Young And The Restless Star Jordi Vilasuso Reflects On Why He Was 'Super Excited' To Get Cast As Rey

In April 2022, Rey Rosales' life met a tragic end as Jordi Vilasuso's run on "The Young and the Restless" came to a close. While his devoted wife, Sharon Rosales (Sharon Case), waited for him back at her coffee shop, Crimson Lights, Rey had a heart attack at the wheel and crashed into Victoria Newman (Amelia Heinle). While Victoria came through the accident unscathed, Nick Newman (Joshua Morrow) soon had to tell his ex-wife that her new husband had died (via Michael Fairman TV).

News of Vilasuso's "Y&R" departure broke at the end of March and viewers wondered how the character would be written off the soap (via Soap Opera Digest). A few weeks later, they learned the sad truth. Sharon would be left a widow and the Rosales family, which was introduced with much fanfare in 2018 when Jason Canela debuted as Arturo Rosales (via IMDb), would be no more in Genoa City. 

Vilasuso was already an established soap star when he joined the rest of the Rosales clan as Rey, quickly falling for Sharon Collins and creating a new beloved couple on the soap. With his "Y&R" days behind him, Vilasuso looked back on the role he loved so much.

Jordi Vilasuso got his soap opera start as Tony Santos on the now-defunct CBS soap "Guiding Light" in 2001 and by 2003 (via IMDb), he had won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series (via Soap Hub). He left the soap that year and spent some time on "All My Children" as Griffin Castillo, eventually landing on "Days of Our Lives" as Dario Hernandez in 2016 and staying for one year. Vilasuso's nearly four years on "The Young and the Restless" as Rey Rosales netted him yet another Emmy nomination in 2022 for outstanding supporting actor, just as his tenure as Rey was coming to a close.

When Vilasuso was cast on "The Young and The Restless," he was already a seasoned pro at putting his own touch on soap characters and he loved how upstanding police officer Rey was a man with convictions.

"I think a lot of my strengths as an actor lie in telling passionate storylines, with characters fighting for what they believe in," Vilasuso told Soaps.com. "I was super excited to be able to do that. It's got so many layers."

One thing Rey Rosales always did was try to be understanding with his loved ones. He even forgave his first wife, Mia Rosales (Noemi Gonzalez), for having an affair with his own brother, until she did it again and the second time resulted in a pregnancy. After ended things with Mia once and for all is when his romance with Sharon Collins really took off, and he had to be understanding with her too, as Sharon was often drawn to her ex, Adam Newman (Mark Grossman), according to Soaps In Depth.

Vilasuso told Soaps.com that he was perplexed by the things Rey would accept in the beginning, but then he did his best to look for the reasons Rey was the way he was.

"Growing up, he had to deal with a lot of stuff and kind of put his own stuff aside and take care of other people," Vilasuso said, alluding to the fact that Rey's father left his family behind when he was young. "I think that speaks to him in terms of how understanding he is with Sharon — the patience that he has with her and the fact that he's able to a certain point to tolerate the situation with Adam."