When an actor appears as comfortable in the skin of his character as Wally Kurth does playing cutthroat executive Ned Ashton, it gives his admirers pause: Is the performer really acting at all? In the case of Kurth, he certainly is. Off-camera, he and his alter ego are almost polar opposites. "Ned would never be my friend - I'd be totally intimated by him!" he confides. "He's a rich kid with an East Coast education who thinks of nothing but power, control, and defending his family."

And while Kurth adores wife Rena Sofer, their 22 month old daughter, Rosabel, and Meghann, his 12 year old daughter from a previous relationship, the native of Billings, Montana, insists "I could never lie or be as outright mean to people as Ned is! I'm really sort of a country boy with small-town values. It's not that I'm conservative, but I am a hard-working, honest guy who doesn't want anything I haven't earned."

As the youngest of five children, Kurth learned his work ethic from his folks, who, thankfully, bore no resemblance to Ned's momster, Tracy Quartermaine. "My father was a lawyer, and my grandfather was a car dealer who also owned several cattle and horse ranches," Kurth offers. "Spending summers and weekends out at the ranch really influenced who I am today."

Having grown up with the cowboy culture, it's no suprise that Kurth first picked up a guitar at the age of 19 and started playing country-folk music. But these days, the focus of his musical talent is on finding a hit song for his band, Kurth & Taylor.

A lot of artists would be satisfied with having three albums under their belts and having just finished a four-song production deal with MCA Records, but not Kurth. "I'm not out to create a new musical form. My music is very traditional and it harkens back to the stuff I grew up listening to - artists like Jackson Browne, Jim Croce, and Bob Dylan," he explains. "But it is important to me to try to discover my popular country voice. My goal is to finally make a breakout kind of recording that truly defines who I am."

One thing the actor does have in common with his on-screen persona is the drive to succeed. :I'm ambitious for artistic reasons - I want to be admired by my peers - while Ned just wants to be loved by his family," he points out. "Fortunately, I'm already loved by my family - I don't need to proved anything to them."

The women is Kurth's life - Rena, Meghann, and Rosabel - have done wonders for keeping his career in perspective. "I used to think that I've got to stay busy in order to feel like I'm a success, but full-time fatherhood has made me rethink my priorities," he admits. "Now I realize even if I don't accomplish everything I want to with my music and movies and any other goal I set out for myself, I could be happy just raising a few great kids."

Kurth looks back fondly on the day when he first met and worked on GH with Sofer, the woman who would become his wife on the show and off. "I remember my band was introduced to the show at the same time Rena was," he says. "It was the beginning of a beautiful story that was about to unfold. And just that day, flirting with Rena, flirting with Lois, and having all that energy between us, that was great."

And for some time, things only got better for Kurth. "When I was in the throes of the Ned and Lois storyline, I was the happiest actor in town," he marvels. "If you had offered me a major, Tom Cruise-type role, I wouldn't have taken it. I really miss working with Rena."

With Lois' character now one from the canvas, Ned is struggling to build a relationship with Alexis, a woman he has a lot more in common with than he had with Lois. "Ned and Alexis understand each other intellectually, emotionally, and physically," Kurth says. "But whether Ned's in a place where he can fall in love again and commit to another serious relationship is yet to be decided."

Unfortunately, the type of no-strings-attached relationship Ned desires doesn't hold the same appeal for Alexis. "I think that Ned and Alexis are really in sync, and that it's the physical side of their relationship that he's craving right now," Kurth explains. "The idea of not having to complicate things by dealing with the past or talking about where we might be heading in the future really appeals to him. But evidently, that's not going to work for Alexis."

While Ned always as been the kind of guy who found his best friend in the woman he was with, Kurth himself has no trouble making friends. However, losing a few of them to tragedy has more than changed his outlook on life. "I lost two close friends to AIDS in the last year," he reveals. "I was with them when they passed. So, AIDS awareness and raising money not only for the cure for, but also for the care of AIDS patients is a cause that's very close to my heart."

But the loss of his brother-in-law to cancer in May is what hit Kurth the hardest. "I'd known Skip since I was 10, and he was probably the biggest influence on my life. He was a spirtual mentor. A counselor, a therapist and a big brother to all of us boys - I feel like I'm such a loss without him," Kurth sighs. "Now I'll do everything I possible can for cancer charities as well."

There are a lot of dreams that Kurth has yet to fulfill. "My mother doesn't want me to quit my day job," he offers. "It's a good paycheck, and she knows how unstable this business is."

"But I just know that I want to do more. As an actor, I want to tell more and different stories - stories with or without music - and I want to do music too. I just want to do it all."

Like another certain blue-eyed entertainer who successfully combined music and acting, Kurth would love to be able to look back on his life and say he did it all his way. "certainly, I've done things that I probably shouldn't have, and I didn't do things that I should have, but that's my dream," he concludes. "We'll see what happens."