Days of our Lives' Leo Howard says Tate gives him permission to be a kid again

Leo Howard has been acting since he was a kid, but playing a soap teen is a whole new experience for Days of our Lives' new Tate.

Tate Black is looking a little different of late on Days of our Lives. Leo Howard has taken over the role of Brady and Theresa's son from Jamie Martin Mann, who chose to leave the soap to finish college.

Howard walked right into Tate's life as he left a halfway house, ready to begin life again by doing all the things that teens do -- like sneaking around to see the girl your parents and her parents forbid you from seeing. This story brings Howard back to his younger years, as he is 26 but playing a 17-year-old. However, the age difference between him and his character is something Howard finds refreshing.

"It's fun because I can give myself permission to be immature," Howard told Soap Opera Digest. "As a teenager, everything is a little more serious. The stakes are a little higher. Things that are very small things as adults are very large because we don't have any perspective as teenagers. We don't know what it's like to not be a teenager. And we have hormones pumping through our bodies that make us angsty and a little spicy. So that's really fun for me to play."

One person who has helped him get into the role is Emily O'Brien, who plays Tate's mother, Theresa. She has taken Howard under her wing to show him the ropes, which makes playing her son feel natural.

"It felt so easy to fall into [a relationship] with her," Howard said. "I'm a little bit older than Tate is. So it helped me settle into the teenage dynamic because she was very motherly."

Howard spent his teen years acting and got his start when he was just seven years old on the USA series Monk. By age thirteen, he starred in his own Disney XD series called Kickin' It, using his considerable martial arts skills. He is now engaged to actress Natasha Howard, who recently replaced Jessica Serfaty as Sloan for a few episodes. They are set to wed in September.

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