Interview: Bryan Dattilo Reflects on 25 Years at Days of our Lives

Looking forward to more Lucas Roberts.

Fans, as well as Soaps.com, has been enjoying watching Bryan Dattilo play Lucas Roberts on Days of our Lives since 1993. Though the actor has been enjoying the role himself, he expressed surprise when Soap Opera Digest told him it had officially been 25 years – “I feel like I’m 25 and I act like I’m 25.” Dattilo went on to share his memories with the magazine, his feelings on the current state of Lucas and what his off-screen life is like.

Dattilo explained he had been a fan of Days before he auditioned for the NBC soap, as his grandmother was a loyal viewer. However, since he struggled in his education and with reading, memorizing the scripts was a bit of a challenge. “Thank God for people early in my career like Deborah Adair [ex-Kate]. She used to stay with me after work and work with me because I could not retain the information,” he recalled.

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He praised his first onscreen mother for getting him over “those humps” which led to a lengthy, yet not quite steady, stint as Lucas. His on and off status with Days wasn’t ideal, as he said he never thought he should have another job and was happy to believe he would play Lucas “until I die.”

Those times he was off the show, he fessed up to missing the character and the people, which is why he’s glad to be back. “The money comes and goes, the storylines come and go, your co-stars come and go, but you always feel like that’s home and that’s where you belong and I’ve never tried to do anything else.”

Currently, he’s happy head writer Ron Carlivati put him in the “thick of things” throughout 2017 and appreciated going deeper with Lucas than he had in a long time. He mentioned his storyline with Sami (Alison Sweeney) and Will (Chandler Massey) specifically.

Off-screen, Dattilo parents his 18-year-old son Gabe and 3-year-old daughter Delila, noting being a dad to a young child is harder in his 40s. “I don’t have as much energy because I get really tired,” he stated. “I’ll go down for her nap as hard as she will.”

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Though he appreciates the lessons he learned over his 25 years of playing Lucas, Dattilo admitted he made a lot of mistakes receiving so much early in life. However, he believes his ups and downs made him who he is now and tries not to live in the past, but look more to the future. A future he hopes includes him playing Lucas. “I would love to get a Lifetime Achievement Award for being Lucas for like, 50 years.”

What are your favorite Lucas memories? Tell us below.

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Photo credit: Jesse Grant, Jill Johnson/JPI

– Lori Wilson