Alison Sweeney played Adrienne on Days of Our Lives Before Sami

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Say the name Alison Sweeney, and nine times out of ten people will think Days of our lives and Sami Brady. Although the actress has become a very successful Hallmark star, she is now and forever closely associated with the Salem schemer she played from 1993 to…well, now. (We still expect the fan favorite to return for arcs every now and then.)

But three years before Sweeney was cast as Roman and Marlena’s daughter—on May 4, in fact—she appeared in another central role in the soap: that of Adrienne Johnson. However, she did not replace the usual portrayer of the ill-fated lover, Judi Evans. At just 11 years old, Sweeney played a younger version of the character in flashbacks.

Time passed, as it often does. Sweeney starred in the short-lived sitcom Family man (above left) and eventually returned to Salem to show the world what a lowlife Sami had turned into due to SORAS (soap-opera rapid-aging syndrome). “I was just a loser kid back then,” Sweeney told Kelly Clarkson in 2023. But she was a loser kid with talent in abundance. She stuck with the show and the show stuck with her. So “the crew watched me grow up.” (See her and more stars who grew up before our eyes here.)

Evans is one too, of course Days of our lives long lasting. She started playing Adrienne in 1986 and now plays her lookalike, Bonnie Lockhart.

So on the anniversary of what was actually Sweeney’s Days of our lives debut, look back with Soaps on her many setbacks as Sami.