Julian Jerome (William deVry)

Julian V. Jerome is a fictional character on the ABC soap opera General Hospital. He was originally portrayed by actor Jason Culp from 1988 to 1990. After 23 years of being presumed dead, the character was brought back to the series in 2013. Veteran soap actor William deVry debuted in the role of Julian Jerome on July 30, 2013, using the alias Derek Wells.

Casting
The role was originated by Jason Culp on February 24, 1988. Culp made his final appearance on March 16, 1990. On July 8, 2013, TV Source Magazine announced exclusively that Wiliam deVry, previously known for his role as on ' and his Emmy-nominated role as  on ', had joined the cast of General Hospital in an undisclosed contract role. deVry filmed his first scenes on July 9, reportedly with Maura West, who had recently joined the cast as Ava Jerome.

deVry later took to Facebook to confirm the news and revealed his first air date to be July 30. deVry also appeared briefly on the General Hospital spin-off, Port Charles. deVry said that when he originally auditioned for the role, he wanted to make sure the series was not using the open casting call in an attempt to cast someone else. Fortunately, no decision had been made and they were still testing candidates for the role. Three weeks after his first audition, deVry had a screen test.

The character and casting was very much a mystery. deVry revealed that he and the others who auditioned for role were only given a vague character breakdown. However, the lack of information provided for the character only piqued his interest. deVry also revealed that he was hesitant to take the role due to his history with All My Children and the sudden change in direction for the character of Michael Cambias with the installation of new producers. deVry was offered a screen test immediately after his audition. deVry screen test with Maurice Benard, who portrayed Sonny Corinthos. A few days later, deVry booked the role and was offered a four-year contract with the series. deVry filmed his first official scenes with Sullivan, and also confirmed that he had indeed worked with West.

Background
Julian Jerome is the youngest son of crime lord Victor Jerome, born in 1959. Unlike his older brothers, Victor favors Julian and protects him from the mob life. While in graduate school, Julian has a three-year romance with Cheryl Stansbury and they fall in love. According to his sister, Olivia, Julian even plans to marry Cheryl. However, Julian is forced to break off the relationship as Victor refuses to involve Cheryl in the family business. He has a son, Lucas Jones with Cheryl. In 2013, it is revealed that Julian had a one night stand with Alexis Davis, which resulted in their daughter, Sam Morgan.

Storylines
Julian comes to town trying to help his father, Victor, take out his rivals alongside Victor's other henchman, Duke Lavery. Julian took a bullet meant for Duke and before he died he told Duke to make his family's organization legitimize. Later that year it was revealed that Julian is actually alive Victor fake his death. Julian found out that Olivia was behind the hit that got him shot. Soon after, though, he found himself in a power struggle for his father's business with his sister, Olivia St. John, and his illegitimate half-brother, Dino. Dino tried to kill Olivia, and ended up leaving her with a severe brain injury that required her to be institutionalized. Dino was arrested, and Victor died after becoming insanely obsessed with Lucy Coe.
 * -|1988-90=

Julian would eventually become the head of the Jerome empire, but was seeking revenge on Duke for turning against his father. He enlisted Olivia to help him finally kill Duke. However, their plan misfired, and Duke's wife, Anna Devane, miscarried their unborn child. Olivia tried to alert Anna about Julian's plans, but Julian killed her before she could. Duke sought revenge on the Jeromes, and ended up dead. However, he later turned up alive, though it turned out to be an imposter named Jonathan Paget. Julian and "Duke" engaged in a shootout, and both ended up dead. Cheryl Stansbury gave birth to his son, Lucas Jones, in 1989, who was adopted by Tony Jones and Bobbie Spencer after Cheryl died in car accident in 1992.

Derek Wells is the new owner of the firm (formerly owned by Todd Manning) controlling both the Port Charles Press and Crimson magazine. He arrived in Port Charles on July 30 after threatening to take charge of Crimson and the Port Charles Press from the current head, Connie Falconeri, due to the failing performance of the Press. Upon his arrival in town, he heads to Connie's office and takes it as his own. However, Connie's assistant, Maxie Jones, calls Connie, who comes to the office and tells Derek she does have a story that is going to put the Press back in the black. Connie leaves to get information, and Derek makes a mysterious phone call letting someone know he is in Port Charles. Connie later comes back and says she's not able to publish the story. Derek tells her to vacate her office, but Connie refuses to, saying she will publish the story, but she needs to get proof that it's a substantial story. Derek tells her to go get the proof, then calls the same mysterious person and asks them to come to the office.
 * -|2013-14=

Later, Ava Jerome shows up at the office, and addresses Derek as Julian. "Derek" is revealed as Julian Jerome and Ava is his sister. The two of them are planning to regain control of Port Charles from Sonny Corinthos. Ava reveals that her daughter, Kiki, is engaged to Sonny's son, Morgan, and she's using that to gain a foothold for their plan. It's also revealed that they are behind the gambling ring that put Morgan into massive debt. Sam Morgan goes to the office looking for Connie, but instead finds "Derek." She asks him to publish a story for a bone marrow donor drive because her son, Danny, is sick and in desperate need of a bone marrow transplant. Derek agrees to run the story. However, after Sam leaves, Connie comes back, and gives him the proof for a major headline.

