Michael Park (Jack Snyder), 'As The World Turns'.

After being on As the World Turns for nearly a decade, Michael Park's character, Jack Snyder, has had one constant in his life: his tumultuous relationship with on-again, off-again love interest Carly Tenney. Even though they are off again at the moment, Michael Park still has plenty to say about Carly, and her portrayer, Maura West.

"With Carly and Jack," Michael explains, "it's like the forbidden fruit. Jack is not supposed to be with (a woman like) Carly. But the bad in Carly is what lured Jack, and the good in Jack is what lured Carly.

"Jack grew up in a small town and has always dreamed of having a family of his own in a town he's familiar with. He has always longed for the kind of life his cousin Holden has. And then in comes this fireball, this pain in the ass, the one you least expect to turn you on. Of course, Jack and Carly could not stand each other at first," says Michael.

And we all know what that means in Soapland. They ended up falling in love.

Jack and Carly have had their share of love scenes, as well as some pretty intense fights. As an actor, Michael admits that "when you're fighting, it's much more exciting and fun to play. But one (emotional extreme) holds the other's hand: You can't have love scenes without the knock-down, drag-out fights."

It also helps when you have an amazing scene partner with which to share the moment. "I feel so safe with Maura. I admire and love her so much with her as my fake wife, that I can do anything with her."

Now that Carly seems to be intrigued with Simon Frasier (Paul Leyden), and Maddie Coleman's sister, Eve, has caught Jack's eye, fans might not be seeing their favorite squabbling duo together for a while. Michael concedes that finding someone else when your true love is no longer in the picture is "kinda normal. You gotta find someone to share these things in your life with. With Carly, Jack found it in someone who tends to bend the rules. You gotta have drama to have laughter, and vice versa to make the union solid and grounded."

Now an old hat on the soap scene having been on ATWT since 1997, Michael still finds ways to keep things fresh and exciting, for himself and his fans. "You have to feed off the people you are working with and constantly challenge yourself. You have to reinvent your character, and when you find what works, you go with it. I am constantly beating myself up knowing there is a better way of doing things, but because of how quickly we work, we don't always have the chance to experiment as much as we'd like."

Reality competition

ATWT has been doing a bit of experimenting as well. This summer the show launched an online reality competition, "InTurn," wherein the winner will receive a 13-week contract with the show. New episodes (each five to eight minutes long) air on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays on CBS.com, with the winner being decided by the viewing audience in mid-September.

Michael has taken an active role in this contest, first appearing as the host who shows the aspiring soap stars around the set, and then later as a judge for one of the acting competitions. Of the experience as a whole, Michael says, "It's been a blast!" But on the technical side, he does wish that the downloading and streaming weren't so choppy. He hopes that won't turn people off from watching these episodes online.

And while Michael has a few favorites that he would like to see win the competition, he aint telling who that might be. Go to CBS.com and watch "InTurn," and you can decide for yourself who should be the latest cast member on ATWT.