“Like sands through the hourglass … so are the Days of Our Lives.”
The legendary soap opera has entertained audiences for six decades. Premiering Nov. 8, 1965 and originally airing on NBC, Days of Our Lives transitioned to Peacock in 2022, marking a new streaming chapter after 57 years on network television. It is one of the longest-running scripted programs in the world, and churns out multiple episodes a week focusing on the lives of professionals in the fictional city of Salem, Ill.
Scroll through our list below to see the longest-running Days of Our Lives cast members of all time, including Deidre Hall (Marlena Evans), Kristian Alfonso (Hope Williams Brady), Drake Hogestyn John Black), and Alison Sweeney (Sami Brady). To date, each of these four actors has appeared in more than 3,600 episodes.
The series was created by the husband-and-wife team Ted and Betty Corday. Its primary focus revolves around the Brady and Horton families, and later the DiMera and Kiriakis families. Days of Our Lives enjoys a well-known history of pushing boundaries, including artificial insemination and interracial romance in its early years, earning it the title of “most daring drama” in the 1970s.
With over 15,000 episodes aired, Days of Our Lives remains a staple in the soap opera genre, with fans celebrating every time it gets picked for another year. Peacock recently renewed it through 2026. It has won four trophies for Best Drama Series at the Daytime Emmy Awards, in 1978, 2013, 2015, and 2018.
