Days of our Lives Performer of the Week: Louise Sorel as Vivian Alamain

When Louise Sorel makes her too infrequent Days of our Lives returns, it's always a delight and for one main reason — Louise Sorel is a delight and knows this character like the back of her hand.

Days of our Lives' one and only Vivian Alamain

There are some actors who just embody a character, and Sorel is one of them. Her acerbic and flamboyant August Lockridge on Santa Barbara in the 1980s was one of a kind, as is her portrayal of Vivian, a character she first brought to life back in 1992.

In 2019 and 2021, when Sorel's schedule did not work with DAYS' shooting schedule, two other incredible soap vets pinch-hit for her. In 2019, One Life to Live's Robin Strasser stepped in. In 2021, Another World's Linda Dano became Vivian. Both performers embodied other legendary soap characters as Strasser was OLTL's Dorian Lord and Dano was AW's Felicia Gallant, so they were able to come in and knock it out of the park. However, Vivian felt like Vivian again when Sorel brought her back in 2023, 2024, and again this past week.

Louise Sorel always makes us laugh

Vivian has had one of Salem's most colorful histories, forever known as the woman who buried Carly Manning (Crystal Chappell) alive for months in the mid-1990s and tried it again with Maggie Kiriakis (Suzanne Rogers), but was a bit less successful. Her live-and-let-live attitude, combined with her ruthlessness, are hallmarks that Sorel has imbued in the character since day one and were there again during a glorious spring week in 2025.

Watching her flit around the Kiriakis mansion as if she owned it was a hoot, as were all her reminders to Philip that she nurtured her in her womb. This was supposed to make her family, despite the fact that she had stolen Kate (Lauren Koslow) and Victor's (the late John Aniston) embryo and had it implanted in herself.

However, her best scenes were with Xander (Paul Telfer) and Sami toward the end of the week. Sorel showed us Vivian's exasperation as a slow-on-the-uptake Xander couldn't figure out she was trying to tell him he was duped. She had to literally spell it out for him on a piece of paper.

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Then, Sorel had us in stitches when Vivian ran into Sami in Horton Town Square and they decided to share an Uber. It was a most unusual scene that came out of nowhere, but maybe it was telling us that both Sorel and Alison Sweeney will be back again — together and ready to cause chaos wherever they go.

Catch all-new episodes of Days of Our Lives weekdays on Peacock.

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