After 10 weeks of grueling competition, Hicksville native Mikey Jerome was the last one standing on the Aug. 10 finale of I Wanna Be a Soap Star, SOAPNet's original reality series. Jerome defeated nine other contestants, including fellow Long Islander Kelly McGarry, 30, of Smithtown, and on Aug. 11, made his daytime soap debut on ABC's longstanding drama One Life to Life. As the winner, Jerome received a 13-week contract (which can be extended each cycle) for the reoccurring role of "Ted Osborne," a former cop who works as "Vincent Jones'" right hand man.

Although taping for Soap Star wrapped up back in February, its reality show nature made it impossible for Jerome to reveal the outcome, let alone that he was the winner. As a result, friends and family were kept in suspense until the night of the finale. At this time, some 35 friends and family members - including two of Jerome's former teachers from the Burns Avenue School - gathered in Hicksville and celebrated the actor's victory in his childhood home.

Knowing for six months that he was the winner and not being able to tell anyone, said Jerome, was extremely difficult, but well worth it in the end. "Your dream comes through and you can't tell anyone {but] it was an easy secret to keep because I knew if I opened my mouth, I would lose everything," he said. "I had prepared them that I'd lost so when it came out that I was the winner, it was the greatest feeling in the world."

After learning he was the winner, Jerome set out to fine-tune his acting skills. In the months between filming the finale and taping his first episode of One Life to Life, Jerome began working with an acting coach. According to Jerome, co-star Tobias Truvillion, who plays his boss "Vincent Jones" on the show, has been extremely helpful. "When I first got on the show, he took me aside and told me what it is like to be on a soap opera. Over the last couple of weeks we have been creating good chemistry, which anyone watching can hopefully see. He's been great," said Jerome.

A 1995 graduate of Hicksville High School, Jerome majored in education at Cortland College. After teaching and holding a job in sales, Jerome decided to pursue his dream and passion for acting. He headed off to California where, while working as a bartender outside of Los Angeles, he looked for an agent and hired an acting coach. Jerome went on several unsuccessful auditions for commercials and television shows, but did not get his big break until the SOAPNet series. His role on One Life to Live has enabled Jerome to relocate from California back to New York and he is currently renting an apartment on the Upper West Side with his girlfriend, Missy.