MIKEY JEROME ON GH GIG

LATE-BREAKING NEWS

Last week, as Sonny barely clung to life following his fall from the bridge in New Jersey, he was aided by a kind stranger played by Mikey Jerome, who won the third season of the SOAPnet reality show I WANNA BE A SOAP STAR. His victory led to a short-term role as Ted Osbourne on ONE LIFE TO LIVE back in 2006.

Jerome’s daytime comeback came about by chance. He explains, “I became a bartender in this beach town called Hermosa Beach and I have a pretty big following down there. One of my friends, Darlene, is friends with Frank Valentini,” GH’s executive producer, who was Jerome’s EP at OLTL. “She said, ‘Mike, you know Frank?’ I said, ‘Yeah I know Frank! He’s the one who took me through the SOAP STAR thing, he’s the one who made my dreams come true!’ He cast me on ONE LIFE and I think I was there for nine months total, doing two episodes a week or one episode a week here and there. She gave me his [information] so I could get in contact with him. I emailed him, and he called me back like 15 minutes later. He said, ‘You know, Mikey, Covid’s really tough right now, but I would love to get you back on ABC.’ I sent my information along and then [Casting Director] Mark Teschner emailed me and said, ‘Frank would love for you to do an audition,’ so I put the audition on tape, I sent it in, and a few weeks later, I found out I got the role.”