WHEN OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS, OLTL'S MARK DERWIN ANSWERS WITH HIS OWN THEORIES OF EVOLUTION

In a world where everyone has an opinion, ONE LIFE TO LIVE's Mark Derwin doesn't need any help making his mind up.

"I've based my whole career on not giving a crap what people think:' the actor laughs. "I have enough confidence in myself that it's like ... why would I care?" Such happy-go-lucky insouciance makes for a mellow existence: He doesn't pine over bad auditions. He laughed when a producer told him to use Rogaine ("I said, 'Worry about your own scalp, buddy' "). He pays no mind to rumors about himself. And he doesn't care that his February return to soaps, after years spent guesting on primetime's hottest hits, bucked conventional wisdom.

"I know people envision daytime like it's a lower form of work, but you know what? I always liked it," he shares. "I left because I had a really good run there, and I wanted to do film and nighttime, and I thought I had a pretty good chance of doing that. But then I did all that stuff, and I started getting tired of L.A., and I was coming home cranky from auditions, and I was just like, 'What am I doing? 'I wanted to work more. And I knew it had been five years since I was on daytime, but I figured that if I put the word out, people might be interested."

In short order, he was negotiating with both AS THE WORLD TURNS and OLTL, which won out when ATWT bet on a younger Brad at the eleventh hour. "I thought we had a deal," sighs Derwin, who was mad for "about 15 minutes:" then shrugged it off and focused on OLTL. "They had such class." he recalls. "I went over the next day and met with [Executive Producer] Jill Farren Phelps and [ABC Daytime President] Angela Shapiro. We talked for maybe 20 minutes, and an hour later, they called and gave me the job."

Signing on sparked a bunch of reunions -- not just with New York City and daytime, but also with Phelps (whom Derwin called boss during his Emmy-nominated run as GUIDING LIGHT detective A.C. Mallet) and, seemingly half her employees. "Jill's really loyal," he notes, "so a lot of the crew guys, actors and producers (from GL) are at ONE LIFE now." He even knows the Llanview locals: As bartender Ben, he's serving drinks to all the extras he busted as Mallet.

At the same time, he's making new friends -- like quintuple Emmy-winner Erika Slezak (Viki). "I was prepared for whatever I was gonna get with her," admits Derwin, whose time in Hollywood placed him on diva alert. "I've worked with some big-time leading women who are in need of care," he says. "I don't mean mental care; I mean they require a lot of attention. Erika's got five Emmys! It could have gone to her head."

Luckily, the actor had no cause for concern. "She's incredibly sweet -- I've got the hugest crush on her," he laughs, adding that he's not in the least fazed by Ben and Viki's May-December romance. "It's cool," he shrugs. "I think she's beautiful. Like I said, I've got a crush on her. I had to kiss her the other day, and listen, that was no problem at all. I've always been attracted to older women. I look into her eyes and I'm like, 'God, I love this woman.' "

Off-screen, Derwin's even more smitten with his actress wife, Alecia, whom he married on November 1, 1997. "Jocelyn Seagrave [GLs ex-Julie] hooked us up," he relates. "She and I were auditioning an acting class that Alecia was in, and I was taken by her." Two years actually passed before Seagrave orchestrated the couple's first date; after that one night, Derwin was determined to make up for lost time. "I always trust my instincts, and I knew right away about Alecia," he says. "The day after our date, I flew to Europe for a vacation. I went to Paris and London and Amsterdam, and through it all, I kept a joumal -- but I was writing about her. I said, 'I know this is crazy, but I'm going to marry this woman. 'And I never thought I was the sort of guy who would say something like that, but I never felt that way before. I knew she was the one."

Today, Derwin and Seagrave still share "that brother/sister bond" they forged both on-screen and off, and he remains close to many members of the cast and crew still at GL. That said, after several months back in New York City, he has yet to visit the show's midtown studio. "I don't know, it's funny ... and it's not anything against anyone," he says. "I have great memories. But to actually go back, to go in that building ... it was a long time ago ... I don't know. It might be weird."

It certainly would, given that GL Executive Producer Paul Rauch mistakenly believed he re-hired Derwin for last year's February sweeps period. "That was an unfortunate incident," sighs Derwin. The story, in a nutshell, is this: After Rauch put out word that he wanted Derwin to briefly reprise Mallet and pose an early obstacle to Phillip and Harley's relationship, one of Derwin's New York agents, without informing him of the offer, said he would do it for "this huge amount of money."

Rauch agreed to the sum and considered it a done deal, at which point Derwin was told about the arrangement for the first time. "That was the only call I ever got. I was very flattered, but pilot season was just starting, and that's not the time to leave town for any amount of money, so I said thanks, but no thanks," he shares. "And the next thing I know, I look like a jerk. But I didn't do anything wrong, you know? I'm innocent. And at this point, I don't even care if [Rauch] knows that or not."

The sweeps fiasco generated a healthy amount of gossip, the central theme of which was that Derwin turned down Rauch's offer to avoid being reteamed with Beth Ehlers (Harley), whom he dated during and after his GL tenure. "[Rumors] like that don't bother me at all," he says, adding that he doesn't anticipate any awkwardness when he and Ehlers run into one another at upcoming industry functions. "I would think everything would be fine. Why wouldn't it be? It's not like we hate each other ... I've got no problems with her." He doesn't have much else to say on the subject. "Just out of respect for my wife, why would I want to talk about another relationship?" he says. "And out of respect for [Ehlers] and her husband. I'm sure he doesn't want to read about stuff like that. Just like I don't want to know about my wife's past relationships; I have no interest. And this is all coming from me," he continues. "It's not like my wife is saying, 'You can't, don't.' She doesn't care. It's me. I don't see any use in talking about the past. That was then, this is now."

And for now, now's a nice place to be. "We're pretty happy being back in New York,"' says the actor, who predicts that he and Alecia will probably have kids in the not-too-distant future. "All of that was part of the plan in coming back to a steady job. I mean, I didn't think it would be right to start a family and be like, 'Here, honey, you watch the baby. I'm gonna go audition for FRIENDS.' I wanted to be a little responsible and do it right.

"So yeah," he concludes, "Maybe in another year or so. We just want to make sure everything goes well here. Although we're gonna do it at some point, no matter what, because ... uh..." Because you only have one life to live? "Yeah," grins Derwin. "As far as I know."