Who is Thaao Really playing? (Read 291 times)

[André DiMera]

As many of you will know, Thaao Penghlis is one of, if not my favorite actor on Days. In his 35+ years on the show, he has played two absolutely brilliant characters, and put so many subtle differences between them. From 1981-84, and again from 2007-2009, he played Tony DiMera, the first DiMera ever to appear onscreen. As Tony, he is charming, suave, classy and the perfect gentlemen. From 1983-84, 1993-96, 2002-2005, 2007, and 2015-present, he has played André DiMera, Tony's identical cousin. As André, he is charming, classy, but completely psychotic and cunning. But whether playing Tony or André, or both in some cases, he has always been awesome!

Here's the thing, though, who is he currently portraying? We're meant to believe that he's playing André, but he doesn't act like it. Yes, he has moments where he seems darker than others, but not nearly as dark as he usually gets with André; and Tony did have very brief moments of darkness, due to being raised by Stefano, and were few and far between. You must remember, André not only convinced all of Salem he was Tony for 20+ years, but at one time kidnapped half the town and stranded them on a tropical island that is identical to Salem. In fact, you could almost say that André, as currently written, is acting more like Tony than he has when he was pretending to be him!

This leads me to the question: who do you think Thaao Penghlis is really playing right now? Has Tony turned the tables on his diabolical cousin and assumed his identity, or has André really mellowed with age?

[fluffysmom]

It's an interesting question André DiMera.

If Andre is indeed Andre then he's definitely mellowed. I think spending time with Chad, Abigail, and Thomas has finally made him feel like part of a family. Finding a kindred spirit in Kate may have helped too.

[sportsgirl]

Just what fluffysmom said... Many have praised how Tony was in front of Andre's face and I think he realized that if he were more like Tony, people might actually like him. I don't think he enjoys people hating him anymore.

[doolfan4life]

I think tony has turned the tables on Andre and is convincing everyone that he's Andre only now he's not so convincing
His ability to care about people like Abby and Chad etc are interfering with his plot
Psychopaths pull it off better on account of they don't feel like normal people
]The simple fact that he was working and agreeing with hope tells me it can't be Andre
Plus I think Andre is a psychopath and he wouldn't just mellow out, and a psychopath mixed with Kate is a recipe for disaster
Which is why I feel it's tony
Plus it's better drama than he doesn't want to be hated or mellows out with age
I feel like future appearances from other characters might help explain a lot
Fingers crossed for the new writers

[Kpatch]

It would be interesting if he was really Tony.

Frankly I never liked either character played by Thaoo until recently. They've given him some softness and humor and it suits him really well!