Monti Sharp Original Airdate: March 29, 1998

Seasoned soap opera fans are most likely to identify actor Monti Sharp as Guiding Light's David Grant, a role for which he received both national attention and a Daytime Emmy award. However, the Monroe native has also amassed a slew of film and theatrical credits in a career which began in Louisiana but has led to cities throughout the United States.

While Sharp's career has gained momentum in the fast-paced cities of New York and Boston, he was born and raised in Monroe, Louisiana. Throughout his high school years, he was extremely active in community theater and film-related projects. After studying film at Northeastern Louisiana University, he moved on to hone his acting skills at the North Carolina School of the Arts. His theatrical credits include Antigone in New York at the Vineyard Theatre and Before It Hits Home at the Joseph Papp Theatre, Tartuffe at The Huntington Theatre in Boston, Death of a Salesman in Minneapolisí Guthrie Theatre, and Miss Evers' Boys at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta.

During his hiatus from daytime television, he was featured in the films Dead Presidents and Rebound, as well as an episode of NYPD Blue. His 1993 Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series evidenced his popularity with the daytime audiences, as did his recognition in Soap Opera Digest as Outstanding Male Newcomer in that same year and his 1994 Emmy nomination.