The line between being a handsomely paid soap star and working at Burger King is thinner than you might think. To try to understand the elusive "Big Break," we talked to two actors who scored big on soaps and two who are still looking for their shot.

"I'm getting a little tired of tending bar," laments Patrick Godfrey, a New York actors who got his start in theater with Wallace Kurth (Ned, GH). "I've known Wally for about 17 years. He and I did Pirates of Penzance. We were in the chorus together back before he was a big soap star. I heard he was a dishwasher one day, he got the call, and he was cast [on Days of Our Lives] the next day."

That's pretty close.

"I was a bus boy," remembers Kurth. "It wasn't like I was even a waiter, I was a bus boy! I hated that job more than anything in the world." Kurth, however, looks back on his Pirates of Penzance days with fondness. "The tour started up in L.A., then went to San Fransisco, where Patrick hooked up and we became friends. Patrick's a hell of an actor and he's a really great singer."

Two years after Pirates docked, Kurth the busboy was pegged to play ladies man Justin Kiriakis on DAYS. The rest is soap history. While Godfrey went on to enjoy considerable success on stage (he played Lancelot opposite Richard Harris's King Arthur in Camelot), and had small roles on OLTL and LOVING, the big break has, so far, eluded him. "It seems like a pretty impenetrable wall, and then one day, the phone just rings," reasons the actor. "I'm just hoping I don't lose patience, move back to South Carolina, and work at Burger King." Toughing it out until you get "the call" is 99% of the battle. "Over the years, I've gone on some 20 soap auditions in New York," says Joshua Taylor, an aspiring actor in New York. "Guiding Light, Another World, One Life to Live, recurring roles and one-shot deals like 'the photographer' or 'the maniacal magician.' '' Constant auditioning did score Taylor a role in as-yet-unreleased film, The Spirit and The Body, in 1995 where he worked with T.W. King (Danny, The City). "It was a marvelous thing to watch," recalls Taylor. "He knew where his lights were, he knew where the camera was, he knew where his marks were, and I learned a lot from him. I hadn't had that much experience in film stuff, and to watch this guy really work was great." "We had a really good time," remembers King. "We shot a really good film. Josh has great instincts." Almost three years ago, King, who will be starring on NBC's upcoming primetime series, Timecop, got his soap break on Loving doing a small part, much like Taylor and Godfrey often audition for. "I came on as an under-five," says the actor. (Under-fives are parts with fewer than five lines per episode.) "I played a drug dealer. I did a couple of lines, they liked what I did, they had me back." After six months of playing Danny, unsure if each day would be his last, King's ship came in. "A couple of actors who had been there on contract were leaving and [ABC] asked me to sign a contract. It was incredible. At the time, I was working as a [film] editor but my passion was always acting. It was the greatest in the world to know that you are going to be paid to do what you want to do." Even after they've signed on the dotted line, actors still have to worry about their dream jobs becoming just that--a dream. Soaps work on 13 week cycles, at the end of which an actors contract is renewed or cancelled. To protect himself from the vagaries of soap story cycles, King continued to hold down his part-time editing job throughout his 2 1/2 year stint on Loving/The City (a move that must look very smart to his fellow co-stars now). Kurth doesn't take job security for granted at GH, where he's played Ned for almost 6 years. "I know how soaps work. It's all about love stories, and if you don't have one, you're nuthin'. When I think about security, I think about my storyline, and if I have a really hot storyline that's really exciting...then I fell secure." Kurth does feel a little better today than he has in the past. "I've kind of gotten over the fear of having to go back to the restaurant, and now that I have a wife who's a working actress [Rena Sofer, ex-Lois, GH], I feel like I probably won't have to go back to the restaurant." Even with the omnipresent insecurity, getting the break must change your life considerably, right? "I haven't changed my lifestyle at all," counters King. "I've kept the same apartment. Basically, the only thing that's different is a new girlfriend, which is the best perk of it all! I go out with the roommate of someone on the soap." Kurth's sudden fame had a greater impact on his immediate circumstances, largely due to DAYS's enthusiastic fans. "It really changed my life.  There's just a real excitement around [DAYS] with the fans. Everyone had fan clubs, so I said, 'Oh gosh, I guess I should gotta start a fan club.'It's very exciting for someone who's never had any kind of celebrity." Relationships can also suffer when one-half of a couple becomes famous overnight. "When Justin came on [DAYS], he came on pretty strong. It was an adjustment," admits the actor. "I had a girlfriend at the time, and it was tough for her and tough for our relationship a little bit, too. I think she felt like I was spending too much time answering all the fans and answering all the demands that a show like that can present." Luckily, things never got too out of hand. "I'd seen a few actors on [GH and DAYS] who let it go to their heads, and they'd fallen quite quickly. Not only did I see it, I'd also heard about it--there were a lot of people who warned me 'Don't let it go to your head,' so I was able to keep it in perspective." Kurth's old friend, Patrick Godfrey, has a pretty good perspective on what makes working on a soap appealing. "The beautiful woman are attractive, that's for sure. I've always told myself I want to do a soap just so I can be around all of those pretty woman!" But seriously, folks, Godfrey doesn't see his life changing too much when he gets "the call." "I'd buy myself a new tennis racquet and a Bose Wave radio," he laughs. "Doesn't take too much to make me happy!"