Yahoo Lifestyle “All My Children ”Casting Director Had to 'Beg' to Get Mark Consuelos on Show
Consuelos, 53, played the love interest of now-wife Kelly Ripa’s character, Hayley Vaughn, for over a decade
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Mark Consuelos attends the 96th Annual Academy Awards at Dolby Theatre on March 10, 2024 in Hollywood, California.Mark Consuelos was almost passed up for the life-changing role of Mateo Santos in All My Children.
The soap opera's casting director, Judy Blye Wilson, opened up about the challenges she faced securing the role for Consuelos during a Jan. 14 appearance at the 92NY in New York City.
“I don’t know why they were dragging their heels on it, but they actually had him play the role, so he started playing the role, and I had to continue to search for another person. So we screen-tested Mark several times,” Wilson told the audience at the event Susan Lucci in Conversation with Andy Cohen: All My Children at 55. “Finally, I begged the producer, and she relinquished, and it turned out to be the best, one of the best parts I ever cast."
The role introduced Consuelos, 53, to his future wife, Kelly Ripa, as he played the love interest to her character, Hayley Vaughan, for nearly a decade. However, after his 1995 All My Children audition, Wilson said she had to convince execs that Consuelos was perfect for the part.
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Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos as Hayley and Mateo on 'All My Children' in 1995As Wilson advocated for Consuelos’ casting, it wasn’t hard to persuade Ripa, 54. Ripa also attended Tuesday's All My Children at 55 talk.
"They couldn’t make a decision about Mark, and I was so behind him,” Wilson said, “And I brought Kelly into my office, and I showed her a black and white picture of him and his head shot, and she really liked him, really."
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Ripa recalled that moment in a 2019 interview with Bruce Bozzi on his SiriusXM radio show. She said she knew Consuelos was "the one" when she first saw his picture.
Related: Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos' All My Children Throwback Photos
Kristina Bumphrey/Variety via Getty
Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos at the 2024 TIME100 Gala held at Jazz at Lincoln Center"They had been looking for this character for some time. They were looking really for a Latino actor,” Ripa said. “And so I had auditioned every Latino actor in the city and around the city and then California. And then all of a sudden, Judy Blye Wilson, who was the casting director at All My Children, said, 'I found him.'”
After meeting on set in 1995, Consuelos and Ripa eloped in 1996. After they exited All My Children in 2002, they had some of their own children: Michael, Joaquin and Lola.
Consuelos and Ripa still work together as the hosts of Live! with Kelly and Mark, since Consuelos replaced Ryan Seacrest in 2023. That year, Consuelos also earned the honor of PEOPLE’s sexiest morning show host.
"It's just a married couple working together and working their stuff out on live TV," Ripa told PEOPLE of the hit talk show in April 2023. "Mark always says that's where he saves his complaints for the live audience, 'cause he feels a sense of safety there."
The couple also relishes the hours their talk show schedule provides.
"Once you work on a soap opera together or a sitcom together, you realize live TV hours are a dream compared to all the others," Ripa added.
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