In 2008, Mark Consuelos became a regular panel member of Oprah's Friday's Live - a panel that includes Oprah's friend Gayle King and former talk show co-host Ali Wentworth. At the time, he told The Huffington Post, "I really have no idea why they picked me."
The answer was simply because Oprah's producers liked him. They thought he was the perfect male voice among the women panelists.
Consuelos is no stranger to the talk show world, either. His spouse is one of the best known talk show hosts around: Kelly Ripa. Consuelos and Ripa met on the set of All My Children when the two played on-screen love interests. They fell in love for real and were secretly married in Las Vegas in 1996.
From time to time, Consuelos will sit in for Regis Philbin on Live with Regis & Kelly.
Consuelos was born in Zaragoza, Spain, and has lived in Italy and the U.S. since he was a child. His mother is Italian and, perhaps surprisingly, Consuelos does not speak Spanish but is fluent in Italian.
He graduated from the University of South Florida with a degree in marketing. Consuelos joined All My Children a year later after graduation, in 1995.
Consuelos continues working as an actor, though he is no longer in soaps.
