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 fan 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 Drake Hogestyn 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 Dan Lauria. 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.