Damian Grimaldi

Damian Grimaldi was a fictional character on the CBS daytime drama As the World Turns. He has been portrayed by Paolo Seganti from April 1993 to January 10, 1996, May 30 to September 4, 1997, May 10 to June 4, 2001, August 17 to September 25, 2001 and from May 25, 2006 to August 16, 2006. His latest stint began on March 25, 2009.

Character History
Damian Grimaldi was a wealthy business man from Malta. He wed Lily Walsh Mason Snyder when she met him in Italy. Lily gave birth to Damian's son Luke. Wanting to keep his family together Damian conspired with his mother Orlena and drugged and kidnapped Lily and Luke. Orlena continued to drug Lily to keep her from leaving. When Damian discovered that Orlena was truly his childhood nanny and his biological mother was drugged by her Damian decided to turn his life around. Unfortunately Damian's plane crashed and he was presumed dead. Lily moved on and became engaged to Holden. Damian suddenly showed up again and revealed he never died and spent a year in a monastery. Now he returned to get Lily and his son back. However, Lily wasn't in love with him anymore, but Damian still wanted to have his son. Damian took Luke away and headed to Malta. Holden came after him and an explosion was the result. Holden and Luke supposedly died while Damian could get away. Lily didn't believe in the deaths of her husband and son and didn't stop searching for their bodies. Damian helped her and the two were found in the end. Damian realized that Luke now belonged to Holden and Lily, so he let his son live in Oakdale and left town himself.

In 2006, Lily found Damian on her doorstep. Damian had returned to connect with his son and to pass over the ancient Grimaldi Ring. Lily told him that Luke was gay and Damian decided to stay in Oakdale to 'help' his son. In the next few months, Damian planned to"reprogram" his son. Damian convinced Lily a reprogramming camp was actually a camp for confused teens. Luke refused to go and blamed his mother for trying to send him to the camp. In a moment of rage Luke pushed Lily and she fell down a flight of stairs. The very pregnant Lily went into a coma never able to tell Luke that Damian was the one behind sending him to the reprogramming camp. Damian began to manipulate Luke into believing that Holden blamed Luke for his mother's condition. Damian told Luke he was very ill and wanted him to come to Malta with him. A man Damian was working with became impatient with Damian's efforts to bring Luke to Malta because Damian's true motives were to get his hands on Luke's inheritance. Dr. Lucy Montgomery found out that Damian was not ill and was kidnapped along with Dusty Donovan. Lucy and Dusty escaped and reported what they knew to the police. The police, Holden, and Lucy arrived at the airport just in time and told Luke the whole truth. Luke completely renounced the Grimaldi name and told Damian to stay out of his life forever. Damian left Oakdale once again. Later on as a way to apologize Damian gave Luke his Grimaldi inheritance, which Luke used to start a foundation for equal rights for the LGBT community.

Damian resumed residence in Oakdale in March 2009. Damian wanted to make up for his mistakes and try to become part of Luke's life. After Luke was hit by a car, the money from the foundation disappeared, and Lily's house was broken into, Luke and Holden pointed the finger of blame at Damian. Lily and Noah, Luke's boyfriend, were they only ones who believed his innocence. After Luke and Noah were kidnapped by a distant Grimaldi relative, Gia aka Zoe, Damian's name was cleared. Luke realized he really didn't know his biological father and asked him to stay in Oakdale to reconnect. Damian gladly accepted and began to help Luke with his foundation. Damian starts to date Meg, for time to pass for his master plan.

Damian plots against Meg to make her appear to her family that she is crazy

In July, Damian and Lily kiss twice. Later that month Holden Snyder's truck went off a cliff on a business trip and was presumed dead. Damian and Meg shortly after the accident brake up. Damian saw this to be the perfect opportunity to move in on Lilly and marry the one he loves, he was also handling Lilly's personal affairs while she was grieving Holden's death. It turns out that Holden picked up a drifter along the way before he crashed and was able to escape from the truck, someone picked him up and held him as hostage. At the Snyder residence Damian intercepted several calls from the police about Holden's death: that there was no chance for survival (Lily still knew he was alive deep down), dental records not matching, and the DNA were not conclusive to the body in the truck. Meg finds this out and to keep her quit he tells her he will leave Lily and be with her, they make love. Damian goes to the accident and pays off the lead investigator to keep quiet. Damian saves Faith's life when Eb Stone came to the house to get ransom money for Holden, Lily thinks he's a fake. Damian convinces Lily that Holden is long dead, the two shortly marry, with only the approval of their children, the Walsh's and the Snyder's think she is moving on too fast, at the end of the ceremony Holden walks in. Lily chose to stay married to Damian and not have it annulled to be with Holden again. On her own cognizance, in October, Faith goes to boarding school. Meg finds the truth about the DNA results but Damian convinces her that he still loves her and he will leave Lilly. Damian's plot against Meg work is working, Damian again convinces people she is a liar and going crazy. Meg goes to trial to see if her mentality is stable, after an outburst to Damian after more of his lies she is sent to Dear-brook, a rehab facility, where Damian pays off a worker there to keep an eye on Meg, make sure she stays overly medicated and not well. Once in the loony bin, Holden and the family finally realize the truth after proving it with Molly Collin; Molly lives with Holden and Faith at the Farm since December. Meg escapes from Dear-brook again and goes after Damian because she was absolutely positive she wasn't insane. Damian and Lily are on a trip, while Lily was in the lobby Meg tried to kill him in their hotel room, Damian turned it around and suffocated her, then stuffed her in a trunk. Holden and Molly come rushing in, Damian waves a gun in their face after Lily hears the whole truth. Even still Lily runs off with Damian, Holden follows, Lily is able to get away from him and Holden and Damian end up at the shipyard where Grimaldi Shipping is located. Holden knocks him out and puts him on his ship. Maltese government find a body and identifies it as Damian. Holden is arrested for the arrest and trying to be extradited to Malta. Dr. Reid Oliver, a neurosurgeon that Luke blackmailed to operate on Noah since he is blind, claims that this man had a brain condition and couldn't walk. In February, Molly went on the news with all the information and cleared Holden's name, even though he was still under arrest. A presumed dead Damian receives a call from Faith's boarding school principal about a suspension for drug use on campus, Damian comes to get her and makes her promise not to tell he is alive, so he wouldn't tell either, even though Lily and Luke found out about it. Damian commands she make her mother drive her to a remote location so they could be together again and flee the country. Holden escapes from prison while being transferred. Faith carefully arranges it, Holden meets up with Molly and they are on the trail to getting Damian and saving his family. After several confrontations: Holden is unconscious & Faith is tied up. Molly goes in to untie Faith, but Holden is already gone. He brought Lily to a factory. Eventually the cops get there and Damian is arrested for a long time, leaving Luke the company, even though he wouldn't talk to his own father before he was arrested.