A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on television or radio. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers such as Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive and Lever Brothers as sponsors These early radio series were broadcast in weekday daytime slots when most listeners would be housewives; thus the shows were aimed at and consumed by a predominantly female audience.

The term soap opera has at times been generally applied to any romantic serial, A crucial element that defines soap opera is the open-ended nature of the narrative, with stories spanning several episodes. The defining feature that makes a program a soap opera, according to Albert Moran, is "that form of television that works with a continuous open narrative. Each episode ends with a promise that the storyline is to be continued in another episode".

Soap opera stories run concurrently, intersect and lead into further developments. An individual episode of a soap opera will generally switch between several different concurrent story threads that may at times interconnect and affect one another or may run entirely independent of each other. Each episode may feature some of the show's current storylines but not always all of them. Especially in daytime serials and those that are screened each weekday, there is some rotation of both storyline and actors so any given storyline or actor will appear in some but usually not all of a week's worth of episodes. Soap operas rarely bring all the current storylines to a conclusion at the same time. When one storyline ends there are several other story threads at differing stages of development. Soap opera episodes typically end on some sort of cliffhanger.

Evening soap operas and those that screen at a rate of one episode a week are more likely to feature the entire cast in each episode, and to represent all current storylines in each episode. Evening soap operas and serials that run for only part of the year tend to bring things to a dramatic end-of-season cliffhanger.

In 1976, Time magazine described American daytime television as "TV's richest market," noting the loyalty of the soap opera fan base and the expansion of several half-hour series to a full hour in order to maximize ad revenues. The article explained that at that time, many prime time series lost money, while daytime serials earned profits several times more than their production costs. a couple whose onscreen and real-life romance was widely covered by both the soap opera magazines and the mainstream press.

Plots and storylines

The main characteristics that define soap operas are "an emphasis on family life, personal relationships, sexual dramas, emotional and moral conflicts; some coverage of topical issues; set in familiar domestic interiors with only occasional excursions into new locations".

In many soap operas, in particular daytime serials in the United States, the characters are frequently attractive, seductive, glamorous and wealthy. Soap operas from Australia and the United Kingdom tend to focus on more everyday characters and situations, and are frequently set in working class environments. Many Australian and UK soap operas explore social realist storylines such as family discord, marriage breakdown, or financial problems. Both UK and Australian soap operas feature comedy elements, often by way of affectionate comic stereotypes such as the gossip or the grumpy old man, presented as a sort of comic foil to the emotional turmoil that surrounds them. This diverges from US soap operas where such comedy is rare. UK soap operas also frequently foreground their geographic location as a key defining feature of the show while depicting and capitalising on the exotic appeal of the stereotypes connected to the location. So EastEnders focuses on the tough and grim life in London's east end; Coronation Street invokes Manchester and its characters exhibit the stereotypical characteristic of "Northern straight talking".

Romance, secret relationships, extramarital affairs, and genuine love have been the basis for many soap opera storylines. In US daytime serials the most popular soap opera characters, and the most popular storylines, often involved a romance of the sort presented in paperback romance novels. Soap opera storylines sometimes weave intricate, convoluted, and sometimes confusing tales of characters who have affairs, meet mysterious strangers and fall in love, and who commit adultery, all of which keeps audiences hooked on the unfolding story twists. Crimes such as kidnapping, rape, and even murder may go unpunished if the perpetrator is to be retained in the ongoing story.

Australian and UK soap operas also feature a significant proportion of romance storylines. In Russia, most popular serials explore the "romantic quality" of criminal and/or oligarch life.

In soap opera storylines, previously-unknown children, siblings, and twins (including the evil variety) of established characters often emerge to upset and reinvigorate the set of relationships examined by the series. Unexpected calamities disrupt weddings, childbirths, and other major life events with unusual frequency.

Much like comic books—another popular form of linear storytelling pioneered in the US during the 20th Century—a character's death is not guaranteed to be permanent. On The Bold and the Beautiful, Taylor Forrester (Hunter Tylo) was shown to flatline and have a funeral. When Tylo reprised the character in 2005 a retcon explained that Taylor had actually gone into a coma.

Stunts and complex physical action are largely absent, especially from daytime serials. Such story events often take place offscreen and are referred to in dialogue instead of being shown. This is because stunts or action scenes are difficult to adequately depict visually without complex action, multiple takes, and post production editing. When episodes were broadcast live, post production work was impossible. Though all serials have long switched to being taped, extensive post production work and multiple takes, while possible, are not feasible due to the tight taping schedules and low budgets.

Daytime serials

Soap operas have been a staple of daytime television in the United States since the early 1950s. Along with game shows, reruns of situation comedies, and talk shows, the soap opera was traditionally a fixture in the American broadcast networks' broadcast schedules. Newer broadcast networks since the late 1980s, such as Fox and cable television networks, have largely ignored the format in favor of reruns. The older networks have been reducing their soap opera output in the 2000s.

The American soap opera Guiding Light started as a radio drama in January 1937 and subsequently transferred to television in June 1952. With the exception of several years in the late 1940s when Irna Phillips was in dispute with Procter & Gamble, Guiding Light was heard or seen nearly every weekday since it began, making it the longest story ever told in a broadcast medium. With the cancellation of Guiding Light in 2009, the next oldest soap on television was As the World Turns, which later ended its 54-year run on September 17, 2010. The UK's Coronation Street, which premiered in 1960, is now the longest currently-running serial, with General Hospital (1963) as the oldest remaining American soap opera.

Traditionally serials were broadcast as fifteen minute installments each weekday in daytime slots. In 1956 As the World Turns debuted as the first half-hour soap opera. All soap operas broadcast half-hour episodes by the end of the 1960s. With increased popularity in the 1970s most soap operas expanded to an hour (Another World even expanded to ninety minutes for a short time). More than half of the serials had expanded to one hour episodes by 1980. As of 2010, five of the six US serials air one hour episodes each weekday. Only The Bold and the Beautiful airs 30 minute episodes.

Soap operas were originally broadcast live from the studio, creating what many at the time regarded as a feeling similar to that of a stage play. As nearly all soap operas were filmed at that time in New York, a number of soap actors were also accomplished stage actors who performed live theatre during breaks from their soap roles. In the 1960s and 1970s, new serials such as General Hospital, Days of our Lives, and The Young and the Restless were produced in Los Angeles. Their success made the West Coast a viable alternative to New York–produced soap operas, which were becoming more costly to perform.

By the early 1970s, nearly all soap operas had transitioned to being taped. As the World Turns and The Edge of Night were the last to make the switch, in 1975.

Port Charles used the practice of running 13-week "story arcs", in which the main events of the arc are played out and wrapped up over the 13 weeks, although some storylines did continue over more than one arc. According to the 2006 Preview issue of Soap Opera Digest, it was briefly discussed that all ABC shows might do telenovela arcs, but this was rejected.

For years, soap operas were never rerun. On January 20, 2000 the SOAPnet network began retransmitting programs originally aired on ABC, NBC and CBS.

Actors

:See List of longest-serving soap opera actors

Due to the longevity of these shows it is not uncommon for a single character to be played by multiple actors. The key character of Jill Foster Abbott on The Young and the Restless has been played by several different actors.

Conversely several actors have remained playing the same character for many years. Helen Wagner played Hughes family matriarch Nancy Hughes on American soap As the World Turns from its April 2, 1956 debut through her death in May 2010. She is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the actor with the longest uninterrupted performance in a single role. Fellow As the World Turns actors, Eileen Fulton and Don Hastings who play Lisa Grimaldi and Dr. Bob Hughes, respectively, played their roles nearly as long, both having joined the show in 1960. William Roache has played Ken Barlow continuously from 1960 on the British soap Coronation Street, which is also the longest running soap in the world still in production. In Rachel Ames played Audrey Hardy in General Hospital from 1964 until 2007, and returned in 2009. Susan Lucci has played Erica Kane in All My Children since the show's debut in January 1970. Ray MacDonnell played Dr. Joe Martin in that series from the show's 1970 debut until 2010. Jeanne Cooper has played Katherine Chancellor in The Young and the Restless since late 1973.

