- 'The Young and the Restless' is a popular American soap opera
- It's one of the longest-running shows of all time
- THESE are the cast members with the most time in
The show has some of the longest-standing cast members in the soap opera world, anywhere on international television. Until 2013, American actress Jeanne Cooper held the spot of longest-running 'Young and the Restless' cast member, having had been with the show for 40 years! But that's all changed now.
When she passed away in 2013 at the age of 84, Jeanne also held the eighth spot on the all-time list of longest-serving soap opera stars! Let's take a look at the top 5 actors on the list now! Currently, none of the cast members have been with the show since it began in 1973, but let's see who has the most episodes under their belt now!
This cast is timeless!
In fifth place is the iconic, Melody Thomas Scott who plays "Nikki Newman." She has a total of 3,384 episodes on the show and counting. Who knows how many she'll rack up before her time on the show is done. "I never would have found myself on the path to CBS Television City had I not listened to my agent," she told 'TV Insider' in 2019.
"Soaps weren’t on my radar. Nothing was, actually. To be guided to this show, and to meet a man who would become my husband and father of my children certainly wasn’t anything I could have predicted or orchestrated. That had to have been ‘meant to be’ and in the stars," she said.
Then we have Joshua Morrow who plays "Nicholas Newman" in fourth place with 3603 episodes. He is still a fan favorite in the show and will likely reach the 4000 mark before long. He describes the day he met his castmates like this: "Outside of meeting my wife, my wedding day, and the days my kids were born, this was one of the biggest days of my life," he told 'TV Insider.'
Sitting in third is television veteran Peter Bergman who famously plays "Jack Abbott". He currently has 3,671 episodes to his credits and he's still going. "The show had already tested four or five guys [for Jack] at that point and hadn’t found what they were looking for in a recast. I think my firing was on the cover of every soap magazine. Melody had one with her and said, ‘That’s Jack Abbott.’ Isn’t that just crazy? That’s how it started," he told 'TV Insider' back in 2019.
Also interesting:
Two special episodes will air this week!
'The Young And The Restless': Eric Braeden Celebrates 40 Years On The Show!
One of the longest-running cast members!
'The Young and the Restless': How Long Has "Victor" Been On The Show?
In second is Doug Davidson playing "Doug Williamson" with 3,921 episodes. His legendary run on the show lasted for 40 long years from 1980 to 2020. "I was stunned when I found out what Y&R wanted me to do. I called my wife and said, ‘I’ve been working out the wrong muscles at the gym!’ Our boss, Bill Bell, was big on realism, but there were complaints from America — especially from people who hadn’t seen it but were offended at the very idea. I think Bill would have had us doing soft porn if they’d allowed it," the actor said to 'TV Guide' in 2016.
And in first place, the longest-running cast member in the history of the show is the irreplaceable Eric Braeden who plays "Victor Newman" with 4,014 episodes and counting. He has been part of the cast since 1980 and is still going strong! Braeden "had to learn respect for the medium of soaps," he told 'TV Insider' just last year.
"I saw how disrespected actors in daytime were. I think I have had a little something to do with that culture changing. We should all be very proud of what we do. The feeling of second-class citizenship [daytime actors endure] compared to the rest of the industry — why? Daytime is very hard. It is the hardest medium."
