For some it’s the proverbial golden ticket, a pathway to fame, fortune and fantastic opportunity, but history is always there to remind us that a starring role in a mainstream soap opera is sometimes as good as it is ever going to get.

Indeed, in a fast moving industry where thrice weekly episodes are churned out with alarming haste and devoted fans fail to distinguish actors from their on-screen personas, it’s easy to see that once golden ticket in hand turn into something of an albatross around the neck. 

But not everyone gets typecast, and for every hopeful former soap star with shattered Hollywood dreams there will be another, who, against the odds, has somehow managed to find a niche market in the United States. 

Just ask Michelle Ryan, who successfully traded Albert Square for America and a starring role in hit NBC show Bionic Woman after leaving EastEnders in 2005. 

The British actress was a complete unknown in the US prior to taking the lead as crime fighting Jaime Sommers in a warmly received but ultimately short lived reimagining of the cult 1970s TV show of the same name. 

As Sommers, a bartender capable of extraordinary physical feats, she hit the ground running when the reboot launched in 2007, just two years after bidding farewell to the BBC. 

It was a far cry from her role as the perennially downcast Zoe Slater, and she could’ve been forgiven for thinking all her dreams had come true after starting work on its first season. 

But Bionic Woman would soon turn into a false prophet, with unexpected three-month Writers Guild of America strikes forcing the production to close after just eight episodes. 

With viewing figures already low, the plug was swiftly pulled on the first season and its remaining five instalments. 

Ryan returned to the UK and soon landed the role of villainous Nimueh in the first series of BBC fantasy Merlin, before guest starring in Doctor Who Special Planet Of The Dead. 

A return to EastEnders in 2025 would serve as a full-circle moment for the actress, who can content herself with knowing she managed to make her own small dent in the US mainstream. 

But who else has succeeded Stateside? 

1. RICKY WHITTLE

Ricky Whittle wasted no time in establishing himself on British TV with a starring role as heartthrob Calvin Valentine in Channel 4 teen soap Hollyoaks. 

A relative unknown before making his first appearance on the show, the actor played Valentine across 243 episodes before announcing his departure in 2011. 

Alarm bells started ringing when he admitted his decision to leave was based on a desire to crack Hollywood, but Ricky somehow beat the odds by carving out a successful TV career in the United States. 

Indeed, six years after leaving Hollyoaks – a period that included a short lived romance with Rumer Willis, the daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore – the British star landed a lead role on big budget fantasy drama American Gods, an adaptation of author Neil Gaiman’s 2001 novel. 

Starring opposite long-established screen veteran Ian McShane, Ricky won a new legion of fans as the enigmatic former convict Shadow Moon. 

But a promising start and positive commercial response couldn’t prevent the show’s cancellation after three seasons in 2021.

Ricky would subsequently feature in the Netflix comedy Nappily Ever After before landing a role alongside Liam Hemsworth, Luke Hemsworth and Russell Crowe in 2024 blockbuster Land Of Bad. 

More recently the actor has featured in an episode of ABC show The Rookie.

2. ANNA FRIEL 

Times have certainly changed for the better since Channel 4 aired the first ever pre-watershed lesbian kiss in British televisual history. 

The groundbreaking moment would air in 76 countries across the world, make the front page of more than one national paper and prompt reactions ranging from outrage to outright respect. 

And to think it all stemmed from a fictional cul-de-sac in Liverpool, the suburban setting for Brookside, a soap opera that began as a Scouse alternative to the more successful Coronation Street in 1982. 

It would provide a professional springboard for actress Anna Friel, whose two year stint as Beth Jordache would include said kiss as writers explored the character’s sexuality, a controversial subject at the time.  

Following her intimate moment with close friend Margaret Clemence, played by Nicola Stephenson, Beth would come out as a lesbian to her family before finally leaving Brookside Close for good in 1995.

But while the chapter was closed on Beth, it would be a new beginning for Anna, whose career would ultimately go from strength to strength in the years that followed. 