Starting from the 2000s it had become increasingly common for long-term regular cast members to be dropped from contract status to recurring status, a part of contract negotiations largely restricted to U.S. soap operas. As recurring players they are paid only for those episodes in which they appear; this can be more cost effective for the series in the case of performers making sporadic or occasional appearances.

Other actors have played several characters on different shows. Veleka Gray, Robin Mattson, Lenore Kasdorf, Roscoe Born, Judith Chapman, David Canary, and Michael Sabatino have played multiple soap roles.

Traditional serials

Many early US soap operas found their niche telling stories in particular environments. The Doctors and General Hospital, in the beginning, told stories almost exclusively from inside the confines of a hospital. As the World Turns dealt heavily with Chris Hughes' law practice and the travails of his wife Nancy who, tired of being "the loyal housewife" in the 1970s, became one of the first older women on the American serials to become a working woman. Guiding Light dealt with Bert Bauer (Charita Bauer) and her alcoholic husband Bill, and their endless marital troubles. When Bert's status shifted to caring mother and town matriarch, her children's marital troubles were showcased. Search for Tomorrow mostly told its story through the eyes of Joanne Gardner (Mary Stuart). Even when stories revolved around other characters, Joanne was frequently a key player in their storylines. Days of our Lives initially focused on Dr. Tom Horton and his steadfast wife Alice. The show later branched out to focus more on their five children. The Edge of Night featured as its central character Mike Karr, a police detective (who later became an attorney), and largely dealt with organized crime.

In contrast, Dark Shadows (1966–1971) featured supernatural characters and dealt with fantasy and horror storylines. Its characters included the vampire Barnabas Collins, the witch Angelique, and various ghosts and goblins, both friendly and malevolent.

Evolution of the daytime serial

For several decades most US daytime soap operas concentrated on family and marital discord, legal drama, and romance. The action rarely left interior settings, and many shows were set in fictional, medium-sized Midwestern towns.

Exterior shots, once a rarity, were slowly incorporated into the series Ryan's Hope. Unlike many earlier serials which were set in fictional towns, Ryan's Hope was set in real location, New York City, and outside shoots were used to give the series greater authenticity.

The first exotic location shoot was made by All My Children, to St. Croix in 1978. Many other soap operas planned lavish storylines after the success of the All My Children shoot. P&G-produced; soaps Another World and Guiding Light both went to St. Croix in 1980, the former show culminating a long-running storyline between popular characters Mac, Rachel and Janice, and the latter to serve as an exotic setting for Alan Spaulding and Rita Bauer's torrid affair.

Search for Tomorrow taped for two weeks in Hong Kong in 1981. Later that year some of the cast and crew ventured to Jamaica to tape a love consummation storyline between Garth and Kathy.

During the 1980s, perhaps as a reaction to the evening drama series that were gaining high ratings, daytime serials began to incorporate action and adventure storylines, more big-business intrigue, and an increased emphasis on youthful romance. Serials also focused on developing supercouples.

One of the first and most popular supercouples was Luke Spencer and Laura Webber in General Hospital. Luke and Laura helped to attract both male and female fans. Even Elizabeth Taylor was a fan and at her own request was given a guest role in Luke and Laura's wedding episode. Luke and Laura's popularity led to other soap producers striving to reproduce this success by attempting to create supercouples of their own.

With increasingly bizarre action storylines coming into vogue Luke and Laura saved the world from being frozen, brought a mobster down by finding his black book in a Left-Handed Boy Statue, and helped a Princess find her Aztec Treasure in Mexico. Other soap operas attempted similar adventure storylines, often featuring footage shot on location - frequently in exotic locales.

During the 1990s, the mob, action, and adventure stories fell out of favor with producers due to generally declining ratings for daytime soap operas at the time, and the resultant budget cuts. In the 1990s soap operas were no longer able to go on expensive location shoots overseas as they had in the 1980s. In the 1990s soap operas increasingly focused on younger characters and social issues, such as Erica Kane's drug addiction on All My Children, the re-emergence of Viki Lord's Multiple Personality Disorder on One Life to Live, Katherine Chancellor's alcoholism on The Young and the Restless and Stone and Robin dealing with AIDS and death on General Hospital. Other social issues included cancer, homophobia, and racism.

Some shows of the 2000s incorporated supernatural and science fiction elements into their storylines. One of the main characters in US soap opera Passions is Tabitha Lenox, a 300-year-old witch. Port Charles has featured vampires and an angel. Frequently these characters are isolated to one of the ongoing story threads to allow a fan to ignore them if they do not like that element.

Traditional grammar of daytime serials

Modern U.S. daytime soap operas largely stay true to the original soap opera format. The duration and format of storylines and the visual grammar employed by US daytime serials set them apart from soap operas in other countries and from evening soap operas. Stylistically, UK and Australian soap operas, which are usually produced for early evening timeslots, fall somewhere in-between US daytime and evening soap operas. Similar to US daytime soap operas, UK and Australian serials are shot on videotape, and the cast and storylines are rotated across the week's episodes so that each cast member will appear in some but not all episodes. UK and Australian soap operas move through storylines at a faster rate than daytime serials, making them closer to US evening soap operas in this regard.

American daytime soap operas feature stylistic elements that set them apart from other shows:

Actors in the foreground are often noticeably back lit. The back light is a standard component of the traditional three-point lighting set-up routinely used in film and television. Accentuated back lighting can serve to lift actors out of the background, something that can be useful in programs generally shot on videotape in small interior sets as soap operas generally are. The backlight is frequently more subtle on filmed productions shot on location and in larger sets.

The rooms in a house often use deep stained wood wall panels and furniture, along with many elements of brown leather furniture. This creates an overall "brown" look which is intended to give a sumptuous and luxurious look to suggest the wealth of the characters portrayed. Daytime serials often foreground other sumptuous elements of set decoration; presenting a "mid-shot of characters viewed through a frame of lavish floral displays, glittering crystal decanters or gleaming antique furniture". No new daytime soap opera has been created since 1999, while many have been cancelled. At the end of 2010, there will be six daytime soap operas on the three major networks, down from 12 in 1990 and a high of 19 in 1970.

Guiding Light, which had been running on television since 1952, barely reached 1.5 million viewers a day by 2009 and was cancelled that year. As The World Turns aired its final episode on September 17, 2010 after a 54 year run. It was the last of 20 soap operas produced by Procter & Gamble, the company that gave soap operas their name back in the 1930s. Disney announced in May 2010 that decade-old cable channel SOAPnet, which largely airs soap opera reruns, will cease operating in 2012.

Beginning in the 1970s, as women increasingly worked outside of the home, daytime television viewing declined. New generations of potential viewers were not raised watching soaps with their mothers, leaving the long and complex story lines foreign to younger audiences. The rise of cable television and the Internet have also provided new sources of entertainment during the day. Part of the genre's recent decline has also been attributed to audiences switching to reality programming as a source of melodrama with events on programs such as Big Brother and Survivor drawing large ratings and interest. Reality programming is relatively inexpensive when compared to a scripted drama, often not requiring full scripts or professional actors, so is attractive to networks. Compounding the financial hardship of ratings losses has been an advertising recession resulting from the financial crisis of 2007–2010, causing shows to reduce their budgets, sometimes resulting in cast reductions.

