Adrienne Johnson Kiriakis - Casting and Characterization

Casting and Characterization

Judi Evans joined DAYS in 1986 after a widely popular run on the CBS soap opera Guiding Light, where she played Beth Raines from 1983-1986. Her run on the NBC soap opera centered on her battles with childhood abuse and her relationship with Justin Kiriakis, played by Wally Kurth. After she left the show in 1991, she joined Another World that year as Paulina Cory Carlino until the show ended in 1999. After a short break from daytime, she returned to DAYS in 2003 as an entirely different character, Bonnie Lockhart and remained in the role until 2007 when she was immediately brought back as Adrienne from 2007-2008 and then since 2010. In between her second and third runs on DAYS, Evans joined the cast of the CBS soap opera As the World Turns as Maeve Stone in 2009. The role lasted for several months and followed her almost-relationship with Holden Snyder, played by Jon Hensley. Evans' casting on ATWT coincided with Kurth's return to DAYS, ending plans for a Justin and Adrienne reunion but she eventually returned a year later.

At the time of her 2010 return, Evans spoke to the Sony Pictures Days of our Lives website about her character's onscreen reunion with Justin and their struggling marriage.

"...The way they wrote the characters...they really matured them, they really caught the gist of what their relationship had been as opposed to what it is now. Wally and I kept marveling at how wonderful the writing is. And true to form, true to life, true to the characters."

—Judi Evans, Sony Pictures/Days of our Lives

During her years away from the daytime genre, Evans appeared in Dreams of Gold: The Mel Fisher Story in 1986 as Penelope Cabot and Getting Away with Murder: The Jonbenet Ramsey Mystery in 2000 as Patsy Ramsey. Evans also appears on the web series Venice: The Series, created by Crystal Chappell who played Carly Manning on DAYS. Her role as Logan follows her character's relationship with Chappell's character Gina and her inability to develop friendships with any of the women in Gina's life. Outside of acting, Evans began a career as a grief counselor at the Rose Hills Memorial Park & Mortuary in Los Angeles. She admitted at the time that she was unsure of taking the job but came around to the idea of helping people in need. Evans calls this career decision "a great opportunity to be of service to people. I feel very fortunate. I wanted to do something with my life that's meaningful. Some people might consider this weird or desperate or a step down, but I don't. I'm helping people at one of the most difficult times in life and that means the world to me." Evans was nominated the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her dual roles of Adrienne and Bonnie in 2008, 24 years after her winning the award for her role on GL.