Before he got Footloose Kevin Bacon had roles in two daytime soaps, as Todd in Search for Tomorrow and Tim in Guiding Light
Early in his career tough guy Robert de Niro had a bit part in Search for Tomorrow
Mark Hamill will be forever associated with Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker, but he previously played Kent Murray in General Hospital
David Hasselhoff had hits with Knight Rider and Baywatch and these days is famous just for being "the Hoff", but in the 1970s he played Snapper Foster in The Young & The Restless
Tommy Lee Jones has an illustrious film career, before which, in the early 1970s, he spent four years playing Mark Toland in One Life to Live
These days Demi Moore is as well known for her marriage to a younger man as for her acting roles, but in the early 1980s her fame came from playing Jackie Templeton in General Hospital
To sci-fi fans she is Voyager's Captain Janeaway, but to soap fans of the 1970s, Kate Mulgrew was Mary Ryan in Ryan's Hope
In the early 1980s Meg Ryan spent two years playing Betsy Stewart in As The Word Turns
Veteran actress and campaigner Susan Sarandon had roles in both Search for Tomorrow and A World Apart
Before he was President of the United States (on TV, at least), Martin Sheen appeared in Edge of Night
Nightime soaps have also been a convenient launchpad for the careers of some of the biggest movie stars around:
A young Brad Pitt turned up in Dallas as a boyfriend of Charlie Wade
Alec Baldwin played a wife-beating TV evangelist in Knots Landing
Halle Berry also turned up in Knots Landing as a love interest for Frank Williams
Can you think of any more Hollywood stars that got their break on a soap? Why not let us know on our blog?