The primetime serial

Serials produced for primetime slots have also found success. The first real prime time soap opera was Peyton Place (1964–1969) on ABC. It was based in part on the 1957 film also titled Peyton Place (which was based on the 1956 novel).

The popularity of Peyton Place prompted the CBS network to spin off popular As the World Turns character Lisa Miller into her own evening soap opera, Our Private World (originally titled "The Woman Lisa" in its planning stages). Our Private World ran from May until September, 1965. The character of Lisa returned to As The World Turns after the series ended.

The structure of the Peyton Place with its episodic plots and long-running story arcs would set the mold for the prime time serials of the 1980s when the format reached its pinnacle.

The successful prime time serials of the 1980s included Dallas, Dynasty, Knots Landing, and Falcon Crest. These shows frequently dealt with wealthy families and their personal and big-business travails. Common characteristics were sumptuous sets and costumes, complex storylines examining business schemes and intrigue, and spectacular disaster cliffhanger situations. Each of these series featured a wealthy, domineering, promiscuous and passionate antagonist as a key character in the storyline - J. R. Ewing, Alexis Colby, Abby Cunningham and Angela Channing respectively. These villainous schemers became immensely popular figures that audiences "loved to hate".

Unlike daytime serials which are shot on video in a studio using the multicamera setup, these evening series were shot on film using a single camera setup, and featured much location-shot footage, often in picturesque locales. Dallas, its spin-off Knots Landing, and Falcon Crest all initially featured episodes with self-contained stories and specific guest stars who appeared in just that episode. Each story would be completely resolved by the end of the episode and there were no end-of-episode cliffhanger. After the first couple of seasons all three shows changed their story format to that of a pure soap opera with interwoven ongoing narratives that ran over several episodes. Dynasty featured this format throughout its run.

The soap opera's distinctive open plot structure and complex continuity was increasingly incorporated into American prime time television programs of the period. The first significant drama series to do this was Hill Street Blues. This series, produced by Steven Bochco, featured many elements borrowed from soap operas such as an ensemble cast, multi-episode storylines, and extensive character development over the course of the series. It and the later Cagney & Lacey overlaid the police series formula with ongoing narratives exploring the personal lives and interpersonal relationships of the regular characters. The success of these series prompted other drama series, such as St. Elsewhere, and situation comedy series, to incorporate serialized stories and story structure to varying degrees.

The prime time soap operas and drama series of the 1990s, such as Beverly Hills, 90210, Melrose Place, and Dawson's Creek, focused more on younger characters. In the 2000s, ABC began to revitalize the primetime soap opera format with shows such as Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, Brothers & Sisters, Lost and Private Practice. While not soaps in the traditional sense, these shows managed to appeal to wide audiences with their high drama mixed with humor. These successes led to NBC launching serials, including Heroes and Friday Night Lights.

:See List of longest-serving soap opera actors In the United Kingdom, soap operas are one of the most popular genres, most being broadcast during prime time. In comparison to US serials which frequently portray romantic storylines in sumptuous and glamorous locales, most UK soap operas focus on more everyday, working-class communities.

The most popular soaps are Coronation Street, EastEnders, Emmerdale, Hollyoaks, Doctors, and the Australian produced Neighbours and Home and Away. The first three of these are consistently among the highest-rated shows on British television.

The 1986 Christmas Day episode of EastEnders is often given as the highest-rated UK soap opera episode ever, with 30.15 million viewers (in 2007, the UK had approximately 54 million viewers). The figure of 30.15 million was actually a combination of the original broadcast which had just over 19 million viewers, and the Sunday omnibus edition with 10 million viewers. The combined 30.15 million audience figure often sees it attributed as the highest-rated program in UK television for the 1980s, comparable to the records set by the 1970 splashdown of Apollo 13 (28.6 million viewers), and Princess Diana's funeral in 1997 (32.1 million viewers).

Coronation Street and EastEnders are popularly known as the "flagship" soaps, as they are the highest rating programmes for ITV and the BBC respectively. Poor ratings for a UK flagship serial sometimes brings with it questions about the associated channel. The soaps are so popular they are not routinely scheduled against each other. Episodes of serials have clashed only on isolated occasions when extended episodes have been screened.

Origins and evolution

Soap operas began on radio and consequently were associated with the BBC. The BBC continues to broadcast the world's longest-running radio soap, The Archers, which has been running nationally since 1951. It is currently broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and continues to attract over five million listeners, or roughly 25% of the radio listening population of the UK at that time of the evening.

An early television serial was The Grove Family on the BBC. 148 episodes were produced between 1954 to 1957. The series was broadcast live and only a handful of recordings were retained in the archives.

In the 1960s Coronation Street revolutionised UK television and quickly became a British institution. Other soap operas of the 1960s included Emergency Ward 10, on ITV. The BBC also produced several serials. Compact was about the staff of a women's magazine. The Newcomers was about the upheaval caused by a large firm setting up a plant in a small town. United! ran for 147 episodes and focused on a football team. 199 Park Lane was an upper class serial that ran for just 18 episodes in 1965. None of these serials came close to making the same impact as Coronation Street. Indeed most of the 1960s BBC serials were largely wiped.

During the 1960s Coronation Street's main rival was Crossroads, a daily serial that began in 1964 and was broadcast by ITV in the early evening. Crossroads was set in a Birmingham motel and while the series was popular, its purported low technical standard and bad acting was much mocked. By the 1980s its ratings had begun to decline and several attempts to revamp the series through cast changes and later, expanding the focus from the motel to the surrounding community, were unsuccessful, and Crossroads was cancelled in 1988. (A new version of Crossroads was later produced, running from 2001 until 2003.)

A later rival to Coronation Street was ITV's Emmerdale Farm (later renamed Emmerdale) which began in 1972 in a daytime slot and had a rural Yorkshire setting. Increased viewing figures saw Emmerdale being moved to a prime-time slot in the 1980s.

Pobol y Cwm (People of the Valley) is a Welsh language serial produced by the BBC since October 1974. It is the longest-running television soap opera produced by the BBC. Pobol y Cwm was originally transmitted on BBC Wales television between 1974 and 1982. It then transferred to the Welsh language television station S4C when it opened in the November 1982. The series was occasionally shown on BBC1 in London during periods of regional optout in the mid-late 1970s. Pobol y Cwm was briefly shown in the rest of the UK in 1994 on BBC2, with English subtitles. It is consistently the most watched programme of the week on S4C.

The 1980s

Daytime soap operas were non-existent until the 1970s because there was virtually no daytime television in the UK. ITV introduced General Hospital, which later transferred to a prime time slot, and Scottish Television had Take the High Road, which lasted for over twenty years. Later, daytime slots were filled with an influx of older Australian soap operas such as The Young Doctors, The Sullivans, Sons and Daughters, A Country Practice, Richmond Hill and eventually, Neighbours and Home and Away. These achieved significant levels of popularity. Neighbours and Home and Away were moved to early-evening slots and the UK soap opera boom began in the late 1980s.

When Channel 4 began in 1982 it launched its own soap, the Liverpool based Brookside, on its first day. Over the next decade Brookside re-defined soap. The focus of Brookside was different to previous soaps. The setting was a middle-class new-build cul-de-sac, unlike Coronation Street and Emmerdale Farm which were set in established working-class communities. The characters in Brookside were generally either people who had advanced themselves from inner-city council estates, or the upper middle-class who had fallen on hard times. Brookside started in a post-watershed slot and unlike other soaps of the time the dialogue regularly included expletives. The soap was also heavily politicised. Bobby Grant (Ricky Tomlinson), a militant trade-unionist anti-hero, was the most overtly political character. Storylines were often more sensationalist than on other soaps (in the soaps history there were two armed sieges on the street) and were staged more graphically with violence (particularly, rape) being often used.