Despite fearing she would ‘never work again’ after leaving the show, Anna re-established herself in the United States with a starring role in hit comedy Pushing Daisies. 

The actress was signed to the show’s principal cast and earned multiple award nominations for her role as Charlotte “Chuck” Charles, among them a Best Actress nod at the Golden Globes. 

The show’s two year run came to an end in 2009, with Anna landing prominent roles in an array of popular shows – among them Neverland and Scandinavian crime series Marcella, a starring role that earned her an International Emmy Award for Best Performance By An Actress.

3. HIMESH PATEL

As Lily James’ love interest in Yesterday, Himesh Patel found himself enjoying the first of several blockbuster roles – but it all began in a fictional east London enclave. 

Long before he played a jobbing musician in Danny Boyle’s Beatles inspired comedy, the actor was earning his crust on BBC soap opera EastEnders, where he started his career as Tamwar Masood. 

Patel played the bespectacled schoolboy for nine years before leaving Albert Square in 2017 and branching into commercial film with a starring role alongside James in Yesterday. 

The film’s mainstream success would earn him further roles in Christopher Nolan’s 2020 blockbuster Tenet and Adam McKay’s political satire Don’t Look Up, released to critical acclaim the following year. 

Sharing the screen with Oscar-winner Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill and Timothée Chalamet, Patel earned an ensemble Screen Actors Guild nomination for his role as Phillip Kaj in the film. 

More recently, the actor has featured prominently in HBO Max drama Station Eleven and British satirical comedy The Franchise, co-produced by Armando Iannucci and Sam Mendes. 

He will also star as legendary Arthur Conan Doyle character Dr. Watson in forthcoming film Enola Holmes 3, alongside Millie Bobby Brown, Henry Cavill and Helena Bonham-Carter.

4. BEN HARDY 

Ben Hardy’s career appeared to hit all the right notes when he landed a career defining role as Peter Beale in EastEnders. 

But the genetically blessed actor would go on to bigger and arguably better roles after playing show stalwart Ian Beale’s son for just two years. 

Indeed, the dust had barely settled on Hardy’s Albert Square departure when he was cast alongside James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence and Michael Fassbender in Marvel epic X-Men: Apocalypse.

Playing Warren Worthington III, AKA superhero Archangel, the actor quickly established himself as one to watch – and his performance soon caught the eye of director Bryan Singer, who wasted no time in signing him up for blockbuster Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody. 

With Rami Malek playing flamboyant singer Freddie Mercury – a role that would ultimately win him an Oscar – Hardy was the perfect foil as the introverted, softly-spoken drummer, Roger Taylor. 

An assured performance, it earned the actor an ensemble Screen Actors Guild Award nomination, and further mainstream success. 

In 2019 he was back on the big screen alongside Ryan Reynolds in the Michael Bay directed 6 Underground, before accepting further roles in erotic thriller The Voyeurs and romantic comedy Love at First Sight. 

As recently as September he was making a decent fist of scaring cinema-goers with a starring role in The Conjuring: Last Rites. 

5. NATHALIE EMMANUEL 

The jump from Hollyoaks to HBO is as unlikely as it is ambitious, but Nathalie Emmanuel managed to achieve just that after leaving the Channel 4 soap in 2010.

The actress played Sasha Valentine – Ricky Whittle’s on-screen sister – across 191 episodes of the long-running show before opting to leave its relative security and take a chance on Hollywood.

It would prove to be a calculated risk, with Emmanuel landing an iconic role on HBO fantasy drama Game Of Thrones as former slave Missandei.

She would play the character on a recurring basis throughout much of its eight season run before meeting a brutal end, but while Missandei would ultimately lose her head, Emmanuel would lose herself in even bigger roles.

Indeed, 2015 would see her become part of the Fast & Furious family, with the actress playing Ramsey in Fast X – the first of four appearances in the long running film franchise. 

