Rex Balsom
Actor History
John Paul LaVoisier (9 May 2002 to present)
Occupation
Private Investigator
Owner of Ultraviolet
Former restaurant owner
Former employee at the Palace Hotel
Resides At
Llanview
Marital Status
Married/Estranged (Adriana Cramer) [Married: May 20th, 2008; Separated June 10th, 2008]
Past Marriages
Jennifer Rappaport (July 2003 to August 2003; deceased)
Relatives
Walter Balsom (father; deceased)
Roxanne Balsom (mother)
Stella Balsom (grandmother)
Corrine Balsom (aunt)
Children
Shane Morasco (son with Gigi Morasco)
Flings & Affairs
Gigi Morasco
Lindsay Rappaport
Jennifer Rappaport
Shannon McBain
Adriana Cramer (lovers)
Crimes Committed
Robbery; burglarized rooms at the Palace Hotel
Held responsible for the fire that burned down Roxy's hair salon
Planted a gun in Dorian Lord's office for $10,000
Broke into and searched Daniel Colson's room
Fraud and forgery; created a fake death certificate for TJ Manning
Accessory after the fact to TJ's kidnapping
Breach of contract; paid by Todd Manning to find out what happened to TJ, and lied about what he'd found, telling Todd that TJ was dead
Maladies & Hospitalizations
Rendered comatose by a gunshot wound [Oct 2008]
Brief Character History
At a young age, Rex Balsom was taken away from his mother, Roxanne, and was sent to live in Michigan with his Aunt Corinne. With dreams of hitting it rich running through his head, Rex saw his opportunity in 2003 when he was sought out by the wealthy Jessica Buchanan. At that point, Jess learned that she was Roxanne's daughter, and she was anxious to get to know her real family. With dollar signs in his eyes, Rex followed Jess to her home in Llanview. Although Jess later learned that she wasn't Roxanne's daughter, Rex stayed in town with his mother and Natalie, whom he had always viewed as a sister.
Because he was forced to build a life, Rex got a job at the Palace Hotel, where he met Jennifer Rappaport. The two became good friends and even partners in crime, burglarizing rooms at the hotel. Then one day, the two impulsively married. However, the marriage was short-lived because of her affair with Joey Buchanan, a minister in training, whom she was in love with. Although Jen pleaded for a divorce, Rex refused to grant it until Kevin Buchanan offered him a bribe. Finally free, Jen and Joey wed almost immediately after her divorce was finalized, but Jen was not thrilled with the life of a minister's wife. She ultimately slept with Rex while married to Joey. As hard as she tried to keep the tryst a secret, Joey found out and ended the marriage. By this point Rex found himself very attracted to Jen's mother, Lindsey. Rex and Lindsey tried to fight the attraction but they were unsuccessful and began an affair. Later, Jen decided to restore her relationship with Rex -- that is until she caught him kissing her own mother!
Rex borrowed money from R.J. to open a restaurant, not realizing that he was putting Ultraviolet on the line. He talked Roxy into setting her hair salon on fire, but the two came to their senses at the last minute. The salon ended up burning down anyway, and Rex lost everything, including Ultraviolet. Rex ended up sentenced to community service after what happened with the hair salon fire, and signed on for the Love Crew, a group of college students living and working together. He still wanted to get Ultraviolet back, though. He and Paul Cramer teamed up to do an art heist for R.J., but the heist went sour when Natalie, not wanting to see Rex in trouble, sabotaged it for him. R.J. was furious, but good fortune came Rex's way when he and Shannon found a missing Asa Buchanan, and Asa paid them a healthy reward. Rex was halfway to getting Ultraviolet back. Once he realized that R.J. was responsible for trying to sabotage the Love Center, he blackmailed R.J. into giving the club back to him.
After Paul stole a tape of Rex and Lindsay having sex and posted it on the Internet, Rex was furious. Shortly after, Paul ended up dead. Rex believed that Jen was the murderer, and was determined to protect her at all costs, even burying what he believed was the murder weapon and, later, planting a gun in Dorian's office after getting a mysterious request, which included $10,000. Jen finally convinced Rex that she was, indeed, innocent of Paul's murder, and when it seemed as though her boyfriend Riley wasn't as sure of her innocence, Rex found himself getting closer to Jen. He was working with Bo Buchanan to prove her innocence and believed he had finally found the information he needed, only to find Jen's body in her car in the parking garage. Rex was devastated by her death, which was initially believed a suicide, but he soon became determined to find the person he realized had killed her and set up the scene. Rex helped Bo identify Daniel Colson as the murderer, and played a huge role in finding out that Daniel's motivation was to hide the fact that he was gay. After Daniel was put away, Rex felt at loose ends, but realized he really liked working with Bo, and began asking the commissioner to let him in.
Bo offered Rex a place at the Llanview Police Department, but Rex decided to become a private investigator instead. He started his work by helping Bo find Margaret and Jessica/Tess. Todd hired Rex in hopes of clearing himself of Margaret's murder. Rex found out that Todd's alibi was fabricated and ended up getting arrested for his involvement with Todd. Bo also asked Rex to help him track down Paige's son who had been put up for adoption years earlier. Rex also helped Bo set up a trap for Spencer Truman, making their bond stronger.