In 1985, the BBC's London based soap opera EastEnders debuted and was a near instant success with viewers and critics alike, with the first episode attracting over 17 million viewers. Critics talked about the downfall of Coronation Street, but Coronation Street continued successfully. In 1994 when the two serials were scheduled opposite each other, and Corrie won the slot. For the better part of ten years, the show has shared the number one position with Coronation Street, with varying degrees of difference between the two. served his wife Angie with divorce papers, was the highest-rated soap episode in British history, and the highest-rated programme in the UK during the 1980s]]

In the late 1980s Central TV acquired the Australian soap opera Prisoner, which was produced between 1979 and 1986. It was eventually screened around the country in differing slots usually around 11pm, under the title Prisoner: Cell Block H. Its airing in the UK was staggered, so different regions of the country saw it at a different pace. The series was immensely successful which led to it being repeated after the series had reached its conclusion in the Midlands. Rival network Five also acquired repeat rights for a full rerun of the series, starting in 1997.

The 1990s

In 1992 the BBC launched Eldorado to alternate with EastEnders. The series was heavily criticised and only lasted a year. Nevertheless soap operas gained increasing prominence in UK schedules. In 1995 Channel 4 introduced Hollyoaks, a soap with a youth focus. When Five began in March 1997 it came with its own soap opera, Family Affairs, which debuted as a five-days-a-week soap.

Brookside began to change its premise in the 1990s, moving away from the heavily politicised plots of the 1980s, instead taking on more controversial and sensationalist stories such as child rape, sibling incest, religious cults and drug addiction.

Coronation Street and Brookside also started to release 'straight-to-video' features. Coronation Street generally keeping the pace of everyday episodes but setting them in foreign locations, while Brookside kept the setting on-set but used the video specials to broadcast stories seen unfit for pre-watershed television, hence their '18' certificates.

The success of more sensationalist soaps lead to Yorkshire Television rebranding Emmerdale Farm simply as Emmerdale and remodelling the soap following a plane crash over the village of Beckindale. This attracted criticism as it was broadcast on the aniversary of the Lockerbie bombing. The remodelling of the programme was a success and Emmerdale grew in popularity.

Throughout the 1990s the soap operas Brookside, Coronation Street, Eastenders and Emmerdale continued to flourish. Each increased the number of weekly episodes transmitted by at least one, further defining soap opera as the leading genre in British television.

The 2000s

Since 2000 new soap operas have continued to be developed. Daytime drama Doctors began in the spring of 2000, preceding Neighbours on BBC1. In 2002, as the ratings continued to fall for Scottish serial High Road, BBC Scotland launched River City. River City proved popular and effectively replaced High Road when it was cancelled in 2003. The long-running serial Brookside ended in November 2003 after 21 years on air, leaving Hollyoaks as Channel 4's flagship serial.

A new version of Crossroads featuring a mostly new cast was produced by Carlton Television for ITV in 2001. It did not achieve satisfactory ratings and was cancelled in 2003. In 2001 ITV also launched a new early-evening serial entitled Night and Day. This series too attracted low viewing figures and after being shifted to a late night time slot was cancelled in 2003. Family Affairs, which was broadcast opposite the racier Hollyoaks, never achieved significantly high viewing figures leading to several dramatic revamps of the cast and marked changes in style and even location over its run. By 2004 the series had a larger fan base and won its first awards, however Family Affairs was cancelled in late 2005.

ITV launched the new soap opera The Royal Today in 2008. The Royal Today was a daily spin-off of popular sixties drama The Royal, which had been running in a primetime slot since 2002. Just days later soap opera parody series Echo Beach premiered alongside its sister series, the comedy Moving Wallpaper. Both Echo Beach and The Royal Today ended after their initial first season. Due to poor viewing figures neither were picked up for a second run.

In 2004, BBC created a radio soap opera for the BBC Asian Network called Silver Street, but poor ratings and criticism against the series led to its cancellation in 2010.

Format

UK soap operas for many years usually only aired two nights a week. The exception was the original Crossroads, which began as a five-days-a-week soap opera in the 1960s, but was later reduced. Brookside began in 1982 with two episodes a week, this increased to three in 1990. In 1989, things started to change when Coronation Street began airing three times a week (later expanding further to four in 1996), a trend which was soon followed by rival EastEnders in 1994 and Emmerdale in 1997. Family Affairs debuted as a five-days-a-week soap in 1997 and regularly ran five episodes a week its entire run. The imported Neighbours screens as five new episodes a week, which are shown once at 1:45 pm and repeated at 5:30 pm on Five each weekday.

Currently Coronation Street (which began screening two episodes on Monday nights in 2002) and Hollyoaks both produce five episodes a week, while EastEnders screens four. In 2002, Brookside changed from having three half-hour episodes to having one ninety-minute episode. In 2004 Emmerdale began screening six episodes a week. Doctors screens five episodes a week. It is the only soap without a weekend omnibus repeat screening.

In a January 2008 overhaul of the ITV network the Sunday episodes of Coronation Street and Emmerdale were moved out of their slots. Coronation Street added a second episode on Friday evenings at 8:30 pm. Emmerdale's Tuesday edition was extended to an hour, putting it in direct competition with rival EastEnders.

In July 2009 the schedules of these serials were changed again. Starting 23 July 2009 Coronation Street moved from the Wednesday slot it held for 49 years, to Thursday evenings. Emmerdale's reverted to screening just one thirty minute episode on Tuesday evenings and the other thirty minute installment was moved to Thursday evenings.

UK soap operas are shot on videotape in the studio using a multicamera setup. Since the 1980s they routinely feature outdoors footage in each episode. This footage is shot on videotape on a purpose built outdoor set that represents the community the soap focuses on.

:See List of longest-serving soap opera actors Australia has had quite a number of well known soap operas, some of which have gained cult followings in the UK and other countries. The majority of Australian television soap operas are produced for early evening or evening timeslots. They usually produce two or two-and-a-half hours of new material each week, either arranged as four or five half-hour episodes a week, or two one-hour episodes. Stylistically they most closely resemble UK soap operas in that they are nearly always shot on videotape, mainly in the studio using a multicamera setup. The original Australian serials were shot entirely in the studio. During the 1970s, occasional filmed inserts were used to incorporate outdoor-shot sequences in soap operas. Outdoor shooting later became commonplace and starting in the late 1970s it became standard practice that there will be some location-shot footage in each episode of any Australian soap opera, often to capitalise on the attractiveness and exotic nature of these locations for international audiences. Most Australian soap operas focus on a mixed age range of middle-class characters and will regularly feature a range of locations where the various, disparate, characters can meet and interact, such as the café, the surf club, the wine bar, or the school. — low for Australian prime time television. By March 2007 Australian viewing figures for Neighbours had fallen to fewer than 700,000 a night, prompting a revamp of cast and graphics used on the show, and a deemphasis on the action oriented direction the series had moved in with a move to refocus the show on the family storylines it is traditionally known for. However, Neighbours and Home and Away both continue to achieve significant ratings in the UK. This and other lucrative overseas markets, along with Australian broadcasting laws that enforce a minimum amount of local drama production for commercial television networks, help ensure that both programs remain in production. Both shows get higher total ratings in the UK than in Australia (the UK has three times Australia's population) and the UK networks make a major contribution to the production costs.

It has been suggested that with their emphasis on the younger, attractive and charismatic characters, Neighbours and Home and Away have found success in the middle ground between glamorous, fantastic US soaps with their wealthy but tragic heroes but after lower than desired ratings figures it was shifted to BBC Two from May 19, 2008. Production on the series was not renewed beyond its first season.

