Explainers

Who is Gwen on Days of our Lives? Emily O’Brien joins cast as Jake’s ex

Emily O'Brien is joining Days of our Lives
Gwen is going to be trouble for Jake and Gabi. Pic credit: NBC

Emily O’Brien has joined the cast of Days of our Lives as Jake’s (Brandon Barash) ex-girlfriend Gwen.

Rumors began circulating last year when a fan spotted Emily in the cast photo celebrating the 54th anniversary of the NBC soap opera. Since Days films so far in advance, the daytime drama kept her casting under wraps until recently.

Who is Gwen?

As viewers know, Jake is in some serious trouble thanks to Gwen’s actions. It turns out there is a lot more to Gwen than Jake shared with Ben (Robert Scott Wilson). Now that the mob guys have Gabi (Camila Banus), Jake’s search for his ex is priority number one.

Gwen is a lot closer to Jake than he realizes. She is Claire’s (Olivia Rose Keegan) roommate at Bayview, which means Gwen has an issue or two. The pals will cause quite a stir when they are free in Salem.

Head Writer Ron Carlivati dished about Gwen in a recent issue of Soap Opera Digest. He teased the mischievous character will be key to Jake resolving his problems with the mob guys.

Like many in Salem, Gwen will quickly become an enemy of Gabi. The summer preview video showed Gabi catching Gwen kissing Jake, and that is just the beginning. It sounds like there is going to be a girl fight over the handsome mechanic. Will he be interested in either one of them?

Who is Emily O’Brien?

Soap opera fans will recognize Emily from her stint as bad girl Jana on The Young and the Restless for nearly five years. Jana wreaked havoc on Genoa City until she died from an aneurysm during a fight with Chloe (Elizabeth Hendrickson). Emily’s outstanding portrayal of Jana earned her three Daytime Emmy nominations.

Other television roles fans may recognize Emily from include, One Day at a Time, Love, Death, & Robots and What About Brian. Emily has lent her voice to several video games, such as Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, Batman: The Enemy Within, and Death Stranding.

The brunette beauty was born and raised in England. Acting is not the only talent she crafted growing up. Emily is also a singer and writer. She has even managed to parlay all of her skills into one project, the film Beatrice. She also put on her acting and producer hat for the movie.

Emily O’Brien is set to take on Salem as Gwen, the bad girl ex-of Jake and new best friend of Claire. Gwen is introduced to Days fans on Friday, June 5.

Days of our Lives airs weekdays on NBC.

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Janet Shepherd
Janet Shepherd
3 years ago

Emily is a great actress. I hope she stays a long time!!