When Port Charles' Nolan North was growing up in Rhode Island, he envisioned a future that included a fat major league contract, a few Cy Young Awards and all the adulation that goes along with being a star athlete. But his grandma was sure that he would play a doctor on TV.

"My grandmother was a big soap opera fan," the 27-year old actor explains while maneuvering his chopsticks through almond chicken. "She was watching one day and said, 'You're going to be a doctor someday on a soap opera.' I said, �No, I'm going to be a baseball player.' She said, 'No, you'll be on TV, and when you do, I want you to take care of that Roman (Days Of Our Lives) for me. I love him, but he's a bad egg.'

"Well, not only am I a doctor on a soap opera, but at that time Roman was Wayne Northrop (who until recently played PC's Rex Stanton), whose dressing room was right next to mine. We always thought grandma was colorful. She went to a psychic after my grandfather died and was told that I was going to be famous and live in New York or Los Angeles. Now looking back -- she's passed away -- I look up sometimes when I hear a song that reminds me of her and give her a wink."

Despite his grandmother's vision, North pursued a career in baseball at the University of North Carolina, but was felled by both injury and the realization that his passion outweighed his skill. After receiving a degree in journalism, he headed back to New England and entered the graduate communications program at Boston's Emerson College. He dropped out just before the completion of his thesis on the First Amendment vs. The Sixth Amendment -- freedom of the press vs. the right to a speedy trial.

"I was going to use the O.J. Simpson case, but then that became so huge," North says. "And then I got a job and left."

North was hired as a reporter at the Regional News Network (RNN) in New Jersey. Based in the Piscataway bureau, North says he gained a wealth of experience by way of guerilla broadcast journalism. "It was a great thing for someone who wanted to do reporting," he says. I had to drive my own car, shoot my own stories. I was interviewing Al Gore with one hand out like this and a camera in front of my face. Then you went right back and edited it. You learned so much."

Just before he left, RNN offered North an anchor spot. Several factors led to his moving on, however. Some assignments literally made him sick -- like the crack addict raising her five kids in a filthy, one-bedroom apartment. Others compromised his objectivity. "There was this woman whose son disappeared while hiking in Turkey and had been missing for two years. She wanted them to keep searching. I broke down with her. That's why I got out of it. I just didn't have the personality for it."

But the turning point came following his breakup with his girlfriend. "She told me I was nothing but a dreamer and dreamers are losers," he says. "I looked at her and said: Are you calling me a loser? And she said yeah. That was pretty much the end of that."

Shortly after, North rediscovered his love for performing. "I did a play for a friend of mine who was at Columbia. It was just a small thing, but the reviews were good. Everyone was kind of jazzed about me, and I started thinking about pursuing it part time."

Encouragement, too, from older brother Nelson pushed Nolan into giving it a go. "I decided life is too short," he says. "I knew I needed to do whatever would make me happy. Deep down I had this innate feeling that things would work out."

And they did -- quickly. After a few months of playing small comedy clubs, acting in plays, doing temp work and bartending in New York, North moved to LA., in September of 1996, crashing on a friend's couch. Six months later, his grandma's prophecy came to pass. It was just in time, too. He had $14 in the bank and his rend check had just bounced. The big jock was about to become a soap star.

"My friends can't figure that one out," he says. "I've always been kind of the goofball, so they think I should be on a sitcom instead of a soap. The bottom line is, acting is acting. A lot of people out here put soap actors down, but when you're serving margaritas and zucchini fritters, and they offer you a job on a soap opera with a three-year contract, you're going to jump. It's been nothing but a great experience."

A soap stud is not what North aspires to be, however. PC is filled with attractive people, but the actor notes, "it's not that kind of thing where everyone has the ripped abs and the women are perfectly done up. I think our show has real good-looking people, which any soap needs. You can't be scaring people away from the television, but they're right on the cusp of people who would be, like, your brother, or your sister or your real good friend."

One of North's best friends on the show is Debbi Morgan (Ellen). During lunch, North raved about Morgan so long that eavesdroppers probably thought he was her agent. "She's my buddy," he says with a warm smile. "She is so incredibly talented. She invited me to the premiere of Eve's Bayou, and I've seen it three times."

"Debbi is the kind of person who builds you up," he continues. "She's always telling me no one makes her laugh they way I do. And when you do good work, she lets you know. I can't tell you what it means to hear her say, after all her experience, that I'm doing a good job."

Morgan isn't the only one North cracks up. His comedy career started one night when he and some UNC teammates were visiting a local comedy club. One of his friends told the club manager that North was funnier than the performers onstage. The woman challenged North to make her laugh. He did, and was booked for the following week.

Shortly after his debut, North's coach told his relief pitcher to give up "the funny stuff" to concentrate on baseball and books. But a timely shoulder injury opened another door. One day while walking across campus, North ran into a crew from America's Funniest People. He did a few impromptu impressions, and the next thing he knew, he was on a plane for California. (Coincidentally, the stage he performed on for that show is the same one where PC is taped today.)

Upon his return to campus, another opportunity came up. A contest was being held for the chance to open for veteran comic George Carlin. "I did the contest, and I won. When I got up to the mike I was really nervous, but I told myself it was just like pitching. When you get on the mound, you put the bill of your cap down and you're in the zone."

North still performs his stand-up act, recently appearing at the Laugh Factory's benefit for World AIDS Day. "It was probably one of the best sets I've ever had. People noticed it, and I'm going to be doing it more."

Looking back, however, North says it hurt to let go of his major league dreams. He piqued the curiosity of several scouts but the reality remained that his fastball barely clocked in the mid 80s. Every now and then, he wonders what if. "All my life I wanted to play pro ball," he says. "That was it for me. I wasn't as good or as talented as most of the people who played at that level, but I worked hard. I'd run until I was unable to run anymore. I wasn't a big strikeout pitcher, but I could get people out. My brother taught me these work ethics. He was also the one who told me to go after acting, to follow my dream."

It was good advice. North's career is in full throttle. He's involved in a new relationship with someone who sounds like the perfect mate. "There's no work. There's no stress. It's fun" And he's still -- albeit a cutup -- the boy next door. He spends more time doing his laundry than perusing the Hollywood scene.

"I don't know how I've been able to do it so quickly," he says. "There are a lot of people who have been out here years and years and never get what I've gotten. I think people are just destined to do certain things. Everything happens for a reason. The cards are already laid out; you just have to go with it."

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