DO YOU KNOW THE REAL PAUL RYAN?

With all the Paul Ryan talk these days, I thought I'd resurrect this post from 2006 to help folks really get to know the man behind the name... from birth on up.


TRANSITIONS: Paul (Stenbeck) Ryan... Then (1984) and Now (2006)


ATWT's Paul first made an appearance in Oakdale in 1980, as Barbara Ryan's illegitimate son. Three years earlier (off-screen), Barbara gave birth to the boy and allowed her friend, Claudia, to adopt him. Claudia loved little Paul. Unfortunately, Claudia's husband, Raymond, did not.

When Paul's biological father, James Stenbeck, learned he had a son, he pursued Barbara until she agreed to marry him and raise Paul as a Stenbeck. At which point James proceeded to cheat on her with, among others, Margo, lie to her, and generally psychologically torture Barbara in a host of amusing ways.

Tow-headed Danny Pintauro played Paul for most of the torture years, before heading off to primetime stardom in Who's The Boss.

The next Paul, in 1985, was a pre-teen Christopher Daniel Barnes, who left Oakdale for Starman, Day by Day, and The Brady Bunch Movies (in which he co-starred with Paul's future brother, Will, a.k.a. Jesse Lee Soffer; a fun fact you can only get here at the PGP blog!)

Andrew Kavovit took Paul through the teen years (1986-1991) and his very first dysfunctional fling with Emily (aw... isn't that cute... They had no idea of the angst still ahead...) Andrew went on to appear in The Magnificent Seven and The David Cassidy Story as David Cassidy (which isn't exactly a Brady Bunch reference but, for a lot of people, The Partridge Family is just as dear in the cannon of classic TV).

By the time Roger Howarth (above) stepped into the role in 2003, Paul was a fully grown man who'd already faked his own death (aww...just like Daddy) and gone through a series of tortured love affairs.

Currently, Paul is involved with Meg Snyder who, the first time their paths crossed on-screen (1986), was a randy teen (played by Jennifer Ashe) seducing true-blue Dusty Donovan (then-Brian Bloom) away from innocent Lily Walsh (Martha Byrne), while little Paul (Barnes) was still busy throwing temper tantrums about his mother's new relationship with Brian McColl.

Ah, daytime tykes... they grow up so fast, don't they?