List of Days of Our Lives characters introduced in the 1990s
A list of notable characters from the NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives that significantly impacted storylines and debuted between 1990 and 1999.
Stephanie Johnson
Stephanie Johnson was created by head writer Richard J. Allen, and was originated by actresses Amanda and Jessica Gunnarson. Shayna Rose briefly stepped into the role in 2006–07. The role was taken over by Shelley Hennig in 2007. Henning was nominated for a Daytime Emmy for her role as Stephanie, in the category of Outstanding Younger Actress in a Daytime Drama. Her last airdate as Stephanie was on April 6, 2011. In December 2016, it was revealed that Hennig will return for her parents' wedding in February 2017. On May 2, 2022, it was announced by Soap Opera Network that Abigail Klein had been cast as Stephanie for Days of Our Lives: Beyond Salem, and would later join Days of Our Lives as a series regular.Stephanie is the daughter of supercouple, Steve Johnson and Kayla Brady. She is the ex-fiancée of Philip Kiriakis, and Nathan Horton. Stephanie is introduced in 1990 while Kayla is serving jail time.
She and Kayla depart the series in 1992, with a teenage Stephanie, played by Shayna Rose, returning without her mother in 2006. Shayna Rose departed the series in 2007. A new looking Stephanie, played by Shelley Hennig arrives in Salem in 2007 with parents Steve Johnson, and Kayla Brady. Hennig has portrayed the role from 2007 to 2011, even being nominated in 2010 for a Daytime Emmy in Outstanding Younger Actress. Despite only airing into April 2011, Hennig managed to receive another Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Younger Actress in 2012.
Storylines
Stephanie Kay Johnson is the daughter of Steve and Kayla Johnson. In 1991 Stephanie was kidnapped by her nanny, Sheila Salsbury, but was later recovered in Australia. After Steve's death, Kayla and Stephanie moved to Los Angeles.In 2006, Stephanie and Kayla returned to Salem. Stephanie was now an adult and a famous race car driver. She had brief relationship with Max Brady before she left town, Stephanie returned after her father had been revealed to be alive, and began experiencing problems. By then, Stephanie was romantically involved with Jeremy Horton Stephanie talked Chelsea and Max into working with and investing in Jeremy's business, "Touch the Sky Airlines." But, the business turned out to be a counterfeit clothing smuggling operation, and Max lost all of his money. Stephanie and Max started to fall for each other, and the two began a flirtation. Max originally believed Touch the Sky Airlines was involved in prostitution, and he worked with Stephanie, Chelsea Jeremy, and Jett Carver, who was undercover, to save the girls. Jeremy didn't show up, and Jett ended up getting shot. The girls were revealed to be working with Jeremy's business partner Kai Rawlings. He forced Max and Stephanie out of the plane, and Max and Stephanie made love in a cave. Stephanie told Max that she was committed to Jeremy and couldn't be with Max, so began dating Morgan Hollingsworth, the president of a sorority that Stephanie and Chelsea would later join. Soon, Jeremy left town to avoid the police, and Stephanie was left to sort out her feelings for Max. Stephanie was so jealous of Max and Morgan that she went out one night to a party and went home with Ford Decker. She thought that she would just get her mind off Max, but instead Ford drugged her drink and when she was subdued, he raped her. Stephanie didn't know how to deal with the rape, and kept it to herself even after Ford continued to drug and rape other women on campus, Stephanie could not find it in herself to testify against him, and she conspired with her sorority sisters to lure Ford to their house and drug him to teach him a lesson. The girls successfully drugged Ford, but in his groggy, he tried to rape Chelsea. Ford chased Chelsea up the stairs, but then got too groggy, and fell down to the stairs to his death. Stephanie convinced the other girls that they should not call the police, but instead, they should hide the body themselves. Stephanie called Max to help move the body, and the sisters kept the secret for a few weeks until Chelsea finally told Ford's dad where Ford's body was. No charges were brought against Stephanie thanks to Victor's intervention. The rape brought Max and Stephanie closer, and they became inseparable. Stephanie even helped Max find his biological sister, Melanie, in France. Stephanie and Melanie did not get along, and the rivalry began to take a toll on Max and Stephanie's relationship. Max told Stephanie that Melanie confessed to a crime, and Stephanie turned Melanie into the police. Furious that Stephanie would break his trust, Max broke up with Stephanie. Stephanie set out to pick up the pieces after her break up with Max. She took an internship at Titan and began working with Philip Kiriakis. Sparks flew between Philip and Stephanie, and Stephanie supported Philip through his mother's cancer and soon the two began dating. Unfortunately, Melanie would be a problem with this relationship too. Melanie became a consultant for Titan and set her sights on Philip as well. But, Stephanie was the only woman that Philip wanted. He proposed to Stephanie and she accepted. But, before they could enjoy their engagement, Stephanie became the latest target in the DiMera/Kiriakis feud. EJ DiMera ordered Owen Kent to kidnap Stephanie, which he did. While he was waiting to turn Steph over to EJ, Owen became obsessed with Stephanie. He wanted to run away with her. Steph allowed Owen to kiss