Walt Willey was born on January 26, 1951 in Ottawa, Illinois and was educated at Southern Illinois University where he majored in sculpture. In 1981 he headed to New York City where he pursued acting. His first soap opera role was Joe Novak on Ryan's Hope. He also had numerous off-Broadway, an example of which is Dust Off. He also ventured into stand-up comedy in 1989 and started entertaining people nationwide. He appeared in popular comedy clubs like Caroline's in New York City and the Comedy Store in California. In 1992 he became a nominee for a People's Choice Award and was named the Most Valuable Player by Soap Opera Update's Reader's Poll for his role on All My Children. A year later, he was again awarded with this honor. Willey regularly hosts charity fundraisers, one of which is the Willey World Endowment Fund which he developed. This organization benefits children's charities.
Jackson "Jack" Montgomery in All My Children is portrayed by Walt Willey. Jack had two siblings, Travis and Christine. When they were young, they got involved in a boating accident that killed Christine. In their Southern matriarchal family, Jack was always seen as the black sheep and Travis on the other hand, was the "go getter". So when they were older, Jack went to Pine Valley to help his brother in his campaign for Senate. What Travis did not know was the Jack was out for revenge--he accepted bribes and messed with the campaign budget so that Travis would lose. During this time Jack fell in love with Travis' wife, Erica Kane. They had an affair and once Travis found out, he filed for divorce and the custody of their daughter Bianca.
(Photo Courtesy of ABC)