Jon Lindstrom schools major stars on what it's REALLY like to be a soap actor

General Hospital star Jon Lindstrom (Kevin Collins/Ryan Chamberlain) explains why it was a miracle that he got his gig when he did. He also spills the beans on schooling major actors on what it's REALLY like to be a soap opera star.

Soap opera fans consider themselves lucky to have the talents of Jon Lindstrom on their screens, and the actor says he feels the same way -- especially given that his jobs as General Hospital character Kevin Collins and As the World Turns character Craig Montgomery came at the perfect moments.

In a new interview with publicist Suzanne Curry, the actor says that in addition to meeting his wife, Cady McClain (ex-Dixie Cooney, All My Children; ex-Rosanna Cabot, ATWT; ex-Kelly Andrews, The Young and the Restless), his most memorable moments from his time on soap operas include the fact that the jobs came just in the nick of time.

"Mainly they're events that typify a milepost of my own personal journey," he explains. "Getting my first one [playing Brady Chapin on Rituals] while I was at my bartending job, having it dawn on me that the next morning my life would completely change. Getting GH when I was terribly in debt and had no prospects and was just happy to be hired for what was intended to be a few months and hopefully earn enough to pay off my credit cards, then putting everything I had into the gig, and here I am today."

He continues, "Getting ATWT the same day I won a restraining order against a stalker which gave me a way out of LA and into NYC which I'd always wanted to do. That led to my first Emmy nomination and, of course, to Cady. And that time in NY led to my directing my first feature film, and then took us back to LA where I was asked to rejoin GH. It's been a real sidewinder of a life, and I wouldn't have it any other way."

As it turns out, soap opera fans aren't the only ones who are interested in Lindstrom's experiences in daytime. Some pretty big stars that he's worked with over the years also have a lot of questions about what it's really like to be a soap opera star.

"It's funny, a few years ago I was doing True Detective and Timothy V. Murphy, a sensational actor who had never done one, asked me what it's like to do a soap," Lindstrom explains. "I said it was like any other gig: you learn your words and do your job. He was surprised. He thought it was just like Tootsie. Amazing how that movie has informed the public perception of daytime, but couldn't be further from the truth. It's a great movie, though!"

Meanwhile, Lindstrom explains a time when he was working on GH back in the early 90s when he bumped into a very big star who didn't have a clue about soap opera work.

"I was on stage at GH one day, probably back in '92 or '93. I'm just standing in the dark waiting for everyone to move to my set and who walks up behind me looking for someone but Martin Sheen," the actor recalls. "We had friends in common so we start chatting and he's looking at whatever was being shot that moment and asks me, 'Do you guys ever use cue cards?' I had to stifle a laugh. I've only seen cue cards once in my entire daytime career, and it was actually a teleprompter which they set up for me when I was early in my Kevin/Ryan days, because there was so much dialogue. I asked them to take them away. No one I know has ever used them. They're too distracting."

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For more from Lindstrom on his experiences as a daytime star, including what it's like to shoot those infamous evil twin scenes, check out his full interview with Suzee Behind the Scenes here.

What do you think about Jon Lindstrom's behind-the-scenes soap opera stories? What do YOU think it's like to be on a soap opera? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.

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