Actor Michael Lowry has made quite a name for himself in daytime, having played All My Children's Jake Martin, As the World Turns' Les Sweeney, The Bold and the Beautiful's Dr. Hillman, and One Life to Live's Ross Rayburn. But none of his soap opera roles compared to his time on the digital drama Tainted Dreams.
The actor took on the role of Jordan Bradford in the series that ran from 2014 to 2016, and he tells Soap Central that it truly did portray the behind-the-scenes world of soap operas in a realistic light.
"So many people have misconceptions, when you meet fans, about what it's like. People say, 'You work really, really hard! You work for 14 hours a day! Um, no: sometimes you go on for two hours," he says candidly about the reality of filming soap operas, which is central on Tainted Dreams. "We were all kind of cast like how we were on our shows, so my character is kind of struggling with being a soap star and likes that he's got a good job but maybe he wants more, so he's content, but there's also a conflict in him about whether or not he wants to be at this show. But at the end of the day, everybody wants to be a star and be working."
But more than that, Lowry enjoyed how the project brought him back into communication with one of his AMC cohorts and one major Pine Valley star he never had the chance to work with while he was at the ABC soap.
"[Reuniting with some former costars] was fantastic and such a great surprise," he shared. "Walt Willey [ex-Jackson Montgomery], I worked with him on All My Children for a long time. But it's ten years later, and you don't think you're going to work with these people again. And it's such a different context. It's not like you have to put on your soap character and do all the bullshit. What I liked about our show is that it's a very grounded feel, almost documentary-style approach to things. I never worked with Alicia Minshew [ex-Kendall Hart]. She and I didn't cross paths on All My Children, so that was nice. I always heard about her, so it was great to get to work with someone who was such a huge star on that show after I left. So that was cool."
Tainted Dreams has wrapped for now, but Lowry has managed to keep quite busy in the last year. He can be seen in this year's TV movie Dirty Dancing, as well as the films Aftermath and Yellow Fever.
Did you tune in to Tainted Dreams? Which AMC cast members would you love to see reunite in new projects? 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.
