Soaps Hottest Shirtless Hunks
Burning up daytime screens.
Soaps.com has created a list of some of the hottest hunks to grace daytime television. From All My Children, Another World, As The World Turns, Bold and the Beautiful, Days of our Lives, General Hospital, Guiding Light, One Life to Live, Passions, and Young and the Restless. We’ve gathered together the men that kept and still keep viewers tuning in. Some were staples on the show, involved in major super-couples, while others only were part of soap operas for a few years before moving on to other shows. It is impossible to include every hottie, so let us know in the comments who your favorite hunk is, or was, and why.
All My Children
It’s impossible not to think of Ryan Lavery (Cameron Mathison) when one thinks of Pine Valley. This conman came to town to make a fortune but ended up winning over the hearts of fans with his brown hair, blue eyes, and unbelievable body. He was also part of the show’s major triangle involving friends and rivals Kendall Hart (Alicia Minshew) and Greenlee Smythe (Rebecca Budig).
Jonathan Lavery (Jeff Branson) came to town in search of his brother but was a bit of a bad boy. However, just like Ryan, he was delicious to look at. He was presumed dead in a bomb explosion, but made his return and found redemption with the oh so popular “the tumor made me do it” storyline.
Prominent Pine Valley couple Tad Martin (Michael E. Knight) and Brooke English (Julia Barr) gave birth to Jamie Martin (Justin Bruening), who had that charming boy next door look to him. He broke many hearts during his time in town but never settled down to marry. He left Pine Valley to become a doctor, an occupation many soap hunks take up.
Another World
Bay City heartthrob Jake McKinnon (Tom Eplin) was sometimes hated, and other times adored by fans. He came to town with Victoria Love (Jensen Buchanan/Ellen Wheeler/Anne Heche) to con her parents out of money, only to fall in love with her twin sister Marley. Viewers loved his dark hair and high school jock-like build.
One of “AW’s” biggest hunks was Ryan Harrison (Paul Michael Valley), who along with Vicky (Jensen Buchanan) was a wildly popular super-couple for the show. Viewers got lost in Ryan’s eyes for days. In fact his eyes were so beautiful they got a storyline of their own when they were found to have been transplanted into Dr. Shane Roberts (Robert Kelker-Kelly) after Ryan’s death.
Gary Sinclair (Timothy Gibbs) was the dark horse cop with a drinking problem, who was saved by the love of a cadet he was training, Josie Watts (Amy Carlson). Like many soap cops, Gary wasn’t afraid to bend the rules in order to get the bad guy. However, it was his washboard abs that were truly criminal!
More: Soaps most surprising births
As the World Turns
In the 1980s every wealthy soap family owned a stable of horses, which meant they needed a hot stableboy. Holden Snyder (Jon Hensley) came to Oakdale to work at the Walsh Stables and fans fell in love with this brown-haired cowboy’s good looks from the start.
Dusty Donovan (Grayson McCouch) arrived in town as a rebellious teen only to later find himself heir to the Stenbeck fortune. With his salt-and-pepper hair, piercing eyes and chiseled jaw, it was hard not to be swept away by his good lucks. Unfortunately, Dusty was so hated that at one point he had to resort to the old soap trick of faking one’s death to escape his enemies.
Paul Ryan (Roger Howarth) suffered a horrific childhood, after being taken from his adoptive parents at the age of three by his biological ones. A product of SORASing (Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome), he quickly grew up in Europe and returned to town to be involved in classic soap plots such as faked deaths and baby switches. He won fans over with his long blond hair and humor.
The Bold and the Beautiful
Bill Spencer Jr. (Don Diamont) hit Los Angeles after his father’s death and inheriting half of Spencer Publications. Since then he’s had a rivalry with Ridge Forrester (Thorsten Kaye). Bill’s dark hair, close-cut beard and broad chest have kept fans of “B&B” glued to their screens for years.
Rick Forrester (Jacob Young) works in his family business of Forrester Creations but has always been extremely jealous of his uncle Ridge. He’s manipulated many over the years and seduced plenty of women as part of his schemes, but his blonde hair and California appearance have found him a place in many viewer’s hearts.
Deacon Sharpe (Sean Kanan) found himself right at home on “B&B” with his surfer boy looks and charm. He came to L.A. to reclaim his son Little Eric, and eventually found himself in an explosive triangle involving Brooke Logan (Katherine Kelly Lang) and her daughter Bridget Forrester (Ashley Jones).
Days of our Lives
Bo Brady (Peter Reckell) epitomized the eighties with his long brown locks, his beard, and his chest full of hair. He was the rebel with the heart that many viewers wanted to be rescued by on his motorcycle, and was half of one of Salem’s biggest super-couples, Bo and Hope (Kristian Alfonso).
From his first meeting with Sami Brady (Alison Sweeney) in nothing but a wet towel, EJ DiMera (James Scott) became an instant hit with the viewers. He was tall, often had a day’s worth of stubble, and of course a killer British accent. EJ wavered between the dark side and light, as he battled his DiMera genes, but his love for Sami won him over in the end.
