Jack Wagner Says Soap Opera Acting Can Teach ‘Bad Habits’ (Exclusive)

Jack Wagner knows starring in a soap opera is like nothing else — but it can also lead to some “bad habits.”

Wagner, 65, spoke to PEOPLE exclusively as he returns to The Bold and the Beautiful this week as Nick Marone. The daytime alum previously appeared as the character from 2003 to 2012. Before that, he starred as Frisco Jones on General Hospital beginning in 1983.

Starring on a soap opera, where actors have to perform dozens of pages of dialogue in a single day, he said, is “great for memorization.” He added, “I think it’s also great if you’re trained enough to understand what it takes to have a believable performance in a very short time. And sometimes you can get script changes right before a scene.”

But despite the many actors who got their start in soaps, Wagner says, “I don’t necessarily agree that it’s such a great training ground.”

“What I don’t like about it is that you can develop bad habits that you lean on as an actor,” he said, speaking from experience. “You want to create moments,” he explained, but sometimes that keeps an actor from “being still or being just in the moment.” Soap actors can “lean on inflections” or “lean on words or phrases that really aren’t in the dialogue because there’s so much to do in such a short period of time.”

“Those are the habits I really had to work on. To be able to stay more present in the scene, do less busyness,” he said. “Because that just comes out of nerves, really, to try to make something happen or give it some action. And it doesn’t always require that.”

Still, he said of starring on soaps, “It’s a great training ground in terms of preparation and [figuring out] ‘how do I give a performance that’s fantastic, the best it can be.’ That’s terrific.”

Wagner explained that throughout his career, he’d always “gratefully” joined shows that were in progress and had fans. “I joined General Hospital. That was my first big break,” he said. “Then my next really big break was joining Melrose Place.” He joined the primetime soap in season 3 in 1994 as Dr. Peter Burns. 

“I’ve always been pretty confident in terms of myself as a performer,” he said. “So I feel when you’re in that place, the only thing that can really intimidate you is if you’re not prepared. And I was always very prepared.”

As for how he keeps storylines fresh, Wagner says the key to soaps is figuring out how to “make this believable” even if a storyline is “kind of wacky.” 

“For me, which has always been a plus and a curse, I always want to make it funny,” he said. “So I’m always looking for where the comedy can be here, where the sarcasm can be. Because I feel romantic leading men have to be charming. And part of charm is a sense of humor. So I’ve always tried to incorporate a sense of humor in Nick.”

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Nick’s “summer story arc” on The Bold and the Beautiful began airing June 16 and sees Nick stirring up old feelings with Katherine Kelly Lang’s Brooke. Wagner, who also stars on When Calls the Heart, teased that Nick and Brooke might make it out of the summer, adding that there’s a “possible future here for Nick with Brooke.”

The Bold and the Beautiful airs weekdays on CBS and streams the next day on Paramount+.