her in hopes that she could distract him enough to escape. But her plan didn't work. Luckily, Philip, Melanie, and Brady found where Stephanie was being kept and were able to rescue her. Stephanie started suffering from nightmares and daydreams about her time being held captive. She went to see a doctor who prescribed her some pills to help her sleep and deal with the anxiety. She never fully recovered from the trauma and blamed her danger on Victor and Stefano's feud. She insisted that Philip break off all ties with his father. When he refused, she broke up with him. Philip tried to get her back and the two reconciled for a brief time. But, Stephanie broke up with Philip for good when she learned that he had slept with Melanie during one of the periods when he and Stephanie were on a break. Stephanie started pursuing Nathan Horton, a young doctor who had been dating Melanie. They went on a few dates, but Stephanie saw that Nathan still had feelings for Melanie. When Melanie and Philip Kiriakis grew closer, Stephanie did everything she could to keep Nathan away from Melanie, including tearing up a love letter that Melanie had asked Stephanie to give to Nathan. Melanie and Philip eventually got married, and Nathan moved in with Stephanie. Stephanie still worried that if Melanie was ever single again, Nathan would go back to her. When Stephanie learned that Philip had cheated on Melanie with Chloe Lane, Stephanie convinced her friend, Ian, to hack into the hospital's data base to see the results of Chloe's paternity test. Stephanie learned that Philip was the father of Chloe's baby, Nd was about to have Ian change the results when they saw that someone else had already changed the results of the test before Chloe saw them. Stephanie knew that Philip was the real father, but kept quiet so that Melanie wouldn't leave Philip. When the truth came out and Nathan found out that Stephanie had kept the secret, he broke up with her. While Stephanie has not been seen on screen since April 2011, she is supposedly still living in Salem. Eventually, Stephanie was mentioned to have left town, but returned to Salem on February 15, 2017 for the wedding of her parents Steve Johnson and Kayla Brady Johnson. Not long after she left town again, it was discovered that she has a long lost half-brother named Tripp Johnson that she had yet to meet.
In 2022, Tripp left town and moved in with Stephanie and Joey. A few weeks later, Steve and Kayla came to visit. Pizza was delivered, but the pizza had a bomb in it, and Stephanie was injured in the blast. She recovered, and came to Salem a couple of months later. She entered the apartment, and triggered the alarm. Steve came with his gun raised to find Stephanie. Stephanie was in town to meet with a mysterious client, and Steve and Steve wanted to tail her because of Orpheus. Stephanie didn't want Steve to accompany her and they clashed over the possibly that it was Orpheus leading her into a strap. Stephanie insisted that a friend recommended the client to her. Soon after, Stephanie ran into Alex Kiriakis Alex was immediately smitten with her, but Stephanie refused his advance. Stephanie then sent to see if Sonny would hire her PR firm, called SJPR. Sonny hired her as Alex showed up at the office with flowers for her. Stephanie turned Alex down again, saying she doesn't do relationships with people she works with. Stephanie's mysterious client turned out to be Paulina Price, who was running for Governor. Against Stephanie wishes, John and Steve followed her and attacked Paulina until they realized who it was. Paulina hired Stephanie, and Stephanie later hired the recently widowed Chad DiMera, who she bonded with. Kayla, Marlena Evans, and Kate Roberts all ended up with a rare fatal illness after being poisoned by Orpheus. Stephanie was dismayed and furious when she found out that not only had Steve not told her that Orpheus had kidnapped Kayla, but that she was also sick and dying. Alex noticed Stephanie was upset, and tried to reach out to her, causing her to lash or at him, thinking he was once again trying to make a move on her. After Sonny was stabbed in the back and hospitalized, Alex took over as interim CEO, and Stephanie was forced to work with Alex, who maintained an air of professionalism about him. Stephanie walked into a heated argument between Alex and Sonny and tried to break up the argument between them. Stephanie also bonded with Chad DiMera after offering him her condolences for Abigail Deveraux DiMera's murder. The murderer was eventually revealed to be Clyde Weston, and now that Chad had found Abigail's killer, he was ready to get back to work with a new career. Chad didn't want to go back to his family company DiMera Enterprises, and instead was hired by Stephanie after helping her with her work. While working late, and drinking, Stephanie and Chad shared a kiss. They went back to Steve and Kayla's apartment, and were about to have sex when Chad stopped it. Stephanie and Chad had their work cut out for her when Sloan Petersen started blackmailing Paulina on behalf of a mystery client. The client had a dossier on Paulina's daughter Chanel Dupree DiMera. Stephanie called a meeting with Sloan, and while she and Chad waited for her to arrive, Alex showed up and called Stephanie a hypocrite because he saw her and Chad kissing, and was convinced they were in a relationship. Chad and Stephanie made Alex realize it was just an accidental kiss due to them drinking and grieving since Stephanie's mom was dying, and Chad's wife had died. Alex apologized to them. When Sloan refused to back down, Chad and Stephanie schemes to