Walt Willey biography, married, divorce, net worth, comedy

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Walt Willey born on January 26, 1951 in Ottawa, Illinois. He is an American <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Willey">actor</a>, many TV fans know him as Jackson Montgomery from the famous long running soap opera, All My Children.

Education

Walt Willey completed his primary schooling at Township High School. During high school, he was not involved in drama club or any performance arts that would later be a major part of his life. In high school, he was more concerned with athletics. He was a huge <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Willey">fan</a> of Major League Baseball and would spend most of his hours and days playing baseball with his friends. He got so good at baseball and decided to continue his passion when he went to college.

At Southern Illinois University, Walk became a college baseball player. In an interesting turn of events, he played against <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_Hogestyn">Drake Hogestyn</a> who also became a future soap opera star. It isn’t known of his passion for baseball was reduced naturally or if it was reduced because he recognized that he didn’t have enough talent or skill to play the professional level. He was majoring in Sculpture which may have changed his views on life. In sculpture classes, he interacted with people that he wasn’t always used to being around. Instead of talking to jocks all day like he did during high school, he met people with more refined tastes.

He started to develop a passion for acting and the performance arts. Even though he was no longer going to become a pro baseball player, he felt that he could translate his work ethic into acting. He approached the craft like he would a baseball game. In baseball, most of the success comes from proper preparation. He was able to see the parallel in acting because to succeed in acting, you need to be ready to perform your lines without hesitation. In 1981, Walt decided to move from Illinois to New York to pursue a career as a professional actor.

Soap Opera Star

After moving to New York City, Walt started the process of becoming a professional actor. He acted in a soap opera called Ryan’s Hope where he played the role as Joe Novak. It was his first soap opera and gave him invaluable experience. He was able to observe how the days of shooting went. Since soap operas air every day compared to other shows that air once a week, Walt was able to get a quick crash course on how TV shows are produced. Soap operas have to film almost every day because of the content that they need to provide. Other TV shows have the luxury of filming for a few months and then taking time off while the show airs. Much like a baseball season, soap operas are on all the time. Walt couldn’t have fell into a better learning experience because he got so many chances to watch and learn.

After his first soap opera, he did several Off-Broadway productions like Dust Off with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Lauria">Dan Lauria</a>. He also appeared in another soap opera called Another World.

Walt got his biggest role in 1987 when he landed the role of a lawyer named Jackson Montgomery in ABC’s All My Children. At the time, he did not know that it would end up being his most iconic role. He would end up playing that role for almost 3 decades. The producers of the show kept renewing his contract because he was such a strong staple of the program.

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He also did live theater act when he appeared in The Odd Couple in Ottawa, along with his <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jill_Larson">co-actor</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jill_Larson">Jill Larson</a> from All My Children.  He played the role of Felix Unger in three acts of the stage production.

Comedian Stint

Before becoming an actor, he Walt tried his hand at being a stand-up comedian. In 1989, he was trying to spread his comedy all over the country. He tried to prove his talent in stand-up comedy at famous comedy clubs like Caroline’s in NY, the Comedy Store in Los Angeles, and Zanies in Chicago. He travelled all over the nation with his comedy club friends.  He got a membership in Friars Club, as <a href="/biography/joy-behar">Joy Behar</a> from The View nominated him to become a member of the club.  He joined other members including <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_Berle">Milton Berle</a> and <a href="/biography/billy-crystal">Billy Crystal</a> when he was introduced to the prominent fraternity in January of 2001.

Other Acting Credits

Walt prepared to play as an Oscar in a production at Surflight Theatre, located in Beach Haven NJ. He continued his dream to develop community theatre in his hometown of Ottawa. Some of the productions at the theater included Plaza Suite, Arsenic and Old Lace, Harvey, Plaza Suite and Auntie Mame

In October of 2013, Willey joined the Award winning web series Thruston where he played the role of Edmund Snead.

Willey also had some projects called Wild Bill-An Evening with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Bill_Hickok">James Butler Hickok</a> and The Wild and Willey Comedy Tour.

Personal Life

In 1987, he married his first wife Kerrie Clark but they got a divorce in 1989. Their marriage only lasted two years because Walt was more focused on his career. He was not ready to commit to a woman because his life was up in the air. Their marriage had problems because Walt’s attention and focus was always elsewhere instead of focusing on Kerrie.

Walt married another woman named Marie in 1994. His second married would prove to be more successful than his first marriage. He was more established in the acting world and was ready to commit to starting a family He has two kids, Chance Conner and Merit Willey.

Surprisingly, Walt is also a professional <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Willey">illustrator</a> and painter. He developed his painting skills from his classes in college when he majored in Sculpture. Even though he would not be able to pursue a career in Sculpture, he was still able to scratch his creative itch with his art. The passion to create art that was developed in college never died in him. Even after all the years of acting and accolades, he still had a desire to create art with his hands.

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