During this time, Rex and Adriana Cramer started to become friends. Rex helped Adriana get her foot in the modeling agency by setting up a photo shoot with her as the cover model for "Craze" magazine. Adriana's mother, Dorian, didn't approve of her daughter's relationship with Rex, and framed Rex for possession of heroin in order to keep Adriana away from him. Luckily for Rex, that didn't work and the couple continued to grow closer. With Adriana's growing fame, she started to feel threatened by a man who was stalking her. Rex used his PI skills to find more information on Adriana's stalker, but Adriana became suspicious that Rex was, in fact, her stalker! She tried to get away from him at any cost and put herself in worse danger. Rex ended up saving Adriana… but not before getting shot in the process. Rex and Adriana became an official couple after this incident.
Rex and Natalie were asked by Michael and Marcie to become their adoptive son, Tommy McBain's, godparents. Rex was honored and strived to be the best godparent for Tommy. Feeling on the top of the world, Rex took two new jobs. One of them was finding Todd and Margaret's son and the other was finding Tommy's birth parents for Michael and Marcie. He found out that Tommy was really Todd's biological son and proceeded to hide it from both the adoptive parents and the biological father. Rex's strange behavior gave him away to Michael, and he ended up admitting to him that Tommy was Todd's son. Michael and Rex decided to keep the secret between the two of them and eventually even got arrested for their strange behavior regarding Spencer Truman's murder. Both men were brought in for questioning for the murder and both suspected the other did the deed. Luckily, they were both innocent and were able to hide the truth from John during his questioning. Rex then knew he had to hide the truth from Todd, because Todd was hell-bent on finding his son. He even followed Todd all the way to Chicago to foil Todd's investigation.
Tate Harmon, the famous baseball player, came to town and became the new face for Exposed. Rex immediate became jealous of Tate's interest in Adriana. He knew that something was shady with Tate and tried to figure things out himself. Using some sloppy PI work, Rex announced on live TV that Tate Harmon was gay. This caused a rift between him and Adriana, and eventually caused them to break up. Adriana continued to see Tate as a friend but Rex continued to want to protect her. Tate ended up being the One Pure People arsonist in Llanview, and threatened both Rex and Adriana's lives. Once Adriana realized that Rex was right about Tate, they got back together.
Rex and Adriana conspired to keep the truth from coming out that Marcie and Michael's adopted son was in fact Todd's biological son, but the truth ultimately was revealed. Marcie McBain then absconded with Todd's son, and Rex went searching for her. His search led him to Paris, Texas, where he came face to face with his high school fling, Gigi Morasco. Rex had walked out on Gigi when he left Michigan to move to Llanview, and seeing her again brought back romantic feelings he once had for her. Little did Rex realize that Gigi had become pregnant by Rex and had given birth to their son, Shane. Gigi kept this information from Rex, however, since she had long told her son that his father was a Navy SEAL and war hero who had died in battle. Gigi felt sympathy for Marcie, who she believed was running away from an abusive husband, and sold Marcie's wedding ring to Rex, who then used it to propose to Adriana. When Michael McBain saw the ring, he recognized it as Marcie's, which led them to find Marcie in Paris, Texas. Todd's son was returned to him and Marcie was arrested, and Gigi was brought back to Llanview for questioning. Adriana felt threatened by Gigi and correctly presumed that Shane was Rex's son. She and Dorian conspired to locate the man Gigi had told Shane was his father, Brody Lovett, who it turned out had not died at all. They brought Brody to town and he appeared at Rex and Adriana's wedding, just as Gigi declared her love for Rex and was preparing to reveal that Rex was Shane's father. Stunned to learn that Brody was alive, Gigi did not tell Rex that Shane was his son and Rex resumed marrying Adriana.
Rex and Adriana's marriage quickly fell apart, however, after Rex learned about her part in bringing Brody to town. The final straw was when Rex discovered that Adriana had stole his toothbrush. Adriana claimed it was to conduct DNA tests on Charlie Banks, who had claimed to be Rex's father, but she really stole it so she could learn for certain whether Rex was Shane's son. Adriana and Rex separated, and Adriana left for Paris, France.
Rex fought his growing attraction to Gigi, but at one point they gave in and kissed. She continued to lie to him about Shane being his son, however. Soon thereafter, Rex left on a hunt for Bo, who had left Lindsey at the alter and vanished. Rex found Bo at the Buchanan ranch outside Paris, Texas. During a lightening storm, the two were struck and transported back to 1968, where they encountered people from Llanview who looked like Buchanan relatives and acquaintances. Through the help of a psychic, Delfina, Gigi managed to transport herself back in time and come face to face with Rex in 1968. They acknowledged their love for each other and, after Gigi admitted to Rex that Shane was his son, both were transported to the present day.
Rex and Gigi planned to tell Shane the truth, but returned to Llanview to discover that Brody had faked a DNA test with Rex's toothbrush (which Adriana had mailed to Gigi while she was searching for Rex) to declare that he was Shane's biological father. Gigi told Brody that she was going to tell Shane the truth after school, and Brody snapped. He ransacked the carriage house, knocked out Marcie and went to Shane's school and signed him out. After a failed attempt to get the court to change Shane's last name to Lovett, Brody took Shane to Llantano Mountain and soon began to see images of fighting in the war. Rex and Gigi learned from a war buddy of Brody's that Brody had accidentally shot and killed a civilian child about the same age as Shane just before his tour of duty ended. They descended on Llantano Mountain and, after releasing Shane, Brody snapped and fired his gun in the direction of Rex, Gigi and Shane. Rex threw himself over Gigi and Shane and was shot. While Rex was in surgery, Gigi admitted to Shane that Rex was his father.
| RELATED INFORMATION |
 |
|
|
