Tracker Star Justin Hartley Got His Acting Start As A Soap Opera Heartthrob

"Tracker" has propelled Justin Hartley to new heights thanks to his role as Colter Shaw on the CBS show. But while he might be solving weekly mysteries now, Hartley actually got his acting start as a soap opera heartthrob in a 2000s TV show that nobody talks about today.

Hartley's first major role was as Nicholas Foxworth "Fox" Crane on the NBC soap "Passions." The series ran from 1999 to 2008, with Hartley playing the wealthy young heir for 438 episodes between 2002 and 2006. His character was the eldest son of the Crane family, one of the core groups of characters living in Harmony, New England.

"Passions" leaned hard on Hartley as one of its heartthrobs. He recalled to TVInsider, "They'd have me with no shirt walking around a hospital for three weeks. It was ridiculous, but I loved it." Walking around shirtless certainly got him recognized, as Hartley was nominated for two Soap Opera Digest Awards in 2005, for outstanding younger lead actor and favorite triangle. He shared the love triangle nomination with his now ex-wife, Lindsay Korman-Hartley, who played Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald, and Brook Kerr, who played Whitney Russell.

In a genre where spicy affairs and backstabbing is commonplace, "Passions" went a step beyond to demand its audience's attention with some of the wildest soap storylines ever put to the screen. For starters, Fox Crane's aunt, Sheridan Crane (McKenzie Westmore), was a close friend of Princess Diana and had a similar car crash in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris. The ghost of the late royal appeared to Sheridan in a bid to help her survive the accident, a plotline that caused huge controversy in the United Kingdom.

Justin Hartley's Fox also didn't escape some of the wild plots, like the time that he sheltered from a tsunami with Kay Bennett (Heidi Mueller) before having sex with her. He even faked a terminal illness to keep her from going back to her ex. There was also a storyline involving Fox's longtime love interest Whitney, who unknowingly had a baby with her half-brother.

Hartley left the role in 2006 and was replaced by Mark Cameron Wystrach. This means the "Tracker" star wasn't involved in the storyline in which Esme Vanderhausen's niece murdered Fox because she was scared of being sent to boarding school. At least Hartley dodged that bullet, unlike his character.

Now, Hartley is better known for playing Colter Shaw in "Tracker" and Oliver Queen/Green Arrow in "Smallville." He also gained popularity for playing Kevin Pearson in NBC's "This Is Us," which snuck in a joke about his time on "Passions."