He is best known for playing the role of Max Holden on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live (1987 to 1990, 1991 to 2003, returning briefly in 2007).
His stage credits include The Fifth of July, The Hasty Heart, The Desk Set, Company, The Sound of Music, The School for Scandal, and All's Well That Ends Well.
[5] DePaiva met someone who offered to introduce him to an agent and also the casting director of the ABC soap opera General Hospital, if he would take a role in his play.
[4] After meeting with Marvin Page, the casting director of General Hospital, DePaiva became an extra on the show, then an under-five.
He finally landed a recurring role in 1985, playing a waiter who flirted with Holly (Emma Samms).
Author Gary Warner asked him to supply a character name to print in the book and DePaiva told him it was Eddie Holton, which was actually the name of a crew member he worked with on One Life to Live.
[4] DePaiva landed his big break when he joined the cast of the ABC soap opera One Life to Live as Max Holden in 1987.
Eight days after leaving, he started negotiating a new contract with the show and began appearing on screen again two months later.
He also appeared in a television commercial for Fruit of the Loom, co-starring with Ed Marinaro and Patrick Duffy.
[8] DePaiva and his OLTL co-stars Susan Batten and David Ledingham appeared in the music video for Roy Orbison and K.d.
[9] In 1997, DePaiva nearly left One Life to Live to play Ben Warren on the CBS soap opera Guiding Light, a character who had been created for him.
[11][12] In 2003, DePaiva announced at One Life to Live's annual fan club gathering that he had been dismissed from the show.
The film starred Kassie, Heather Tom, Forbes March, Timothy D. Stickney, and Ricky Paull Goldin.
[30] When he was twelve months old, they learned that he had been born with an enlarged vestibular aqueduct, an inner-ear abnormality that caused him to be completely deaf.
The DePaivas have lobbied congress to make hearing tests mandatory for newborns in all fifty states.
His character appeared on Erica Kane's television show at her request in hopes that he would help her daughter Kendall deal with the hearing loss of her own son, Spike.