‘Passions’ Ended 15 Years Ago: Where Are the Strange Soap’s Stars Now?
Fifteen years ago, soap opera fans said goodbye to network television’s most recently created daytime drama, as Passions lost its berth at DirecTV just months after getting the boot from NBC.
Premiering in 1999, Passions “didn’t disappoint in the wackadoo department,” as Soaps.com noted earlier this year. A witch cohabitated with a living doll, a human heartthrob hot-tubbed with a zombie, a socialite got orders to stay alive from Princess Diana’s ghost, a surgeon reattached a character’s penis upside-down, and a fantasy musical number in the vein of Chicago boasted a performance by an orangutan. (And producers reportedly attempted to submit that orangutan, BamBam, for a Daytime Emmy Award.)
With storylines as eyebrow-raising as those, perhaps Passions was just too weird for TV. NBC canceled the soap in 2007, and so it moved to DirecTV’s The 101 Network, only to be canceled again later that year, with the final episode airing on August 7, 2008. Now that we’re a decade and a half out, catch up with the longest-serving Passions stars with the photo gallery below.
Lindsay Hartley (Theresa Winthrop)
Hartley recently appeared in the Lifetime movies Deadly Daughter Switch and Young, Stalked and Pregnant and filled in for Kelly Monaco on General Hospital. She has also segued into directing TV movies.
McKenzie Westmore (Sheridan Crane)
Galen Gering (Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald)
Since 2008, Gering has been playing police commissioner Rafe Hernandez on Days of Our Lives. His son Jensen, meanwhile, stars on the Nickelodeon series Erin & Aaron.
Juliet Mills (Tabitha Lenox)
Mills appeared as roomie-turned-patient Maxine in five episodes of Grey’s Anatomy earlier this year. She recently took voice roles on Big Mouth, Human Resources and the upcoming ARK: The Animated Series.
Brook Kerr (Whitney Russell)
Since 2020, Kerr has been playing Dr. Portia Robinson on General Hospital, earning a Daytime Emmy nomination earlier for her performance this year. Her son is Sistas actor Chris Warren.
Liza Huber (Gwen Hotchkiss)
Huber, daughter of soap legend Susan Lucci, retired from acting after Passions. She’s now the founder and CEO of Sage Spoonfuls, a brand of mealtime essentials for babies and children.
Eric Martsolf (Ethan Winthrop)
Like Gering, Martsolf jumped ship to Days of Our Lives in 2008: He plays businessman Brady Black on the soap. He and Days costars Brandon Barash, Carson Boatman, and Wally Kurth perform as an acoustic band called The Day Players.
Ben Masters (Julian Crane)
Masters died of COVID in January after years of battling dementia. He was 75 years old. Passions was Masters’ final onscreen appearance in a Hollywood career that included roles in the films All That Jazz, Key Exchange, and Dream Lover.
Kim Johnston Ulrich (Ivy Winthrop)
Ulrich hasn’t had a longstanding role since Passions but still pops up on TV every so often: In the last decade, she has guest-starred on Castle, Major Crimes, Law & Order True Crime, and The Rookie.
Danica Stewart (Jessica Bennett)
After Passions, Stewart appeared in two episodes of Heroes and a film titled Darkening Sky but hasn’t been seen onscreen since. She did, however, tie the knot with Ben Hogestyn, son of longtime Days star Drake Hogestyn, in 2019.
Charles Divins (Chad Harris)
Divins moved on from Passions with guest starring roles on My Boys, the Melrose Place reboot, and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. He’s now an anchor and reporter for Spectrum News 1 Texas.
