Soap star Freddie Smith to tackle anti-gay bullying, homophobia on "Days Of Our Lives"

Freddie Smith is thrilled at the new storyline coming to the venerable daytime soap opera, “Days Of Our Lives” (DOOL) on NBC. “My character [Sonny Kiriakis] is the first gay character in the 45 years of the show,” Smith said. Three weeks after leaving the nighttime soap, “90210,” on which he played the gay character of Marco Salazar, Smith landed a recurring role on DOOL. Sonny is the son of Justin Kiriakis and Adrienne Johnson, and he moves to the fictional town of Salem in 2011 to live close to his parents and to attend college. Soon he comes out to his Uncle Victor and befriends other members of the younger set in Salem. Along the way, he finds the acceptance of his family and friends, but begins running into conflict with less open-minded people.