Jordi Vilasuso Reveals Why He’s Leaving THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS
In the second episode of Making It Work — the podcast that Jordi Vilasuso (Rey, THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS) recently launched with his wife, Kaitlin — the Daytime Emmy winner had some mighty big things to discuss. “Rey is leaving Genoa City,” he announced. “My last week of work was two weeks ago.”
As he and his wife discussed the big change in their life, Kaitlin admitted that his being let go from Y&R came as a shock. “I had re-signed back in October for another three years,” the actor explained. “But in these contracts, there are six-month intervals where the show can decide not to re-sign you for the next six months. So that’s what happened.”
Vilasuso was hopeful that there were more stories for Rey to tell in Genoa City at the time that he re-upped his contract. But in looking back at the past several months, he confessed, “Maybe I should have seen the writing on the wall. The scripts that I was given were very minimal.”
Kaitlin added that her husband was excited by the new direction Rey’s storyline seemed to be taking, too, as the detective and Melissa Claire Egan’s Chelsea were growing closer. “I’ve known Missy for over 10 years, and finally got to work with her,” agreed the actor, noting that he really liked the dynamic between Rey and Chelsea in the dream sequence they’d recently filmed.
With his time in Genoa City now behind him, Vilasuso has nothing but fond memories. “I loved that I was representing Hispanics, and I got to represent where I come from, Miami. Being a Cuban American, playing one on TV, having this family brought on the canvas… It was really special,” he said. “I was almost there for four years. The longest run I’ve ever had on a show.”
The actor got his daytime start as junior mobster Tony Santos on GUIDING LIGHT, a role he played from 2000-’03, earning a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actor the year that he left. He joined the cast of ALL MY CHILDREN in November 2010 as Dr. Griffin Castillo and carried the character over to the online reboot in 2013. Vilasuso next played DAYS OF OUR LIVES’ Dario Hernandez from 2016-’17 before joining the cast of Y&R the following year.
“It was a beautiful time and I have nothing but love for the show,” he concluded. As for what comes next for his career, “We’re excited about the future. We have to embrace change and see what happens. Because it’s an adventure at the end of the day. If we had all the answers, it would be kind of boring!”
There’s been no confirmation from Y&R about Vilasuso’s final air date, so check back with SoapsInDepth.com for further updates.