Daniel Jonas (Shawn Christian) was Salem’s doctor who seemed to become romantically involved with almost every one of his female patients. With his shaggy brown hair, scruffy face, and surfer style, many viewers gladly would have liked a house call from this doctor.
General Hospital
Dr. Noah Drake (Rick Springfield) was the doctor everyone wanted operating on them in the eighties. Springfield quickly shot to fame on and off the show, especially after his hit single “Jessie’s Girl.” He would later return to the show playing the dual role of Noah Drake and his rock-star look-alike Eli Love.
With his blond hair and Australian accent, Jasper Jacks (Ingo Rademacher) was the hottest import in Port Charles in the nineties. Jasper, or Jax as he went by, found himself involved with two of alleged mob boss Sonny Corinthos’ (Maurice Benard) loves. The Australian and the coffee king both held flames for Brenda Barrett (Vanessa Marcil) and Carly Corinthos (Laura Wright) at various points in time.
Nathan West (Ryan Paevey) came to Port Charles to find his sister’s killer, only to end up winning over viewers with his killer eyes and insane body. This is one detective who looks better out of uniform instead of in it. As if he couldn’t be any more perfect, Nathan speaks French and is an amazing cook.
Guiding Light
Though he wasn’t in Springfield for long, Hart Jessup (Frank Grillo) made a quick impression on viewers with his dark hair, olive skin and physically fit body. As with other hunks on our list, Hart spent part of his time working as a stable hand while searching for his roots. Hart turned out to be the son of the show’s major villain Roger Thorpe (Michael Maslow) and eventually died after his ex-wife accidentally shot him.
Long before he was exiting audiences in “Magic Mike,” Matt Bomer was playing bad boy Ben Reade on Guiding Light. Sadly this hunk eventually went psychotic and killed himself with a lethal injection in order to prevent himself from further harming those he cared about.
Springfield’s hottest super couple was without a doubt Josh Lewis (Robert Newman) and Reva Shayne (Kim Zimmer). The couple had multiple marriages as Reva just couldn’t resist his intense eyes, beard, and of course his thick head of hair. Josh’s love for Reva was so strong that he once had her cloned after she was presumed dead, leading to one of daytime’s wackiest stories ever.
More: Soaps most memorable twins
One Life to Live
Tuc Watkins played David Vickers and was Llanview’s resident actor, sometimes con-man, and always the comedian. He was tall, handsome and built like a brick house. David has made his way into the beds and wallets of many of Llanview’s high society gals over his years on the soap.
Rex Balsam (John-Paul Lavoisier) was another of the show’s opportunists and schemers. Like many soap hunks, Rex thought he knew who his family was, only to have his history re-written as the storyline suited. Rex charmed many viewers and women with his boyish looks and smile.
Brody Lovett (Mark Lawson, Dustin General Hospital) was a former Navy SEAL and Llanview police officer. With his blue eyes and military sculpted body, Brody heated up daytime with his numerous shirtless scenes. Sadly his character succumbed to PTSD and was admitted to the local sanitarium, but was released by the show’s finale.
Passions
Ethan Winthrop (Eric Martsolf, Brady Days of our Lives) thought he was part of Harmony’s royal family the Cranes, only to learn he was the product of his mother’s affair with the local police chief years ago. Ethan spent most of his time chasing the love of his life Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald (Lindsay Hartley), and usually lost his shirt in doing so.
Ethan’s half-brother Nicholas Fox Crane (Justin Hartley) became his rival not only in the family business but also for the love of Theresa. Fox was smug, stuck up, and had a tongue as sharp as his spiky blond hair.
The hottest thing to come out of Harmony was most certainly officer Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald (Galen Gering, Rafe “DOOL”). Luis took care of his struggling middle-class family, while at the same time protecting the town from crime. Somehow Luis often shed his shirt in the line of duty, but you wouldn’t dare find any viewers complain about this unrealistic piece of writing.
The Young and the Restless
Genoa City’s prodigal son Nicholas Newman (Joshua Morrow) has long found himself as part of the show’s hottest love triangle between Sharron Newman (Sharon Case) and Phyllis Summers (Gina Tognoni). Fans love him whether he’s sporting a short buzz cut or long brown locks. He often wears a white tank undershirt which shows off his muscular arms.
Malcolm Winters (Shemar Moore) became an instant sensation with viewers when he hit “Y&R” in the nineties as Neil Winters’ (Kristoff St. John) half-brother. The brothers haven’t always gotten along and found themselves at odds during a “who’s the daddy” storyline, but eventually worked things out when Neil was stricken blind.
JT Hellstrom (Thad Luckinbill) was a teen heartthrob who grew up to be a fine-looking young man. The blond looking boy next door was involved with several of Genoa City’s ladies, but it was his coupling with Colleen Carlton (Lyndsy Fonseca) which gained him such popularity with the fans, in spite of the character’s controversial differences in age, 18 and 15.
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