Barbara Ryan is a fictional character from the American CBS soap opera As the World Turns. In the early 1970s, Barbara was played by a succession of actresses, but the actress most associated with the role is Colleen Zenk, who played her since September 1, 1978. Better known as simply Barbara Ryan she is portrayed as a heroine who experienced many tragedies, mostly at the hands of her controlling ex-husband, the villainous James Stenbeck (Anthony Herrera). Barbara is the daughter of Jennifer Sullivan. Over her 32 years on the show, Barbara has been shot through the heart, nearly gored by a bull in Spain, kidnapped 15 times, married nine times, burned in a chemical explosion and jumped out of a three-story window. After years of being a heroine, Barbara was transformed when writer Douglas Marland came on board at ATWT in 1985. He decided to make Barbara a "bitch" of sorts, and had her break up long standing couple Tom Hughes and Margo Montgomery. This proved to be unpopular, and Marland quickly reverted the character back to being "good" by pairing Barbara with Oakdale police detective (and later chief) Hal Munson (Benjamin Hendrickson). Again, in the early 2000s (decade), writer Hogan Sheffer turned Barbara back into a scheming villain. Burned up in a chemical explosion in 2001 with the actress donning special effects make-up for a full year, Barbara returned to her evil ways and culminated in her committing crimes such as drugging a police officer and hiring a hit man to murder Rose D'Angelo (Martha Byrne). She then kidnapped three of her female adversaries (Emily Stewart, Carly Tenney and Rose D'Angelo).Though the character has since reformed and become a more or less law-abiding presence in Oakdale, she can still be manipulative and devious when she feels she needs to be. Entertainment reporter Lisa Joyner described the character as a "sultry vixen" who'd made the transition from "helpless victim to scheming villain," whilst TV Guide's Michael Logan called the character Oakdale's "firecracker."