distract Sloan with a counterfeit money while Stephanie would break into Sloan's apartment, and steal the file. When Stephanie broke in, she was surprised to see Alex, half naked, and handcuffed to the bed. Stephanie starting dating Alex which made Chad jealous. After Alex prevented Stephanie from saying goodbye to her dying mother, Stephanie ended things with Alex and began getting closer with Chad and they eventually slept together. Alex left Stephanie a card apologizing at the Johnson Townhouse which Stephanie decided to read. Chad accompanied Stephanie to Greece to help her look for her mom. When the pair are reunited with Stephanie's mom, they learn that her uncle Bo is alive. Stephanie supported Chad's decision to stay in Greece and look for a missing Kate. The couple are reunited when Chad reports that Kate has been found and is safely with Roman. Chad then goes on to drop the bomb of his sister Megan being alive and him having a new nephew in her son Dimitri. Chad and Steph decided to move in together with Chad's kids, Thomas and Charlotte. Stephanie's ex-boyfriend Everett Lynch came to Salem looking for Stephanie. Chad and Stephanie broke up, after Chad realized that he wasn't truly over Abigail. Everett and Stephanie shared a kiss on Christmas. Following her breakup, Stephanie admitted to Jada that she was interested in Everett. She invited Everett over to have dinner with her family. Stephanie and Everett slept together. In Horton Square, Stephanie praised Everett's story on the drug trafficking ring. Over dinner, she said she was falling love with Everett again. Stephanie proposed a double date for Valentine's Day with Jada and Rafe. Stephanie gifted her parents with photos from their past weddings for Valentine's Day. Stephanie went to the Brady Pub for her and Everett's double date with Rafe and Jada when Jada recognized Everett as Bobby, her ex-husband. Everett denied being Bobby but Jada showed photos of her and Bobby/Everett. Stephanie apologized to Jada for not knowing Everett had been married to her. Stephanie said her past with Everett hadn't been real but he continued to claim that he had no memory of his marriage to Jada. Stephanie asked Bobby if he was a liar or a sociopath when he collapsed. When he awoke, Stephanie asked whether he was faking it and offered to take him to the hospital. She refused to abandon Everett, who began therapy with Marlena Evans. After some convincing from Stephanie, Everett signed Jada's divorce papers. Jada warned Stephanie to stay away from Everett as she believed he'd break her heart. Stephanie agreed to help Everett start therapy for DID but when Stephanie and Jada confronted Everett, they learned he was Bobby. Bobby was eventually admitted into Bayview, and was visited by Stephanie and Jada. Jada tried to get Bobby to let Everett come out, but Bobby refused saying he was protecting Everett. When they asked him from what, Bobby became angry and ordered then to leave. After he left Bayview, Everett began acting weird and dumped Stephanie, leaving her to believe that Everett was Bobby. Stephanie and Jada found Everett dying of a drug overdose in his Salem Inn room. He died as they called an ambulance. The last thing he said was that he loved Stephanie. Stephanie moved back to Johnson Apartment following Everett's death. She regretted Everett ever finding her. Stephanie is hired to do PR for Body & Soul and represented Philip. She and Philip rekindle their relationship. When Philip asked her to be her date for New Year's Eve, she accepted. Stephanie tried to help identify the new Lady Whistleblower, but only learned that he was from Rochester. After finding out Victor's letter was forged, she ended things with Philip and got back together with Alex. She and Alex went on a date for Valentine's Day. Alex read Steph's romance novel and asked her about publishing it under a pseudonym. Stephanie attended a retirement party for her dad, Steve, when he thought about closing Black Patch. While at lunch with Alex, Stephanie agreed to publish One Stormy Night under "Anastasia Sands" with Titan-DiMera. Stephanie accepted a job offer from EJ DiMera to do PR for the hospital. Stephanie was worried her book would bring her ex boyfriend Jeremy Horton back to Salem. Stephanie agreed to do PR for Titan-DiMera in the case that Philip's letter was discovered and suggested Philip was legally made co-CEO of Titan. She suggested changing the name of the DiMera Free Clinic EJ was building to the Tom Horton Free Clinic, as well as throwing a gala for its opening where all the Hortons could attend. Stephanie eventually moved in with Alex to his apartment. Stephanie learned that her fears had come true when Julie informed her that Jeremy had moved back to Salem. Jeremy is seen waiting outside of Alex's apartment, and again with flowers following Stephanie in Horton Square. He showed up at Stephanie's door with flowers. He claimed that he had turned his life around, gone to therapy, and gotten his teaching license. During the Salem blackout, Stephanie used her mother's computer at the hospital which caught EJ's attention. Stephanie confessed to being Anastasia Sands and EJ admitted he had read One Stormy Night. EJ blushed and Stephanie teased him over it. EJ agreed to keep her identity a secret. After her identity is leaked to Leo Stark, she blamed Jeremy and planned to reveal her identity as Anastasia Sands. On Halloween night, Stephanie held a book launch for her new murder mystery book Write Out at Book Club, where she revealed herself as Anastasia Sands. Susan Banks warned Stephanie that the events of her book would come true.