‘Days of Our Lives’: Billy Flynn on Why Playing Chad DiMera Is Still the ‘Best Job in the World’

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Billy Flynn made his Days of our Lives debut on September 12, 2014, as Chad DiMera, and admits he never thought he’d be around 10 years later. “It honestly feels like longer, but at the same time went by like in the blink of an eye,” he muses.

Here, Flynn opens up about how landing the job changed the trajectory of his life and looks back on the highlights of the last decade.

What do you remember about getting the job?

Billy Flynn: I lived on a sailboat and I had no money; I could barely eat. I got this audition and was like, ‘I don’t really want to be on a soap; I want to do movies or whatever.’ But my manager, God bless him, said, ‘Mate, you’re living on a sailboat. You can’t afford to eat dinner.’ The screen test is still a vivid memory because I did it with Kate Mansi [ex-Abigail Deveraux; Kristina Corinthos, General Hospital] and Rob Wilson [Alex Kiriakis]. I was super critical of myself. I remember leaving and apologizing to Marnie [Saitta], the casting director, and she was like, ‘You’re crazy.’ And then they offered me the job.

What stands out now when you look back on your early days there?

I remember having this sense of feeling like I was part of an institution, especially being a DiMera. The first time I met [the late] Joe Mascolo [ex-Stefano DiMera], I had this great sense of pride and honor around it, especially at that time because it was just before the 50th anniversary book [Days of our Lives 50 Years] came out. We did a press tour and I was like, ‘God, this is big.’ I just remember thinking, ‘I feel like a star,’ which in hindsight now is funny because I live in the suburbs outside of L.A. and nobody really knows anything about what I do for a living. At least not that I’m aware of, except maybe a couple of my neighbors. I just remember I used to just sit on set and I would watch everything. I was a nervous and scared young man, even though I was almost 30; I just wanted to be so good. I was always afraid, like, ‘I’m gonna get fired; they’re gonna fire me.’ But to this day, I still have this love and connection to Marnie and Kate Mansi for advocating for me because the job changed my life.

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How did you go about figuring how who Chad was?

Well, I didn’t really know what I was doing, but you can see my evolution in Chad’s evolution. I got to play Chad as a young man — he was cocky and arrogant and didn’t really know anything. I was all of those things, so I’ve gotten to grow up with him. I remember there was a scene I played with Kate Mansi and I thought it was the seed of Chad and Abigail becoming the supercouple that they became, and if it weren’t for Kate giving an equal performance, it never would have happened. But I remember I had just started dating Gina, who’s now my wife, and I felt what love was. So, when Chad and Abigail had this passionate rise, my wife and I were having this passionate rise at the same time. I remember during the scenes when they thought Abigail was dead when Kate left [in 2016] and I had all this dark stuff to play, I was going through a dark period in my life, battling addiction and depression and all this other stuff. And then Chad found happiness and peace, though I don’t know if you call it happiness on a soap opera, and I figured things out and I got healthy. Chad had kids and then I had kids and it’s been fascinating to me how the things in my life and the things that Chad’s going through, have always kind of mirrored each other.

 

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Chad and Abigail’s pairing has struck such a chord with the audience. What has it meant to you that you found continued success with different acting partners playing her?

I’ve been lucky to work with great people as much as anything else. Kate [Mansi] and Marci [Miller, ex-Abigail] and AnnaLynne [McCord, “Abigail”] are top of the top of the food chain. We just caught each other at the right times in our lives; we didn’t have to force it. I think the pairing with Kate was the most surprising because I didn’t know what I was doing then. With Marcy and me, we were friends and we just let our dynamic go into what the characters were, and AnnaLynne and I do the same thing. But, really if I’m honest, it’s the women; they just carried me on their shoulder pretty much. I just got really lucky.

What is your favorite story that you’ve done?

The Necktie Killer story [in 2015] and the Stefano stuff that happened when I first started.

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Is there anyone that you have always wanted to work with but haven’t yet?

Obviously, [for] 10 years now, I’ve worked with so many people, but there are some really good younger actors. Ashley Puzemis [Holly Jonas] is great and Leo Howard [Tate Black] is really good; I’d like to have more stuff with them.

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Could you ever have imagined when you started that 10 years later, you’d still be playing Chad?

No. I remember in the beginning thinking, ‘OK, I’m going to do this for a couple of years and I’m going to leave.’ If I had advice for my younger self, it would be, ‘Hey, man, enjoy it. It’s good.’ I was in a rush to move on for so long, but I love the people, the crew and the cast. I recently went and did an episode of Matlock, and if you can find time to do something else, it’s fun. But when I came back, they asked me, ‘How was it?’ And I said, ‘I like that I have a home [at Days].’ It’s the best job in the world. I get to make a living, and I get to be around for my kids. I think the past 10 years have just been a constant evolution of gratitude that I’ve been working for 10 years in this business. The life I didn’t think I wanted has turned out to be this really fruitful thing and one of the best learning experiences in a lot of different ways. In the life that I thought I wanted, I don’t know what would have happened, but the chances are, I would have done a thing here and there and, I’d be thinking, ‘I should have taken that job.’ So, I feel like for the first time, me and my acting and everything is just coming together, and it feels really good.

What does your association with Days of Our Lives mean to you, especially with the show about to turn 60 next year?

It’s just been great. When I talk to people who say, ‘I started watching with my grandmother or my mother and they’re gone now but I still watch it and it makes me feel closer to them,’ that’s the legacy. That’s what affects me the most. It’s an amazing honor to be a part of something like that and to think that maybe you played a small part and added a little bit of value.

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