Due to the economics of television production in Canada, relatively few daily soap operas have been produced on English Canadian television. Notable daily soaps that did exist included Family Passions, Scarlett Hill, Strange Paradise, Metropia, Train 48 and the international coproduction Foreign Affairs. Family Passions was an hour long, as is typical of American daytime soaps; all of the others were half hour programs. Short-run soaps, including 49th & Main and North/South, have also aired.

Notable prime time soap operas in Canada have included Riverdale, House of Pride, Paradise Falls, He Shoots, He Scores, Loving Friends and Perfect Couples, North of 60, and The City. The Degrassi franchise of youth dramas also incorporated some elements of soap opera.

On French language television in Quebec, however, the téléroman has been a popular mainstay of network programming since the 1950s. Notable téléromans have included Rue des Pignons, Les Belles Histoires des pays d'en haut, Diva, La famille Plouffe, and the soap opera parody Le Cœur a ses raisons.

Remakes of Australian serials

Australian serial The Restless Years was remade in the Netherlands as Goede tijden, slechte tijden (first broadcast 1990) and in Germany as Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten (since 1992): both titles translate to "good times, bad times". These remakes are still running although they have long since diverged from the original Australian storylines. They are the highest rated soap operas in their respective countries.

A later Australian serial, Sons and Daughters, has inspired five remakes produced under license from the original producers and based, initially, on original story and character outlines. These are Verbotene Liebe (Germany, 1995- ); Skilda världar (Sweden, 1996–2002); Apagorevmeni agapi (Greece, 1998); Cuori Rubati (Italy, 2002–2003) Zabranjena ljubav (Croatia, 2004–2008).

Both The Restless Years and Sons and Daughters were created and produced in Australia by the Reg Grundy Organisation.

Netherlands

Serials have included Goede tijden, slechte tijden (1990–present), ONM (1994–2010) and Goudkust (1996–2001).

US daytime serials As The World Turns and The Bold and the Beautiful have been broadcast in the Netherlands. As the World Turns has been aired since 1990, with Dutch subtitles.

Germany

Alongside Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten and Verbotene Liebe, soap operas in Germany include Lindenstraße, Marienhof, Unter Uns, Sturm der Liebe and Alles was zählt.

Belgium

In Belgium the two major soap operas are Thuis (Home) and Familie (Family).

Ireland

Television

In the early years of RTÉ they produced several dramas but had not come close to a long running serial. RTÉ's first Television soap was Tolka Row was based in urban Dublin. For a number of years both Tolka Row and The Riordans were produced by RTÉ, soon however the urban soap was dropped for the more popular rural soap opera The Riordans - which began in 1965. Executives from Yorkshire Television visited the on location filming of The Riordans in the early 1970s and in 1972 began broadcasting Emmerdale Farm based on the successful format of the Irish soap opera. In the late 1970s The Riordans was dropped with great controversy. The creator of the series would then go on to produce the second of his "Agri-soap" trilogy Bracken starring Gabriel Byrne who's character had appeared in the last number of season of The Riordans. Braken was soon replaced by the 3rd "Agri-soap" Glenroe which ran until 2001. RTÉ wanted a drama series for Sunday nights rather than a soap opera, On Home Ground (2001–2002), The Clinic (2002–2009) and RAW (2010 - Date) replaced the agri-soaps of the previous decades.

In 1989 RTÉ decide to produce its first Dublin based soap opera since the 1960s. Fair City initially went out one night a week in the 1989/1990 season, and similar to its rural soaps much of the footage was filmed on location - in a suburb of Dublin City. In 1992 RTÉ made a major investment into the series by copying the on location houses for a on site set in RTÉ's Headquarters in Dublin 4. Carrickstown is the fictional setting of the series. By the early 1990s it was running two nights a week and it was broadcast for 35 weeks a year. With competition from the UK soap operas RTÉ choose to begin a three night week in 1996, with one night a week during summer, soon this became four nights a week and two nights during the summer. Until the early 2000s when RTÉ had the series produced 52 weeks of the year with four episodes a week. In 2009 Fair City celebrated 20 years on the air. Fair City airs Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8.00 pm GMT on RTÉ One. With broadcasts of Coronation Street on rival network TV3 moving to Thursday night, the Wednesday night episode of Fair City broadcasts at 7:30pm each week.

TG4 is the only other Irish broadcaster to produce a soap opera. The Irish language soap Ros na Run. Ros na Run is set in a tiny village near the city of Galway called "Ros Na Run". It runs twice a week for 35 weeks of the year. "Ros na Run" translates as Headland of the Secrets or Headland of the Sweethearts. It was originally broadcast on RTÉ One in the early 1990s before the existence of TG4. Ros na Run airs Tuesday and Thursday nights at 8:30pm GMT on TG4.

Although Ireland has access to international soaps, such as Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Eastenders, Home and Away, Hollyoaks, Neighbours etc., Fair City continues to out perform them all, and is Ireland's most popular soap-opera, with the show peaking at over 700,000 viewers.

Radio

On radio RTÉ Radio produced its first radio soap Kennedy's of Castleross which began broadcasting on April 13, 1955 and ran until 1975. In 1979 RTÉ long running TV soap The Riordan's moved to Radio until December 24, 1985. In the mid-1980s RTÉ began a new radio soap entitled Harbour Hotel until the mid-1990s. Riverrun was a short lived radio soap followed in 2004 by Driftwood. RTÉ do not run any radio soaps, however during their night schedule on RTÉ Radio 1 they still broadcast radio dramas.

India

India has many soap operas also. These started to come in the late 1980s, as more and more people began to buy televisions. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, soap operas became an integral part of Indian culture. Indian soap operas mostly concentrate on the conflict between love and arranged marriages occurring in India, so most of the soap operas include conflicts between mother-in-laws and wives. Soap operas create dramatic tension and a source of entertainment for many people. Soap operas are usually more important in India for a household wife than cricket matches. Due to the fact that there are more than 20 official languages in India, many soap operas vary in language and are watched by the common Indian housewife after their work and cooking is completed. Hindi soap operas are the most watched soap operas.

France

France had no real tradition of daytime series, until the creation of Plus belle la vie in 2004 for French public television channel France 3. It airs every weekday at 8.00 pm. After initial poor ratings, the show became a huge success and has been one of the most highly rated series on the network. Other attempts were made by competitors to create soaps (including Seconde Chance, Cinq soeurs and Paris 16ème) but have not achieved success.

Greece

In Greece there have been several soap operas.

ANT1

An early serial was Sti skia tou hrimatos (Money Shadows) (1990–1991). September 1991 saw the debut of Lampsi (the Shining) by Nicos Foskolos. This series would become Greece's longest running soap opera. After the success of Lampsi came the short lived To galazio diamandi (Blue diamond) and Simphonia siopis (Omertà).

Lampsi was canceled in June 2005 due to declining ratings. It was replaced by the new soap opera Erotas (Love) which ran from 2005 to 2008. After that ANT1 abandoned the soap opera genre and focused on comedy series and weekly dramas.

Greece's second longest running soap is Kalimera Zoi (Goodmorning Life). It premiered in September 1993. It was cancelled June 2006 due to unsatisfactory ratings.

MEGA

Mega Channel began soap opera production in 1990 with the prime time serial I Dipsa (The Thirst). This series had a run of 102 episodes. Their daytime shows included Paralliloi dromoi (1992–1994) and by Haravgi (Daylight) (1994–1995). The ratings of both shows were low.

Other serials include Apagorevmeni Agapi (Forbidden Love) 1998–2006; Gia mia thesi ston Ilio (A Spot Under the Sun) 1998–2002; Filodoxies(Expectations) 2002–2006; Vera Sto Deksi (Ring On The Right Hand) 2004-2006. Vera Sto Deksi proved a successful rival to Lampsi, causing its ratings to decline.

