SEAN KANAN is joining the cast of B&B as Deacon Sharp, a nightclub impresario with a very intimate tie to the Forresters, et. al.: he is the biological father of Little Eric. Kanan, who got his daytime start playing A.J. Quartermaine on General Hospital and later starred on Sunset Beach as Jude Cavanaugh, will debut on November 1.

Kanan has kept busy since Beach went off the air in December 1999; he recently completed filming the movie March, which he wrote and co-produced and in which he has a starring role. "It was never my intention to go back to daytime at this point in my career," he tells Soap Opera Digest (10/24 issue). But after meeting with B&B's Executive Producer/Head Writer BRADLEY BELL, and being offered a contract that provided generous time off to do films, Kanan reconsidered. Of his new alter ego -- whose arrival will throw a formidable wrench into Rick and CJ's separate quests for custody of Eric III -- he smiles, "I've got a feeling I'm not going to be such a good guy."

Another familiar face -- GLADIS JIMINEZ (ex-Ramona, Y&R) -- will appear opposite Kanan as Deacon's troubled (and potentially troublesome) lover.