Stephen Schnetzer

Stephen Paul Schnetzer, born June 11, 1948, in Canton, Massachusetts, is an American actor whose career spans Broadway, daytime television, film, and voiceover work. His father, a postal worker of German and Irish ancestry, and his mother, a war bride from Algeria who worked as secretary to the superintendent of schools in Canton, raised Schnetzer in the area where he attended Catholic Memorial School. He went on to earn a degree in French with a minor in Spanish from the University of Massachusetts. His formal acting training took place at Juilliard and the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, where he also studied the Meisner technique under William Esper. During his time at Juilliard, he took circus classes and learned to juggle.

Early in his career, Schnetzer worked under the names Steven Schnetzer, Stephen St. Paul, and Steven St. Paul. His film debut came in a small role in Hail, credited as Steven Schnetzer. In 1976, he played Lucentio in a television movie production of The Taming of the Shrew and guest-starred on Hawaii Five-O, both under the name Stephen St. Paul. He joined the cast of the NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives from 1978 to 1980, playing Steven Olson, the brother of Julie Olson Williams, and also made guest appearances on The Love Boat and Fantasy Island during this period.

Schnetzer made his Broadway debut in 1980 in Filumena, playing the son of Joan Plowright in a production directed by Laurence Olivier. The following year he returned to Broadway, playing Mark Harrison in A Talent for Murder at the Biltmore Theater. Between those two productions, he joined the cast of the ABC soap opera One Life to Live, portraying Marcello Salta from 1980 to 1982. It was on that series that he met actress Nancy Snyder, who played Katrina Karr; the two married on March 18, 1982, and had two sons together. Their younger son, Ben Schnetzer, is also an actor. Schnetzer had previously been married to Amy Ingersoll, whom he wed at the Swedenborgian Church in San Francisco on November 24, 1976.

In 1982, Schnetzer landed the role of attorney Cass Winthrop on the NBC soap opera Another World, a part he held until 1986, when he departed to pursue opportunities in Los Angeles and spend time with his newborn son. He returned to the role in 1987 and remained with the series through its final episodes in June 1999. His performance earned him a Soap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Comic Actor in 1989, along with additional Soap Opera Digest Award nominations in 1986, 1991, 1992, and 1999. He also received a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in 1990. Following Another World's cancellation, he continued playing Cass Winthrop on the CBS soap operas As the World Turns from 1999 to 2002 and again in 2005 and 2006, and on Guiding Light in 2002. He later appeared on Homeland in a role named Dr. Cass Winthrop. During his years on Another World, Schnetzer also appeared in the television movie Shattered Innocence and guest-starred on The Cosby Mysteries and Prince Street.

Schnetzer's Broadway career continued well beyond his early credits. In 2002, he replaced Bill Pullman in the role of Ross in Edward Albee's The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? His subsequent Broadway appearances include Wit, Oslo, The Waverly Gallery, and Prayer for the French Republic, with his Broadway activity documented from 1971 through 2024. Away from Broadway, he played Garry Lejeune in Noises Off at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., from December 2006 into 2007, and portrayed Voltaire in Legacy of Light at Arena Stage in Crystal City, Virginia, from May to June 2009. He returned to that venue in September 2009 for The Quality of Life, co-starring with Annette O'Toole and Kevin O'Rourke. In October 2015, he starred in Arthur Miller's Broken Glass at the Westport Country Playhouse in Connecticut. He also played Martin in a production of The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? at Lyric Stage in Boston, opening in February 2006.

On film, Schnetzer played Mr. Hammon in the 2005 drama Brooklyn Lobster and co-starred with his son Ben in the 2007 film Ben's Plan. He appeared in the 2017 film Aardvark and starred in the independent film A Case of Blue. His television guest work from 2008 to 2018 included appearances on The Wire, Fringe, Damages, The Good Wife, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Person of Interest, Forever, The Blacklist, Flesh and Bone, Blue Bloods, Billions, and Elementary, in addition to earlier appearances on Law & Order and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. He also appeared in the television movie Rage of Angels in 1983. Since 2022, Schnetzer has appeared on the web series The Bay. In 2024, it was announced that he would return to Days of Our Lives as Steven Olson. Schnetzer additionally built a career as a voiceover artist in both English and French, with clients including Kellogg's Frosted Flakes.