Ta Mistika Tis Edem (Edem Secrets) debuted in 2008. This new serial was created by the producers of Vera Sto Deksi, and it has eclipsed that show's success. Its ratings place it constantly on the top three daytime programs.

ERT

IENED (renamed ERT2 in 1982) was responsible for the first Greek soap operas I Kravgi Ton Likon and Megistanes. ERT also produced long running soap O Simvoleografos.

Since 2000 and with the introduction of private TV, ERT produced further daily soap operas, but these failed to achieve high ratings and were canceled shortly after their premiere. These included Pathos (Passion), Erotika tis Edem (Loving in Eden), Ta ftera tou erota (The wings of love).

ALPHA

Alpha produced Kato apo tin Acropoli (Under the Acropolis) which ran two and a half years.

Cyprus

Weekday shows

The first daytime soap opera made by a Cyprus channel was LOGOs TV Odos Den Ksehno ('Don't Forget' Street) which premiered on January 1996 but was canceled by December the same year. It was followed by To Serial which was also broadcast for one year from September 1997 to June 1998. CyBC created the third weekday soap which was Anemi Tou Pathous (Passion Winds) beginning January 2000 and finishing June 2004. It was followed on the CyBC daytime timeslot by I Platia (The Square) which premiered on September 2004 and finished on July 2006. On Sigma TV their first weekday show was the comedy Sto Para Pente which was shown from September 1998 until June 2004 and is the longest weekday show in Cyprus history. Other Sigma TV weekday shows include Akti Oniron (1999–2001), Vourate Geitonoi (2001–2005) (which is the most successful weekday show achieving ratings up to 70%), Oi Takkoi (2002–2005), S' Agapo (2001–2002), Vasiliki (2005–2006), Vendetta (September 2005 - December 2006), 30 kai Kati (2006–2007), Mila Mou (September 2007 - January 2009). Its current soap opera is Se Fonto Kokkino shown since September 2008. ANT1 Cyprus aired the soap I Goitia Tis Amartias in 2002 which was soon canceled. Dikse Mou To Filo Sou followed (2006–2009) and now they air Gia Tin Agapi Sou (premiered on September 2008 and expected to be completed by June 2009).

Weekly shows

The longest running weekly show on Cyprus television is Istories Tou Horkou (CyBC) which was premiered on March 1996 but was canceled on June 2006. Second is Manolis Ke Katina (1995–2004). Most controversial is To Kafenio which premiered on CyBC on 1993 as a weekly show, moved to MEGA Channel Cyprus 6 years later i(1999) as a weekday show and then to ANT1 Cyprus on 2000 where it was canceled a year later. Plans of moving back to CyBC again as a weekly show for a 8th season, in 2001, with the original cast never realised. Currently the most successful weekly show in Cyprus is Aigia Fuxia by ANT1 Cyprus (premiered in 2008) and Oi Genies Tis Siopis by CyBC (premiered in 2007).

Parodies

Several soap opera parodies have been produced.

The Carol Burnett Show (1967–78) featured a recurring skit, "As the Stomach Turns", that spoofed the American soap opera As the World Turns. The recurring "Acorn Antiques" skit on the UK's Victoria Wood As Seen On TV (1985–87) was modeled on Crossroads and other British soap operas of the 1970s.

Two of the most famous U.S. parodies were the series Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (1976–77) and Soap (1977–81). Fresno was a 1986 American miniseries spoof of the primetime serials of the period.

Let The Blood Run Free (1990–94) was an Australian parody of medical drama series. Shark Bay (1996) was an Australian parody of glamorous beach side soap operas. It featured many actors who had appeared in Australian soap operas Sons and Daughters, Prisoner, Home and Away and Neighbours.

Grosse Pointe (2000–2001) on the WB was a self-parody of creator Darren Star's behind-the-scenes experiences of producing nighttime soaps, in particular Beverly Hills, 90210.

South African comedian Casper de Vries produced the soap opera parody Haak en Steek, based on South African soaps like .

See also

Daytime Emmy Award

List of longest-serving soap opera actors

List of soap operas

List of radio soaps

Love in the Afternoon

Mobile soap opera

Radio theater

Soap Opera Digest

Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome

Supercouple

Telenovela

Soaplife

British Soap Awards

Soapnet

References

External links

Soap Opera overview - Museum of Broadcast Communications

SoapCentral.com - Portal for US soap operas

Soapdom.com - Portal for US soap operas

SoapOperaDigest.com - Portal for US soap operas

Soaps.com - Portal for US soap operas

Soaps of the Past page on MySpace (US soap operas)

What's on TV - Portal for UK soap operas

The Aussie Soap Archive - Classic Australian soap operas

The Soap Show Interviews and news on UK and Australian soaps

Category:Television genres

Caption	Franco at the Spider-Man 3 premiere, April 2007
Birthname	James Edward Franco
Birth date	April 19, 1978
Birth place	Palo Alto, California, United States
Occupation	Actor, director, screenwriter, producer, painter
Yearsactive	1997–present

James Edward Franco (born April 19, 1978) is an American actor, film director, screenwriter, film producer, author, and painter. He began acting during the late 1990s, appearing on the short-lived television series Freaks and Geeks and starring in several teen films. In 2001 he played the title role in Mark Rydell's television biographical film James Dean, which earned him a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film.

Franco achieved international fame with his portrayal of Harry Osborn in the Spider-Man trilogy. Since then, his films have included the war film The Great Raid (2005), the 2006 romantic drama Tristan & Isolde, and Justin Lin's drama Annapolis (2006). In 2008, Franco starred in the comedy stoner film Pineapple Express and received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. He played a prominent role in the 2008 biographical film Milk. In 2010, he played the lead role in Howl as Allen Ginsberg, and 127 Hours, a film about Aron Ralston, an American mountaineer who cut off his own arm to free himself after he was trapped beneath a boulder. He was nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance.

Early life and family

Franco was born in Palo Alto, California. His mother, Betsy Lou (née Verne), is a poet, author, and editor, and his father, Douglas Eugene Franco, runs a non-profit agency and a shipping container company; the two met as students at Stanford University. Franco's father is of Portuguese and Swedish descent and Franco's mother is Jewish, a descendant of immigrants from Russia. his maternal grandmother, Mitzi Levine Verne, owns the Verne Art Gallery, a prominent art gallery in Cleveland, and was an active member in the National Council of Jewish Women.

Franco grew up in California with his two younger brothers, Tom and Dave, who is also an actor. Talented at mathematics, he interned at Lockheed Martin. Franco graduated from Palo Alto High School in 1996, where he acted in plays. He enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) as an English major, but dropped out after his freshman year against his parents' wishes to pursue a career as an actor, taking acting lessons with Robert Carnegie at Playhouse West. Franco has since described the series as "one of the most fun" work experiences that he has had. In another interview, Franco said: "When we were doing Freaks and Geeks, I didn’t quite understand how movies and TV worked, and I would improvise even if the camera wasn’t on me ... So I was improvising a little bit back then, but not in a productive way."

His first major film was the romantic comedy Whatever It Takes (2000), in which he co-starred with his then-girlfriend, Marla Sokoloff. He was subsequently cast as the title role in director Mark Rydell's 2001 TV biopic James Dean. Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly wrote: "Franco could have walked through the role and done a passable Dean, but instead gets under the skin of this insecure, rootless young man." He received a Golden Globe Award and nominations for an Emmy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

2002 - present

and Franco discuss their roles in the 2008 Gus Van Sant film Milk, and its subject, Harvey Milk.]] In the 2002 superhero film Spider-Man, the most successful film of his career to date, Franco played Harry Osborn, the son of the villainous Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe) and best friend of the title character (Tobey Maguire). Originally, Franco was considered for the lead role of Spider-Man/Peter Parker in the film, though the lead went to Tobey Maguire. Todd McCarthy of Variety noted that there are "good moments" between Maguire and Franco in the film. Spider-Man was a commercial and critical success. The movie grossed $114 million during its opening weekend in North America and went on to earn $822 million worldwide. In this same year, Franco was cast in the drama City by the Sea (2002) alongside Robert De Niro. The following year he co-starred alongside Neve Campbell in Robert Altman's The Company (2003).

