Today, he’s keeping Sharon and the streets of Genoa City safe on The Young and the Restless, but many soap viewers recall Jordi Vilasuso from his first soap role — and now, he’s headed for a reunion with stars from that show.
Jordi Vilasuso: Recalling Guiding Light
Vilasuso made his daytime debut as Tony Santos on Guiding Light in 2000. He won the Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Younger Leading Actor for his GL role in 2003.
The Santos clan exploded onto the Springfield scene and the mafia family included Paul Anthony Stewart (Danny), Saundra Santiago (Carmen), the late Miriam Colon (Maria), along with Vilasuso. They were the family you didn’t want to cross and with whom Michelle Bauer (Joie Lenz and Nancy St. Alban) became entwined.
“The Santos family came on when The Sopranos had hit,” Vilasuso recently told TV Insider. “We didn’t pull punches. We were in it. We were the ‘Santos crime family’ and it was so much fun.”
Now, Vilasuso, Stewart, Santiago, Lenz, and George Alvarez (Father Ray) are all reuniting for a fun-filled Q&A hosted by former GL publicist Alan Locher. You can check out the Q&A and other GL and As the World Turns online cast reunions by clicking here. The Santos clan reunion is set for Wednesday, May 6 at 3 p.m. ET/12 p.m. PT.
Vilasuso didn’t hesitate to say yes to the upcoming reunion. He laughs that when he first joined daytime, he wasn’t so sure about doing press with the industry’s soap opera magazines — a hesitation that didn’t last long at all!
“I remember telling [Alan] that I took myself way too seriously when I got the role,” Vilasuso recalls with a chuckle. “I was 19 and was going to be the next Robert De Niro! We were in a restaurant in New York and he told me about the magazines that cover the soap opera world. I said, ‘I don’t do press.’
“Two weeks later, I was doing a photoshoot on a shag carpet with my shirt off and my hair was all blown out … [Laughs] That whole idea of me taking myself too seriously didn’t last long! Being on Guiding Light was a magical time in my career. What a great group of folks.” The Young and the Restless airs weekdays on CBS. Check local listings for air times.
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