After the story runs, Julian faces the wrath of Ava, who is furious that Julian exposed her daughter's true paternity. Julian, though, says that it works to their advantage, and tells Ava to secure her position in ELQ. Julian goes to the bone marrow drive for Danny, and gets tested as a potential donor to show his support and make up for moving the article. Later, he goes to the hospital, and finds out he's a viable match for Danny. A relieved Alexis later tells "Derek" about how she couldn't find Sam's father because she only knew him for one night. When Alexis starts describing the night, Julian has a memory flash, and realizes he is Sam's father. Julian wants to tell Sam the truth, but Ava dissuades him, saying his identity will be exposed.

"Derek" comes in to get screened for the bone marrow transplant, and meets Danny for the first time. Despite promising Ava not to tell the truth, Julian is tempted to do so when he's with Sam and Danny, though he refrains and asks Sam to let him be a part of her life. After Julian performs the transplant, he checks up on Danny via Alexis & Sam. Ava is irritated by this, and tells Julian she thinks he's distracted from their plan because of his "newfound family." Julian corrects her, saying he hasn't forgotten their goal to take over Sonny's organization, and reminds Ava who is in charge. When one of their henchmen, Vince, is kidnapped by Sonny's men, he gives up the name "Julian Jerome" as his boss. When he is let go, Ava & Julian find him at the pier, where they kill him for his betrayal. Julian & Ava talk about their plan to bring down Sonny, and Julian later finds Carly Jacks & Felix DuBois on the pier, and tries to cover. Julian meets with his enforcer, Carlos Rivera, who helps Julian destroy one of Sonny's shipment while Ava keeps Sonny distracted by throwing a wedding reception for Kiki & Morgan. He also has Carlos raid Sonny's warehouse.

Meanwhile, Ava starts a relationship with Morgan after Kiki leaves him, and Julian advises her to tread carefully. Morgan ends up discovering Julian's true identity, and leaves to tell his father. Julian sends Carlos to kill Morgan, despite Ava's protests. However, Carlos brings Morgan back alive, and Morgan offers to work for Julian to bring down Sonny because of his belief that Sonny prefers his older brother, Michael, to him. Julian tests him by having Morgan plant a bug in Sonny's office. The plan works, and Julian discovers that Sonny knows his true identity because he has the D.A., Lazaro, on his payroll. Julian has Morgan deliver the recording of Lazaro and Sonny to Lazaro's main opponent, Scott Baldwin, who uses the recording to get Lazaro to step down and have himself take over as D.A.

Ava holds a gallery premiere for Franco, her ex-lover, in order to help him restore his artist's reputation, but the gallery ends in disaster. Sonny shows up, and confronts Morgan about working for the Jeromes, and the fact that "Derek Wells" is really Julian. Morgan claims that Sonny drove him to betray him, and he'd rather work with the Jeromes. Sam is present, and finds out about Julian, and realizes he's her biological father. Julian lets Sam know that Sonny has a henchman outside waiting to kill him. Sam tells Sonny not to because Julian was going to donate his bone marrow to store in case Danny has a relapse. Sonny lets Sam know that Julian is going to use Danny as leverage to keep himself alive, and leaves.

Sam confronts Julian, who tells Sam indirectly that he won't give his bone marrow to store because Sonny will be free to kill him. Sam is furious with Julian, and calls him selfish for using his own grandson as leverage to stay alive. She leaves, upset, and Julian tries to follow her. He is stopped, though, by Alexis, who confronts him about lying. Julian claims there's a connection between them, and Alexis tries hard to resist, saying she doesn't want to be involved with the mob. Though there was a spark, Alexis said she wouldn't forgive the fact that Julian wouldn't donate his bone marrow to save Danny to protect himself. Sam also wrote him off, saying she wants nothing to do with him, and neither would Lucas. Julian asked who Lucas was, though Sam said it was nobody he needed to be concerned about.

Julian found out that Carlos was kidnapped by Sonny and tried to rescue him with Morgan's help. He ended up starting a shootout, and in the chaos, Morgan accidentally shot Max Giambetti, Sonny's bodyguard. Rather than help save Max, Morgan left with Julian, feeling guilty about how he'd hurt Max. He told Julian that he wanted out, not willing to hurt anybody. Julian, however, said that if Morgan didn't spy on Sonny for him, he'd kill Morgan's brother & mother, Michael and Carly, and Morgan would know their deaths were his fault. Morgan agrees to Julian's plan, and pretends to break things off with Julian & Ava in order to get back into Sonny's trust. Julian ran into Bobbie and her brother, Luke, and noticed Bobbie's phone go off with the name "Lucas" on it. He asked Bobbie who Lucas is, but Bobbie deflected him. However, Julian later found out about Bobbie's custody battle for her son, and realized Lucas was his biological son. He tried to get Sam to help him with Lucas, but she refused, and he decided to get on a plane to Seattle to meet Lucas himself. However, Lucas showed up in town to help his mom after his sister, Carly, went missing. Julian tried to get to know him, but Lucas pushed him away.

