Eric Martsolf (born July 27, 1971) is an American television

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

. Since November 2008, he has played the role of

Brady Black Brady Black is a fictional character from ''Days of Our Lives'', an American soap opera on the NBC network. Formerly portrayed by Kyle Lowder, the role of Brady has been portrayed by Eric Martsolf since 2008. Martsolf won a Daytime Emmy Award f ...

on the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

Days of Our Lives ''Days of Our Lives'' (also stylized as ''Days of our Lives''; simply referred to as ''Days'' or ''DOOL'') is an American television soap opera that streams on the streaming service Peacock. The soap, which aired on the American television net ...

'' for which he won a

Daytime Emmy The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (N ...

in 2014. He also played the role of

Ethan Winthrop Ethan Winthrop is a fictional character on the NBC/DirecTV daytime drama ''Passions''. Ethan is played by both Travis Schuldt (July 5, 1999, to July 3, 2002) and Eric Martsolf (July 8, 2002, to August 7, 2008). Rib Hillis temporarily portrayed the ...

in the NBC soap opera ''

Passions ''Passions'' is an American television soap opera that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1999, to September 7, 2007, and on DirecTV's The 101 Network from September 17, 2007, to August 7, 2008. Created by screenwriter James E. Reilly and pro ...

'' from 2002 to 2008.

Background

Martsolf sang on a Hawaiian cruise ship and has modeled for over 50 designers, companies, and businesses. He was a radio broadcaster for WDCV 88.3 FM and was a singer/dancer at

Hersheypark Hersheypark (known as Hershey Park until 1970) is a family theme park located in Hershey, Pennsylvania, about east of Harrisburg, and west of Philadelphia. The park was founded in 1906 by Milton S. Hershey as a leisure park for the employees of ...

Hershey, Pennsylvania Hershey is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Derry Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is home to The Hershey Company, which was founded by candy magnate Milton S. Hershey. The community is lo ...

for four years and also worked and performed at

Dollywood Dollywood is a theme park jointly owned by entertainer Dolly Parton and Herschend Family Entertainment. It is located in the Knoxville metropolitan area in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, near the gateway to The Great Smoky Mountains. Hosting nearly 3 ...

Pigeon Forge, Tennessee Pigeon Forge is a mountain resort city in Sevier County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 6,343. Situated just 5 miles (8 km) north of Great Smoky Mountains National Par ...

. He has a degree in Political Science from

Dickinson College , mottoeng = Freedom is made safe through character and learning , established = , type = Private liberal arts college , endowment = $645.5 million (2022) , president = J ...

. He has been an Assistant Director and a Guest Artist for Children's Theatre Experience.

Career

Martsolf portrayed

's daytime

'' from July 2002 (succeeding original portrayer

Travis Schuldt Travis Schuldt (born September 18, 1974)"Catching up with....Travis Schuldt." ''Soap Opera Digest''. August 12, 2013. p. 63. is an American actor. He originated the role of Ethan Winthrop on ''Passions'', and played the recurring roles of Keith D ...

) until the series' cancellation in August 2008. Martsolf had auditioned for the role of Ethan before the show began. Before he was cast as Ethan, he was previously on the show for one episode as a cop. He was voted favorite actor on ''Passions'' for more than 80 weeks in a row in ''

Soap Opera Digest ''Soap Opera Digest'' is a weekly magazine covering American daytime soap operas. It features onscreen and offscreen news about the series, interviews with and articles about performers, storyline summaries and analysis, and related promotional in ...

''. Martsolf made his first appearance in the role of

on ''

'' on November 13, 2008. The character had previously been portrayed by

Kyle Lowder Kyle Brandon Lowder (born August 27, 1980) is an American actor. He began his career in 2000, when he was cast in the role of Brady Black on the NBC soap opera ''Days of Our Lives''; he remained in the role until his exit in 2005. Lowder went on ...

until 2005. In 2014, he won a

Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series The Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series is an award presented annually by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) and Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS). It is given to honor an ...

for his portrayal of Brady Black. He was nominated again for the same award in 2019. Between 2010 and 2012, Martsolf made three appearances as Marcus Dunne on the

teen drama In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

web series A web series (also known as a web show) is a series of scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet, which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. A single i ...

Miss Behave Amy Saunders also known as Miss Behave, is a British-born producer, performer, comedian and curator. She is a self-taught sword swallower and performs in cabarets. Career Saunders is mostly known as a sword swallower. She has broken the Gui ...

'', which also featured former ''Days of Our Lives'' performers

Jillian Clare Jillian Clare (born July 25, 1992) is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her role as pre-teen Abigail "Abby" Deveraux on ''Days of Our Lives,'' Hayley on ''Victorious,'' and her lead role as Lindsey Lou in the film '' Pretty B ...

Darin Brooks Darin Lee Brooks (born May 27, 1984) is an American actor. He is best known for portraying Max Brady on the NBC daytime soap opera ''Days of Our Lives'', Alex Moran on the Spike TV series '' Blue Mountain State'', and Wyatt Spencer on the CBS soa ...

, and

Patrika Darbo Patrika Darbo (born April 6, 1948) is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Nancy Wesley and Shirley Spectra in the television soap operas ''Days of Our Lives'' and ''The Bold and the Beautiful'', respectively. In 2016, Darbo won a ...

. He also appeared in season 10, episode 18 of ''

Smallville ''Smallville'' is an American superhero television series developed by writer-producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, based on the DC Comics character Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The series was produced by Millar Gough ...

'' in 2011, playing the character

Booster Gold Booster Gold (Michael Jon Carter) is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Dan Jurgens, the character first appeared in ''Booster Gold'' #1 (February 1986) and has been a member of the Justice League. ...

Personal life

Martsolf met his wife Lisa Kouchak doing

musical theater Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement ...

together and married on October 10, 2003."Y&R SUMMER'S FATHER REVEALED!" ''Soap Opera Digest'' June 17, 2013 (Vol. 38, No. 24). p. 43. Their twin sons, Mason Alan and Chase Evan, were born on April 7, 2006.

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

*
Official ''Passions'' biographyEric Martsolf Photo Gallery
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Martsolf, Eric 1971 births Living people American male soap opera actors Daytime Emmy Award winners Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series winners Actors from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Male actors from Pennsylvania