Born on July 27, 1971 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Eric Martsolf was educated at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania where he graduated with a degree in political science. While not studying, he was involved in various performing arts such as playing in rock bands, choirs, operas and musicals. Martsolf finally decided to pursue an acting career in May 1993 and moved on to play Ethan Winthrop in the Passions in July 2002.

Ethan Winthrop is played by Eric Martsolf on the soap opera Passions. Sam Bennett and Ivy Winthrop were deeply in love back in the 1970s, but Ivy's father, Harrison disapproved of their relationship. He did everything in his power to separate the two, and Ivy ended up marrying Julian Crane. On the night of her wedding, she slept with Sam and conceived Ethan. Ethan grew up as a Crane, thus living a wealthy and comfortable life. Since Ivy favored her son with Sam over her other children with Julian, Ethan's siblings resented him a lot.



(Photo courtesy of NBC.com)