Morgan let Julian know that Duke was working with Sonny, and they were going to grab Carlos at the pier, and kill him. Julian showed up, and drew a gun on Duke. However, it turned out to be a setup, and he was ambushed by Sonny, Shawn, and Duke. The three of them beat him up as a message before he got back to Ava & Morgan. He let Morgan know that Sonny was onto him, and either he would end up dead or ostracized from his family. Julian tried to get even with Duke by reporting his association with Sonny to Anna, who was unaware Duke was working for the mob again. However, when he came back, Ava held a gun to him, having found out why Morgan was spying on Sonny for Julian. Ava claimed that Morgan would never leave her, but Julian said that he would need to choose between her or Sonny, and if he took his father's side, Morgan would dump Ava. Sure enough, Morgan stayed with his father and left Ava. Julian tried to get to know Lucas, who continued to shut him out. However, when Lucas decided to let him in a little, Julian had bad reaction to finding out Lucas was gay. Lucas tell him that if he can't accept that he's gay then they have nothing left to talk about. Julian went to Alexis for advice, she told him to either accept Lucas or risk losing his son. Julian went and apologized to Lucas, and said he would accept Lucas the way he is.

Ava, meanwhile, was desperate to hold onto Morgan, and begged Morgan to take her back. Morgan told her to help Sonny defeat Julian, and Ava decided to prove her worth by giving Sonny a flash drive of Julian's computer files. Julian was tipped off by Alexis about this, though Ava said that Alexis was lying. While looking through the files, Sonny finds out that Julian is working for someone else who bankrolls his operations, but who Ava doesn't know about. In May, under the orders of his real boss, he told the police that Ric was his boss.

Crimes Committed

 * Committed various crimes while working for and running the Jerome organization [1988-1990]
 * Kidnapped and murdered his sister, Olivia [1990]
 * Shot and killed Jonathon Paget (impersonating Duke Lavery) in a gun battle [1990]
 * Manhandled Maxie Jones [Jul 31, 2013]
 * Operated an online gambling ring and knowingly lured Morgan Corinthos into gambling debt [Aug 2013]
 * Murdered Vince a henchman within his organization [Sept 2013]
 * Ordered Carlos Rivera to destroy a shipment that belonged to Sonny Corinthos [Sept 2013]
 * Ordered his henchmen to ransack the Corinthos coffee warehouse [Oct 2013]
 * Ordered Carlos Rivera to kill Morgan Corinthos [Oct 2013]
 * Tried to shoot Sonny Corinthos during a shootout at the warehouse [Dec 23, 2013]
 * Tried to order Morgan Corinthos to shoot his father, Sonny [Dec 23, 2013]
 * Threatened Morgan's family when he tried to quit working for the Jeromes [Jan 6, 2014]
 * Pointed a gun at Anna Devane and Nathan West, thinking they were intruders [Mar 5, 2014]
 * Arrested for the shooting of A.J. Quartermaine but was later acquitted when A.J. himself cleared him [Mar 11, 2014]
 * Attempted to murder his sister, Ava Jerome under the orders of Fluke [May 5, 2014]
 * Arrested following the drug bust at Pier 52 [May 21, 2014]
 * Assaulted a police officer [May 27, 2014]
 * Busted into Lucas' hospital room (he wasn't on the "approved visitors" list, so he wasn't allowed in there) [May 27, 2014]
 * Framed Ric Lansing under the orders of Fluke [May 29, 2014]
 * Assulted Mickey Diamond and disarmed him [Jul 25, 2014]
 * Pointed a gun at Mickey Diamond [Jul 25, 2014]
 * Shot and killed Mickey Diamond [Jul 29, 2014; Mickey died on Aug 2014]
 * Obstruction of justice; knows that Luke Spencer is locked up in Miscaviage and that "Fluke" is posing as Luke [revealed Aug 22, 2014]
 * Got into a full-scale fist fight with Ned Ashton [Oct 22, 2014]

Health and Vitals

 * Presumed deceased after battling Jonathon Paget [1990]
 * Donated bone marrow to save the life of his grandson, Danny [Sep 4, 2013]
 * Beat up by Sonny Corinthos, Shawn Butler and Duke Lavery [Jan 24, 2014]
 * Held at gunpoint and threatened by his own sister [Jan 28, 2014]
 * Clobbered over the head with a wine bottle and rendered unconscious by Morgan Corinthos to protect Ava, as he was about to shoot her [May 5, 2014]
 * Held at gunpoint and threatened by his sister, Ava [May 6, 2014]
 * Rendered unconscious and suffered minor burns in an explosion at Alexis' house [Jul 29, 2014]
 * Got into a full-scale fist fight with Ned Ashton [Oct 22, 2014]