Elsewhere she took a starring role in director Wes Ball’s Maze Runner: The Scorch Trial and its sequel, Maze Runner: The Death Cure, based on the novels by James Dashner. 

In 2024 she worked with oscar-winning director Francis Ford Coppola on big budget passion project Megalopolis, but despite its all star cast – the film also featured Adam Driver, Shia LaBeouf and Dustin Hoffman – it struggled to make an impact at the box office. 

As of 2020, Emmanuel has starred alongside John Travolta and Kevin Hart on the Emmy nominated US show, Die Hart. 

6. RACHEL SHENTON

American viewers would be forgiven for failing to recognise this triumphant British actress as she accepted her Academy Award in 2018. 

And why would they? Hollyoaks is a long way from Hollywood, and it was there that Rachel Shenton began her career as wannabe WAG Mitzeee Minniver. 

The actress enjoyed a three-year stint as the ditzy character before leaving in 2013 and relocating to the United States, where she landed a long-running role in US teen drama Switched at Birth. 

But it was her self financed, self-written and co-produced film The Silent Child that earned Shenton and her husband Chris Overton an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short. 

Based on the actress’s real life experience as the child of a deaf parent, it tells the moving story of four-year old Libby, a ‘profoundly deaf’ child whose life dramatically changes when she meets social worker Joanne, played by Shenton. 

The film subsequently made its British debut on BBC One and would pull in 3.6 million viewers before moving to the channel’s streaming service, BBC iPlayer.  

Shenton’s father Geoff, who owned his own haulage company, became profoundly deaf after undergoing aggressive chemotherapy treatment for throat cancer. 

Geoff passed away in 2001, and speaking ahead of her Oscars triumph the actress admitted she hoped he was looking down on her. 

She said: ‘I had a moment yesterday where I thought none of this would have been possible without him. It felt like such a sad thing at the time and it is.

‘But something really – hopefully really – positive has come from that. So I hope if he can see me he’s really proud.’

More recently, Shenton has taken a starring role as Helen Alderson in as BBC reboot of iconic British drama All Creatures Great And Small.  

7. ALEX FERNS

He was dubbed Britain’s most hated soap villain after playing psychopathic Trevor Morgan in EastEnders, but Alex Ferns would enjoy a rather warmer reception on the other side of the pond. 

The Scottish actor became a household name as wife-beating Morgan, a character he played across 119 episodes of the BBC show before being killed off in 2002.  

Viewers were gripped as the violent thug terrorised his estranged wife, ‘Little’ Mo Slater, with Ferns subsequently winning six awards for his portrayal of the character, among them Best Newcomer and Best Soap Villain at the 2002 Soap Awards. 

It open the door to a string of mainstream roles, among them guest appearances in Randall & Hopkirk, Wallander, Vera and long-running BBC hospital drama Casualty. 

The actor even made a cameo appearance in Chernobyl, a recent five-part miniseries based on the meltdown of a Russian nuclear reactor in 1986 and the lifesaving efforts of first responders and volunteers during the subsequent clear-up operation. 

Ferns would enjoy further success on the big screen with a starring role alongside Tom Hardy in Kray twins biopic Legend and a subsequent appearance in fantasy blockbuster The Legend Of Tarzan, co-starring Margot Robbie and Samuel L. Jackson. 

In 2022 he enjoyed further box office success as Commissioner Pete Savage in The Batman, with Robert Pattinson taking a turn as the Caped Crusader. 

8. SAM STRIKE

Ferns wouldn’t be the only EastEnders star to find a Hollywood niche. 

Indeed, Sam Strike enjoyed consistent success across the pond after quitting his role as Johnny Carter in EastEnders.

Strike played Carter for little more than a year before leaving the the relative security of the BBC show in 2014. 

He would feature in a subsequent episode of British drama Silent Witness before making the shift to the United States and guest roles in a string of popular shows – among them Netflix hits Mindhunter and Nightflyers.