The success of the first Spider-Man film led Franco to reprise the role in the 2004 sequel, Spider-Man 2. The movie was well received by critics, and it proved to be a big financial success, setting a new opening weekend box office record for North America. With revenue of $783 million worldwide, it became the second highest grossing film in 2004.

In 2006, Franco co-starred with Tyrese Gibson in Annapolis and played legendary hero Tristan in Tristan & Isolde, a dramatization of the Tristan and Iseult story also starring English actress Sophia Myles. He then rode with the Navy's precision flying team, the Blue Angels, and completed training for his Private Pilot License in preparation for his role in Flyboys, which was released in September 2006; the same month, Franco appeared briefly in The Wicker Man, the remake of the seminal horror film. He appeared in the film alongside Nicolas Cage, who directed him in Sonny. Also in 2006, he made a cameo appearance in the romantic comedy The Holiday.

In 2007 he again played Harry Osborn in Spider-Man 3. In contrast to the previous two films' positive reviews, Nonetheless, with a total worldwide gross of $891 million, it stands as the most successful film in the series, and Franco's highest grossing film to the end of 2008.

He starred in the film Pineapple Express (2008), a comedy co-starring and co-written by Seth Rogen and produced by Judd Apatow, both of whom worked with Franco on Freaks and Geeks. In the New York Times review of the film, critic Manohla Dargis wrote: "He’s delightful as Saul, loosey-goosey and goofy yet irrepressibly sexy, despite that greasy curtain of hair and a crash pad with a zero WAF (Woman Acceptance Factor). It’s an unshowy, generous performance and it greatly humanizes a movie that, as it shifts genre gears and cranks up the noise, becomes disappointingly sober and self-serious." Franco's performance in the film earned him a Golden Globe nomination in the category for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy In 2008 he also appeared in two films by American artist Carter exhibited at the Yvon Lambert gallery in Paris. On September 20, 2008, James hosted the sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live (SNL), and a second time on December 19, 2009.

Franco starred opposite Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, and Emile Hirsch in Gus Van Sant's Milk (2008). In the film, he played Scott Smith, the boyfriend of Harvey Milk (Penn). Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times, in review of the film, wrote: "Franco is a nice match for him [Penn] as the lover who finally has enough of political life." For his performance in the film, Franco won the 2008 Independent Spirit Award in the category for Best Supporting Actor.

In late 2009, Franco joined the cast of the daytime soap opera General Hospital on a recurring basis. He plays Franco, Franco calls his General Hospital role performance art; in summer 2010 the fictional Franco held an exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, while the real Franco held an exhibit at the museum based on his experiences on the soap opera.

Franco made an appearance on the situation comedy show 30 Rock where he played himself and carried on a fake romance with Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski) in a scheme concocted by their respective agents. In May 2010, he was cast to star in Rupert Wyatt's Rise of the Apes. Franco produced and directed a documentary titled Saturday Night documenting a week in the production of an episode of SNL. The film began as a short for an NYU class but grew due to his two episodes as host, while short stories he wrote for other classes appeared in Esquire and McSweeney's.

In 2010, Franco played poet Allen Ginsberg in the drama Howl, and has received acclaim for portraying mountain climber Aron Ralston in 127 Hours. His 2011 roles include the comedy Your Highness, opposite Natalie Portman, and Rise of the Apes, a science fiction film co-starring Freida Pinto.

On November 29, 2010, it was announced that Franco and Anne Hathaway will host the 83rd Academy Awards.

In 2011, Franco will direct a film version of Faulkner's As I Lay Dying and appear in two episodes of ABC's General Hospital.

Writing

In 2010, Franco published a collection of short stories called Palo Alto. The book is named after the California city where Franco grew up and is dedicated to many of the writers he worked with at Brooklyn College. The book has received mixed reviews; Los Angeles Times called it "the work of an ambitious young man who clearly loves to read, who has a good eye for detail, but who has spent way too much time on style and virtually none on substance".

Personal life

Franco reportedly has "an unusually high metabolism for productivity...a superhuman ability to focus". Dissatisfied with his career's direction, Franco reenrolled at UCLA in the fall of 2006 as an English major with a creative writing concentration. Having received permission to take as many as 62 course credits per quarter compared to the normal limit of 19 while continuing to act, he received his undergraduate degree in June 2008 with a GPA over 3.5. For his degree, Franco prepared his departmental honors thesis as a novel under the supervision of Mona Simpson. He moved to New York to simultaneously attend graduate school at Columbia University's MFA writing program, New York University's Tisch School of the Arts for filmmaking, and Brooklyn College for fiction writing, while occasionally commuting to North Carolina's Warren Wilson College for poetry. As of 2010, Franco is a PhD student in English at Yale University and will also attend the Rhode Island School of Design.

Art—painting in particular—is a talent Franco developed during his high school years while attending the California State Summer School for the Arts (CSSSA). His paintings were displayed publicly for the first time at the Glü Gallery in Los Angeles, California from January 7, 2006 through to February 11, 2006. Franco can also be seen painting in a scene in Spider-Man 3.

Franco enjoys reading on the set of his films. Pineapple Express producer Judd Apatow has said of him: "He's a very education-minded person. We used to laugh because in between takes he'd be reading The Iliad on set. We still haven't read The Iliad. It was a very difficult book. With him, it was always James Joyce or something."

Since April 2006, Franco has been in a relationship with actress Ahna O'Reilly. In 2008, Franco was named as the new face of Gucci's men's fragrance line. Viewed as a sex symbol, Franco was named the Sexiest Man Living in 2009 by Salon.com.

In response to questions regarding his sexuality now that he has portrayed three gay characters during his acting career, he insists he finds plenty more dimensions to the characters than their bedroom proclivities. "Or, you know what," he concluded, "maybe I’m just gay."

He was selected as the commencement speaker, the youngest, at his alma mater, UCLA, on Friday, June 12, 2009. On June 3, 2009, a press release announced Franco's cancellation as UCLA's commencement speaker due to a scheduling conflict, making it the second year in a row, after Bill Clinton, that the commencement speaker had canceled the appearance. On July 8, 2009, Franco and the Harvard Lampoon released a satirical video on prominent comedy website Funny or Die mocking his last-minute cancellation.

In the December 27, 2010 issue of Time Magazine, Franco was named by Joel Stein as "The Coolest Person of the Year."

