The NBC/Peacock soap opera Days of Our Lives welcomed Leo Howard to its ever-expanding cast in March 2024 as Tate Black. Howard joins the show’s recent cast changes since the beginning of the year. Unlike a few other new cast additions, Leo Howard is being recast in the iconic role of a teenage Tate Black.
Leo Howard is replacing Jamie Martin Mann, who had portrayed the character for about a year after joining Days in 2023. Since Tate Black’s character was introduced in the show in 2015, Leo Howard has become the sixth actor to play the role. Here’s more about Leo Howard and his Tate Black character on Days of Our Lives.
Who Is Tate Black on Days of Our Lives?
Tate Black is currently one of the show’s series regulars. The character was created by soap opera writers Gary Tomlin and Christopher Whitesell. Tate Black debuted as a baby on Days on March 30, 2015, after being introduced by executive producers Ken Corday, Lisa de Cazotte, and Greg Meng. The circumstances surrounding Tate Black’s birth were one of the show’s intriguing storylines in late 2014.
Tate Black’s biological parents are Brady Black (Eric Martsolf) and Theresa Donovan (Jen Lilley). When Theresa first discovered she was pregnant, a jealous Kristen DiMera (Eileen Davidson) sought to steal the embryo. After kidnapping Theresa, Kristen removed the embryo and implanted it in her womb. All this time, Theresa hadn’t had the chance to tell Brady Black about her pregnancy.
Kristen left Salem and went to Italy to deliver the baby. After birthing Tate Black in Italy, Kristen named him Christopher. After Melanie Jonas (Molly Burnett) discovered the truth and Kristen’s whereabouts, she informed Brady. The baby and the kidnapped Theresa are successfully returned to Salem, with the baby renamed Tate Donovan Black. The character of Tate Black was reintroduced in Days in 2023 as a teenager.
Leo Howard’s Casting on Days of Our Lives
When Tate Black was reintroduced on Days of Our Lives, Jamie Martin Mann became the first actor to portray the character as a teen. However, Martin Mann had to exit the show to attend college full-time. A casting call was sent out for a replacement. Like several other actors, Leo Howard auditioned for the role. After scaling through the first round of auditions, he was asked to do a chemistry read. The 26-year-old Howard beat others to play the role of a teen Tate Black.
Interestingly, Leo Howard had no experience working in a soap opera before auditioning for Days. The closest he has ever been to the genre was his mother and grandmother’s love for soap operas. In his words, “My mother is a die-hard General Hospital fan, and my grandmother was a die-hard Days of Our Lives fan, so they battled it out, the two of them. My whole childhood, the characters were on the screen, and I remember it vividly.”
Leo Howard admits there’s a difference between acting in regular feature films and soap operas. He states, “Handling all this dialogue is an adjustment for sure. I’ve always been good with memorizing things. There is a quantity, and there is a pace. There is a different mindset when it comes to balancing your work life because this is a show that doesn’t end, unlike most film projects. This forces me into a better schedule. I have to devote time to it, and then, I can do the things in my personal life. It took me a minute but I feel pretty settling in right now. It’s a muscle, and it speeds up.”
Who Is Leo Howard?
Leo Howard is an actor and martial artist. The actor was born in Newport Beach, California, on July 13, 1997. Howard is the son of Randye Howard and Todd “The Big Bulldog” Howard, famously known as co-hosts of Spike TV’s World’s Worst Tenants. Leo Howard’s parents are also professional dog breeders. His love for martial arts began at an early age, around age 4. His passion for martial arts was developed after his parents enrolled him at a local dojo. At age 7, Howard was already training with martial arts world champion Matt Mullins. By age 8, Leo Howard had won three world championships and holds a black belt in Shōrin-ryū.
After falling in love with martial arts, Howard appreciated Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris’ films, which made him a fan. At age 7, Howard was certain he wanted to have a career as an actor to emulate and help promote martial arts in movies. Leo Howard began his career as a model for print advertorials, as well as TV commercials. Unsurprisingly, in his acting debut, Leo Howard played a Little Karate Kid in a 2005 episode (“Mr. Monk Goes Home Again”) of the Monk TV series.
Although he landed his next acting role four years later in 2009, Howard has been busy ever since. While most of his credits have been on television, Howard has also starred in a few movies. He played the young Snake Eyes and Conan in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009) and Conan the Barbarian (2011), respectively. On the small screen, Leo Howard’s notable roles include Disney XD’s Kickin’ It (2011–2015), Hulu’s Freakish (2016–2017), Why Women Kill (2019), and Legacies (2019–2022). Besides Days of Our Lives recasting Leo Howard as Tate Black, also read about Gloria Loring’s return to her iconic role after 38 years.
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