In 2024, he accepted a recurring role as Deputy Jess Chinlund in Amazon Prime dama Outer Range, a show that would see him work alongside established stars Imogen Poots and Josh Brolin. 

But he is perhaps best known for playing the murderous escaped mental patient Jedidiah Sawyer in 2017 horror Leatherface, the eighth instalment in the hugely successful Texas Chainsaw Massacre film franchise.

9. EMMETT J. SCANLON 

Emmett J. Scanlon was 31-years old when he landed his breakout role as roguish bad boy Brendan Brady in Hollyoaks. 

The Irish star soon became a pivotal and extremely popular presence on the show, but after three years and countless controversial storylines he left leafy Cheshire in 2013. 

Trading early evening soap for adult drama, Scanlon starred in The Fall alongside former X-Files star Gillian Anderson, playing D.C. Glenn Martin.

Wider recognition would follow in 2019 when he featured across five episodes of cult BBC drama Peaky Blinders. 

Playing Billy Grade, a retired professional footballer who makes a meagre living by singing in The Garrison pub, Scanlon earned a broader fan base through the show’s international popularity, notably in the United States. 

The following year he entertained bored Brits at the height of lockdown with a starring role alongside fellow Irishman Paul Mescal in TV drama The Deceived.

More recently the actor won deserved accolades for Netflix smash Fool Me Once, a serialised adaptation of the bestselling novel by Harlan Coben, co-starring former Coronation Street actress Michelle Keegan. 

There has also been a brief appearance on the big screen in science fiction blockbuster Guardians Of The Galaxy, with Scanlon playing a head riot guard. 

He has since worked with Tom Hardy, Pierce Brosnan and Dame Helen Mirren on director Guy Ritchie’s Amazon Prime opus, MobLand. 

10. ROBERT KAZINSKY

Robert Kazinsky had already enjoyed success in Sky One drama Dream Team before landing a plum role as Sean Slater in EastEnders. 

First arriving on the Square in 2006, Kazinsky would make recurring appearances as the troubled loner – famously described by the actor as a ‘raging psychopath’ – before leaving for good in 2022.

Between lengthy stints away from the show the in-demand actor surprised fans by taking on a series of high profile roles, among them vampire Macklyn Warlow across nine episodes of HBO series True Blood in 2013. 

Three years later, he loaned his voice to animated character Orgrim Doomhammer in Warcraft, before starring alongside Samuel L. Jackson and Brie Larson in 2019 blockbuster Captain Marvel.

Kazinsky has also worked with Ryan Gosling in box office blockbuster The Gray Man, the first in a franchise of films based on author Mark Greaney’s Grey Man novel series. 

As of 2025, the actor has featured in an episode of Star Trek: Section 31.

11. MATTHEW MARSDEN 

Soap fans will perhaps know Matthew Marsden best as Chris Collins, the young mechanic who assisted Kevin Webster at his Coronation Street garage. 

The actor had his head under the bonnet as spanner-wielding Collins for more than a year, featuring in 137 episodes of the ITV1 soap opera before leaving Weatherfield in 1998. 

And it wouldn’t take Marsden long to establish himself across the pond after landing a role in Ridley Scott’s acclaimed 2001 blockbuster Black Hawk Down.  

Playing Specialist Dale Adonis Sizemore, the actor held his own alongside the more established Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor and Eric Bana. 

More big screen success would follow in Resident Evil: Extinction before Marsden landed a role in Sylvester Stallone’s 2008 smash, Rambo.

The following year he played Captain Graham in director Michael Bay’s Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, a role that would see him work alongside Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox. 

Having already made the move to American mainstream cinema, Marsden made a decent fist of US TV with an appearance in Two And A Half Men. 

The actor played Nigel in two episodes of the hugely watched show in 2012, shortly after leading man Charlie Sheen was replaced with Ashton Kutcher.

More recently, Marsden featured in five episodes of US drama Reacher, a TV adaptation of Lee Childs’ popular book series.