Dancing’s” second season premiere in 2006. He finished second with partner Karina Smirnoff.
The official cast of “Dancing with the Stars’” 11th season will be made on Monday, August 30 during ABC’s “Bachelor Pad.”
Stay tuned to Soap Opera Network and for all the latest developments relating to this story.
Yolanda Perez/ABC
Will Aiden Turner dance away with your votes on Season 10 of “Dancing With The Stars?”
The Season 10 cast of “Dancing With The Stars” was announced during this evenings airing of “The Bachelor: On the Wings of Love.” In an interesting casting move, ABC’s hit Primetime reality competition series has tapped former “All My Children” hottie Aiden Turner as one of its eleven celebrity dancers this season. The casting is surprising due to the fact that the former ABC Daytime actor (and new father) was fired from “AMC” after being given the opportunity to decide whether he’d move with production of the soap to Los Angeles from New York – and deciding to make the move - last fall. The 32-year old Turner, who relocated his family to L.A. on his own dime following his firing, debuted on “AMC” in June 2002 in the role of Aidan Devane. He last aired in the role in December 2009. Before joining “AMC,” the model and Emmy-nominated actor (2003) appeared on popular British soap operas “Eastenders” and “Crossroads.” Turner will be paired with professional dancer Edytha Sliwinska, who has yet to not compete on a season of “DWTS” since its premiere. (3/2/10)
Turner is the third “AMC” star to compete on “DWTS.” The series, which tapes in Los Angeles, that debuted in June 2005 pairs professional dancers with celebrities (actors, comedians, politicians, musicians, athletes, reality series stars, etc.) that have fallen off the A and B lists, or who haven’t quite made it there yet, in an approximately 10-week long dance competition. In Season 5, “AMC” star, as well as “Good Morning America” and “Extra” correspondent, Cameron Mathison was paired with Sliwinska. Mathison finished the competition in fifth place in a season with twelve competitors. Daytime’s biggest star Susan Lucci, who plays the legendary Erica Kane on “AMC,” was paired with Tony Dovolani in Season 7. Lucci finished the competition in sixth place in a season with fourteen competitors. Of course, it was a “General Hospital” star that started the dance competitions love affair with ABC Daytime. Kelly Monaco of “General Hospital” won the inaugural season of “DWTS” with partner Alec Mazo.
The tenth season of “DWTS” premieres on March 22, 2010 on ABC. The celebrities Turner will be competing against this season include (1) model and actress Pamela Anderson (starred on “Baywatch” which was at one time the most viewed television series in the world; Playboy pin-up), (2) reality-star Kate Gosselin (mother of eight; reality star of TLC’s future reality series “Kate Plus 8″ and prior to a messy divorce co-star of the canceled TLC reality series “Jon and Kate Plus 8″), (3) athlete Chad (Ochocinco) Johnson (wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals football team), (4) actress Shannen Doherty (rose to fame on the original “Beverly Hills, 90210” series), (5) singer Nicole Scherzinger (lead singer of the Pussycat Dolls), (6) comedian and correspondent Niecy Nash (starred on “Reno 911!”; corresponds on CBS’s ”The Insider”), (7) athlete Evan Lysacek (2010 Winter Olympic Gold Medalist in Men’s Figure Skating), (8) astronaut Buzz Aldrin (landed on the moon with Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, and was the second man to walk on the moon), (9) broadcaster Erin Andrews (sideline reporter on ESPN; recently in the spotlight when nude video was taken of her through a hotel peephole without her consent), and (10) “The Bachelor: On the Wings of Love” star Jake Pavelka.
The stars professional partners will be announced on Tuesday morning on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
“All My Children” airs Weekdays on ABC. Weeknights on SOAPnet. Check local listings. “AMC” now also airs online at ABC.com and can be accessed 24/7.