Soap Hub Performer of the Week for B&B: Henry Joseph Samiri

Once again, Henry Joseph Samiri, who plays Douglas Forrester on The Bold and the Beautiful, is handling storyline material with a maturity beyond his years while never losing sight of the fact that he’s still a kid. Soap Hub is bestowing Performer of the Week for B&B honors on the young star for his performance as the patient and precocious Douglas.

Henry Joseph Samiri – Performer of the Week

The soap history books are filled with the names of child performers. Some, alas, can’t deliver a line effectively. Others are nine years old but act as if they’re 40 and thus, their performances come off stilted. B&B’s Henry Joseph Samiri fits into neither of these categories. He plays Douglas as the everyday kid that he is while also performing flawlessly in his scenes with grown-up actors.

Brought before his adoptive mother Hope Logan Spencer (Annika Noelle) and her husband Liam Spencer (Scott Clifton), Douglas was grilled about what he said he saw – Grandma Brooke (Brooke Logan Forrester, played by Katherine Kelly Lang) kissing ‘Santa’ (Deacon Sharpe, played by Sean Kanan) on New Year’s Eve. Like any kid normally would, Douglas had two concerns – would his privileges be taken away for disobeying orders (Liam told Douglas not to go up the main house to look for his stuffed bunny) and also, when would these silly grownups start believing him?

Certainly, Hope and Liam, of all people, should believe Douglas when he says something! A few years ago, he insisted that ‘Baby Beth is alive.’ When Liam tried to shush him, pointing out that Hope would be hurt by such talk Douglas persisted until he was believed.

“I hope I’m not in trouble,” Douglas said as he recapped his trip up to Brooke’s house on New Year’s Eve. Hope and Liam tried to play interrogators, suggesting to the little boy that perhaps he was getting his facts mixed up. Douglas fidgeted in front of his parental figures as any kid would in his position as he wondered just how much trouble he was in. Samiri’s Douglas patiently waited while Hope and Liam talked and talked as he silently and politely waited for them to stop – and to figure out he was speaking the truth.

No matter how many outs, tests, and chances Hope and Liam gave Douglas to change his story or even trip him up, Henry Joseph Samiri brought confidence and poise to his stance. Liam suggested that perhaps Douglas got Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve mixed up as he (Liam) does that all the time. The look on Douglas’ face read “I’m not falling for that because it’s not true!”

“No,” Douglas simply stated, shaking his head. “It was New Year’s Eve.” (Two things most children have total recall of are A) their toy inventory and B) where and when holidays fall as having them mean that there’s no school.)

You’d think that Hope and Liam might say to themselves, “Gee, Douglas has proven to be so reliable in the past. In fact, that’s how we got Beth back! Maybe we should believe him?” But they just couldn’t figure out why Douglas had seen what he said he did.

“No, I swear it’s true. I really saw it happen,” Douglas maintained. In fairness to Douglas, Hope did decide to check things out with Brooke but she might not have had Henry Joseph Samiri not brought to life so convincingly what Douglas truly believed he saw. This storyline is far from over and just as Douglas was the one who announced that Beth was alive, he might end up playing a further role in the “Brooke kissing ‘Santa'” story! (We sure hope so!)

The Bold and the Beautiful (BB) airs weekdays on CBS. Check your local listings for airtimes. For more about what’s coming up in Los Angeles, check out all the latest that’s been posted on B&B spoilers, and for an in-depth look at the show’s history, click here.