Springfield made his acting debut on "The Six Million Dollar Man" on 30 October 1977, in an episode entitled "Rollback". In December, he appeared on "The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries", portraying Ned Nickerson. On 20 January 1978, Springfield guest-starred on an episode of "Wonder Woman" titled "Screaming Javelin". The character he portrayed was Tom, the concerned fiancé of an Olympic gymnast who had been kidnapped by a megalomaniac. Later in 1978, Springfield played the character of Zac in "Saga of a Star World", which was, with some differences, the pilot episode of the original "Battlestar Galactica" TV series. He also co-starred as Keith Stewart in episode 17 of season 4 ("Dwarf in a Helium Hat") on "The Rockford Files" and as Tommy Archer in episode 4 ("Murder on the Flip Side") of "The Eddie Capra Mysteries" in 1978. In 1979, he guest-starred on an episode of "The Incredible Hulk" entitled "The Disciple" as Michael Roark, a San Francisco police officer who must decide whether to avenge the death of his father who was also a police officer, or simply provide justice and capture the alleged criminal. In 1981, he became a soap opera star on "General Hospital". He had signed a contract with RCA Records and already recorded the album "Working Class Dog", which neither he nor his agent had expected would do very well, which is why Springfield took the soap role. But the song "Jessie's Girl" went to No. 1 and Springfield ended up both playing the role of Dr. Noah Drake from 1981 to 1983, while simultaneously going on tour with his band. The success of the song boosted the ratings of the show which, according to Springfield, "became the biggest show on TV for that summer". The fame from the show also boosted the sale of the song.