It's always fun when a familiar face from daytime shows up on your favorite primetime show!
If you're a soap fan, you might not be expecting to see your favorite daytime stars in primetime, but more often than not soap stars land cameo and guest appearances on popular evening shows.
Here are our top 17 times soap stars guest starred on primetime series. Did you recognize them when the shows aired?
Miss any of your favorites? You can watch full TV episodes online here on TV Fanatic to refresh your memory.
1. Vanessa Williams - The Flash
Vanessa Williams is best known to daytime viewers as Valerie Grant on Days of Our Lives, but if you watch The Flash, you may know her better as Francine West, Iris West's estranged mother who struggled to re-establish a relationship with her daughter after two decades.
2. Eric Martsolf - Rizzoli & Isles
Eric Martsolf plays good-hearted Brady Black on Days of Our Lives, but on Rizzoli & Isles Season 5 Episode 5, he got the chance to play a murderer! Martsolf's character killed a terminally ill cancer patient -- and not because of her illness either, but because of a twisted family situation that rivaled any soap storyline.
3. Daniel Cosgrove - Law & Order: SVU
Soap veteran Daniel Cosgrove who most recently Aiden Jennings on Days of Our Lives had the opportunity to play the protective father of a boy whose mother was, among other things, raping his best friend on Law & Order: SVU Season 18 Episode 10. This powerful story also marked the long-running procedural's 400th episode!
4. Mary Beth Evans - Law & Order: SVU
Mary Beth Evans' appearance on Law & Order: SVU Season 10 Episode 1 was no accident. NBC wanted to cross-promote by giving some of its daytime stars cameo roles on primetime dramas. In this case, Evans played a doctor who was overly quick to prescribe ADHD meds, making her the semi-evil twin of her character on DAYS, who is a far more conscientious and ethical doctor.
5. Shawn Christian - The Rookie
Shawn Christian is no stranger to either daytime or primetime, having played significant roles on the defunct As the World Turns and as Dr. Daniel Jonas on Days of Our Lives as well as having played Rachel's gynecologist on a famous episode of Friends. Most recently, Christian was featured on The Rookie Season 1 Episode 6 as a rogue cop who the force had to track down. Interestingly, Christian was not the only soap star featured in this episode, as Aaron D. Spears from Bold & the Beautiful and Days of Our Lives played Mr. Campbell, the father of a victim.
6. Drake Hogestyn - Criminal Minds
Drake Hogestyn, best known as super spy John Black on Days of Our Lives, played a senator on Criminal Minds Season 13 Episode 16. Ironically, his character stood up to an ineffective BAU chief to get the team back together at the same time that his DAYS character failed to stand up to a weak ISA chief who wanted him to poison his best friend.