Filmography

{| class="wikitable sortable" ! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |- | 1998 | 1973 | Greg | TV Film |- | 1999 | To Serve and Protect | Matt Carr | TV Film |- | 1999 | Never Been Kissed | Jason Way | |- | 1999-2000 | Freaks and Geeks | Daniel Desario | TV Series: 18 Episodes |- | 2000 | Whatever It Takes | Chris Campbell | |- | 2001 | James Dean | James Dean | TV FilmBroadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor in Television FilmGolden Globe Award for Best Actor - Miniseries or TV FilmNominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a MovieNominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie |- | 2002 | Sonny | Sonny Phillips | limited release |- | 2002 | City by the Sea | Joey |Nominated — Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actor |- | 2002 | Spider-Man | Harry Osborn | |- | 2002 | Deuces Wild | Tino | |- | 2003 | The Company | Josh | |- | 2004 | Spider-Man 2 | Harry Osborn | |- | 2005 | The Ape | Harry Walker | Direct-to-Video |- | 2005 | The Great Raid | Captain Prince | |- | 2005 | Fool's Gold | Brent | Also Writer/Director |- | 2006 | Tristan & Isolde | Tristan | |- | 2006 | Annapolis | Jake Huard | |- | 2006 | The Wicker Man | Bar guy #1 | |- | 2006 | Flyboys | Blaine Rawlings | |- | 2006 | The Dead Girl | Derek | |- | 2006 | The Holiday | Himself | Uncredited |- | 2007 | Spider-Man 3 | Harry Osborn / New Goblin |Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Supporting ActorNominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Fight |- | 2007 | Knocked Up | Himself | Uncredited |- | 2007 | In the Valley of Elah | Sergeant Dan Carnelli | |- | 2007 | Finishing the Game | Dean Silo/"Rob Force" | |- | 2007 | An American Crime | Andy | |- | 2007 | Camille | Silias | |- | 2007 | Good Time Max | Max Verbinski | Also Writer/Director |- | 2008 | Pineapple Express | Saul Silver | Nominated — Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting ActorNominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or ComedyNominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic PerformanceNominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Fight |- | 2008 | Nights in Rodanthe | Dr. Mark Flanner | Uncredited |- | 2008 | Milk | Scott Smith |Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best CastIndependent Spirit Award for Best Supporting MaleNominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting ActorNominated — MTV Movie Award for Best KissNominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion PictureNominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture |- | 2009 | General Hospital | Franco | scheduled to appear in more than 10 episodes November 19, 2009 - June 30, 2011; Feb. 25, 2011 |- | 2010 | 30 Rock | Himself | TV SeriesEpisode: "Klaus and Greta" |- | 2010 | Date Night | Thomas Felton | |- | 2010 | Eat Pray Love | David | |- | 2010 | Howl | Allen Ginsberg | |- | 2010 | 127 Hours | Aron Ralston | Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best ActorIndiana Film Journalists Association Award for Best ActorLas Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best ActorNew York Film Critics Online Award for Best ActorSanta Barbara International Film Festival Award for Outstanding PerformanceUtah Film Critics Association Award for Best ActorNominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best ActorNominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best ActorNominated — Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best ActorPending — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture DramaNominated — Houston Film Critics Society Award for Best ActorPending — Independent Spirit Award for Best Male LeadNominated — Online Film Critics Society Award for Best ActorNominated — Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best ActorNominated — San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best ActorNominated — Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture DramaPending — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading RoleNominated — St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award for Best ActorNominated — Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best ActorNominated — Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor |- | 2011 | Your Highness | Fabious | post-production |- | 2011 | Rise of the Apes | | post-production |- | 2011 | In Praise of Shadows | William Vincent | post-production |}

Selected works

Franco, James. "A Star, a Soap and the Meaning of Art." Wall Street Journal, December 4, 2009.

Franco, James. "Just Before the Black." Esquire, March 24, 2010.

References

External links

Category:1978 births Category:Actors from California Category:American actors of Russian descent Category:American actors of Swedish descent Category:American film actors Category:American Jews Category:American people of Portuguese descent Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent Category:American soap opera actors Category:American television actors Category:Best Miniseries or Television Movie Actor Golden Globe winners Category:Columbia University alumni Category:Independent Spirit Award winners Category:Jewish actors Category:Living people Category:Palo Alto High School alumni Category:People from Palo Alto, California Category:University of California, Los Angeles alumni

Jensen Ross Ackles (born March 1, 1978) is an American actor. He is notable for his television roles as Eric Brady in Days of our Lives which earned him several Daytime Emmy Award nominations, as Alec/X5-494 in Dark Angel, and as Jason Teague in Smallville. Ackles now appears as Dean Winchester on the CW television series Supernatural.

Early life

Ackles was born in Dallas, Texas, the son of Donna Joan (née Shaffer) and Alan Roger Ackles, an actor. Ackles has a brother, Joshua, who is three years older, and sister, Mackenzie, who is seven years younger. He is of English, Irish and Scottish ancestry. He had planned to study sports medicine at Texas Tech University and become a physical therapist but instead moved to Los Angeles to start his acting career.

Career

After modelling on and off since the age of 4, Ackles began to concentrate on an acting career in 1996. He appeared in several guest roles on Mr. Rhodes, Sweet Valley High, and Cybill before joining the cast of the NBC soap opera Days of our Lives as Eric Brady in 1997. He won a 1998 Soap Opera Digest Award for Best Male Newcomer and went on to be nominated three times (in 1998, 1999, and 2000) for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series for his work on Days of our Lives.

Ackles departed Days of our Lives in 2000 and went on to appear in the mini-series Blonde, about the life of Marilyn Monroe. He also auditioned for the role of the young Clark Kent on Smallville, a role offered to actor Tom Welling instead. Next he appeared in a guest role on the James Cameron television series Dark Angel on Fox in 2001 as serial killer Ben/X5-493, the "brother" of main character Max/X5-452 (played by Jessica Alba). His character died in the episode, but Ackles returned to the show as a series regular in the second season as Ben's sane clone, Alec/X5-494. He remained with the show until its cancellation in 2002. co-star Jared Padalecki in 2008]]

Ackles worked steadily throughout 2003. He joined the cast of the WB's hit show Dawson's Creek during its final season, playing CJ, Jen Lindley's lover. Afterward, Ackles filmed several episodes of the unaired series Still Life for Fox before it was abruptly dropped. He also had a small role in the 2004 short film The Plight of Clownana. Ackles was the producer's first choice to play Eliza Dushku's love interest on the second season of Tru Calling, Ackles turned down the role, which was then offered to Eric Christian Olsen and the character's name was changed to "Jensen" because the producers of Tru Calling liked Ackles' name. Ackles returned to Vancouver (where Dark Angel was filmed) in 2004 to become a regular on Smallville playing the assistant football coach Jason Teague, who was also the newest romantic interest for Lana Lang (played by Kristin Kreuk). He also had a lead role in the 2005 film Devour in which Ackles' father, actor Alan Ackles, also had a role playing the father of Ackles' character, Jake Gray.

Most recently, Ackles joined the cast of the CW horror/drama series Supernatural in 2005, where he stars as Dean Winchester. Dean and his brother Sam (Jared Padalecki) drive throughout the United States hunting paranormal predators, sometimes with their father, (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). The sixth season began broadcast on September 24, 2010.

In the summer of 2007, Ackles took on the role of Priestly in the independent comedy Ten Inch Hero. The film began hitting the film festival circuit in early 2007 and Ackles received high praise for his comedic timing in the role. In February 2009, the film was released on DVD exclusively by Blockbuster Home Video. He also appeared on stage from June 5–10, 2007 with Lou Diamond Phillips in A Few Good Men at Casa Mañana Theatre in Fort Worth, Texas, as Lt. Daniel Kaffee. Ackles received strong praise for his work in this role, which was also his professional theatre debut.

In the summer of 2008, Ackles was cast in the remake of the cult film My Bloody Valentine 3D, which opened nationwide on January 16, 2009.

In summer of 2010, Ackles lent his voice as the Red Hood (Jason Todd) for the animated film, , which was released to DVD and Blu-Ray on July 27.

In October 22, 2010, Disney Interactive Studios announced that he will be voicing a character named Gibson in the video game, , which was released on December 7, 2010.

Personal life

After dating actress, model, and gymnast Danneel Harris for three years, and becoming engaged in November 2009, they married in Dallas, Texas on May 15, 2010.

Filmography

References

External links

Category:Actors from Texas Category:American film actors Category:American male models Category:American soap opera actors Category:American television actors Category:American people of English descent Category:American people of Scottish descent Category:American people of Irish descent Category:People from Dallas, Texas Category:1978 births Category:Living people