These Beloved Daytime Stars Cut Their Acting Teeth On Days of our Lives

They’ve become household names on other soaps, but these much-beloved stars made their daytime TV debuts on Days of our Lives.

Days of our Lives Graduates

Some had tenures that were a flash in the pan, and others literally grew up onscreen. What they all have in common is starting their serial careers in Salem, USA.

Susan Flannery
Flannery won critical acclaim and three Daytime Emmy Awards for her portrayal as steely matriarch Stephanie Forrester on The Bold and the Beautiful, but she first snagged a golden lady for her nine-year tenure at DAYS. Between 1966 and 1975, Flannery’s Dr. Laura Spencer Horton was at the center of several front burner storylines, most notably a paternity potboiler that saw husband Mickey believing that he’d sired Michael Horton when, in truth, his brother Bill was the natural parent.

Don Diamont
On The Young and the Restless, Diamont played Brad Carlton, an odd-jobs man turned corporate executive, and since 2009, he’s been portraying The Bold and the Beautiful’s merciless publishing magnate William “Dollar Bill” Spencer Jr. But for an eight-month period back in 1984, Diamont was Carlo Forenza, a South American refugee bound and determined to destroy Days of our Lives’ smarmy Neil Curtis, the man he held responsible for his father’s death. To achieve his goal, Carlo seduced Neil’s wife, Liz Chandler. Soon after, he met his maker at Neil’s hands.

Darin Brooks
Brooks currently stars on The Bold and the Beautiful as Wyatt Spencer, “Dollar Bill’s” youngest illegitimate son. Previously, he could be seen on Days of our Lives as girl-crazy Max Brady.

Tracey Bregman
Once the epitome of a “mean girl,” Bregman’s alter-ego on Y&R, Lauren Fenmore, has mellowed and matured…an evolution hopefully shared by the character she played on DAYS. Her Donna Craig was a hellion who made life a misery for Don Craig, the father she learned about late in adolescence, and his lady love, Marlena Evans.

On the couple’s wedding day, Donna threatened to hurl herself out a window — and when Don intervened, he wound up taking a non-fatal plunge. Later, Donna found herself at the mercy of a perverted pornographer. Don to the rescue yet again.

Kirsten Storms
General Hospital devotees know her as Mariah Maximilliana “Maxie” Jones, but viewers glued to DAYS in the early aughts most certainly remember Storms as Isabella “Belle” Black. During Storms’s time on the show, Belle achieved supercouple status with Jason Cook’s Shawn Brady, and first battled mad Jan Spears for his affections.

Days of our Lives (DOOL) airs weekdays on NBC. Check your local listings for airtimes. For more about what’s coming up in Salem, check out all the latest that’s been posted on DAYS spoilers, and for an in-depth look at the show’s history, click here.