“General Hospital”’s Nancy Lee Grahn Doesn’t Think Soaps Are a ‘Training Ground’: ‘It’s a F---ing War Zone’

Victoria EdelTue, June 30, 2026 at 8:26 PM UTC

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Nancy Lee Grahn on 'General Hospital'Credit: Bahareh Ritter/Disney via Getty

Nancy Lee Grahn struck back at the popular idea that soap operas are a 'training ground' for actors

Grahn said that they're really a 'f---ing war zone'

Grahn previously appeared on One Life to Live and Santa Barbara before joining General Hospital in 1996

Nancy Lee Grahn is clearing up what she considers to be a misconception about soaps.

Grahn, who has played Alexis Davis on General Hospitalsince 1996, opened up about her long career in soaps on the June 30 episode of the Soapy podcast, hosted by The Bold and the Beautiful's Rebecca Budig and Days of Our Lives' Greg Rikaart.

Grahn, 70, was discussing the act of filming the show — and why, after 30 years on GH, the crew of the show gives her some “freedom” and “leeway.”

“I try not to take advantage,” she said, but “a lot of times” the producers can get a little confused about how she recovers after missing a line. She's very generous with me,” she said, but only because she's proven she knows what she's doing.

Lane Davies (left) and Nany Lee Grahn on 'Santa Barbara'Credit: Bill Nation/Sygma via Getty

“I love my job. I love where I work,” she said, noting how incredible it is to be on daytime for “40 years.” Grahn made her soap debut in One Life to Live, beginning in 1978. She played Beverly Wilkes. In 1985, she moved to the soap Santa Barbara, where she played Julia Wainwright Capwell. She stayed with the show until it was canceled in 1993. Three years later, her tenure as Alexis Davis, a lawyer who stirs up major trouble in GH's Port Charles, began.

But all these years later, she has a major quibble with the way people talk about soaps. “I don't like when people go, ‘This is a training ground. It's a great training ground for actors,' ” she said. “It's a f---ing war zone, man. You better know what you're doing because you won't last.”

Budig, whose soap resume includes a stint on GH as Hayden Barnes, agreed. “You're not training there,” she said. “Train outside, then come in and if you're actually prepped and prepared you can do it.”

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Grahn admitted, “The repetition of doing it every day does make you a better actor, and so in that regard, it is great training. But training ground? No, no, no, no.”

Before her soap journey began, Grahn was studying drama with legendary teachers Sandy Meisner and Bill Esper and had already played a variety of roles on the stage. She got cast in OLTL when she was in school, and she “wasn't supposed” to be taking professional jobs while studying. “I thought, ‘Isn't that the point of me going to school?' ” she said.

She had guest roles on TV shows like Little House on the Prairie, The Incredible Hulk, Magnum, P.I. and Knight Rider before joining Santa Barbara.

Nancy Lee Grahn (left) and Maurice Benard on 'General Hospital'Credit: Bahareh Ritter/Disney via Getty

The show, she said, “was so innovative and the writing was so good.” Though she kept telling herself she would stay for just “another year,” every year when the time came to renew her contract, she couldn't say no.

“I thought, ‘I'd have to have Murphy Brown's part to have a better part than I had on Santa Barbara,' ” she said. Her character, Julia, like on GH, was also an attorney who has a powerful bond with Lane Davies' Mason Capwell. Grahn was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1989 for her role.

She called her tenure on Santa Barbara “a very special growth time.” The show, she noted, was often called “the soap for smart people,” in part because the writers all had theater backgrounds.

Grahn shared on Soapy that she just signed on for another three years at General Hospital. “I'm so grateful for this part of my life,” she said.

“It's such a great job,” she added. She said people should tune into soaps “right now more than ever because it's familiar, it's consistent, it's dependable, it's harmless.”

Grahn has been nominated for 12 Daytime Emmys for her role as Alexis, winning twice, including in 2025.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”