John Aniston (Victor Kiriakis) appeared in his 2,000th episode of "Days of Our Lives" on Tuesday, September 8, 2009, becoming only the 7th actor to do so since 1980. Aniston joins Kristian Alfonso (Hope), Deidre Hall (Marlena), Drake Hogestyn (John), Peter Reckell (Bo), James Reynolds (Abe) and Alison Sweeney (Sami) in the exclusive club. To celebrate this historic milestone, included below is a picture montage of the many romances Victor has had through the years, several of John's interviews, and a link to watch Victor's first scene from episode # 5015, aired on July 19, 1985.

                                      Peggy McCay (Caroline)                          Patsy Pease (Kimberly)                          Judith Chapman (Anjelica)

     

           Deborah Adair (Kate)                         Louise Sorel (Vivian)                           Lauren Koslow (Kate)                        Arianne Zucker (Nicole)

Yearly Episode Totals:

1985...77
1986...147
1987...130
1988...100
1989...106
1990...147
1991...146
1992...101
1993...108
1994...101
1995...65
1996...58
1997...10
1998...2
1999...52
2000...100
2001...99
2002...84
2003...112
2004...58
2005...29
2006...38
2007...8
2008...63
2009...59 (as of 9/8/09)

John's first scene on "Days" from episode # 5015 (aired July 19, 1985). In the scene, Victor Kiriakis (John Aniston) keeps outbidding
Shane Donovan (Charles Shaughnessy) for a photograph taken by Kimberly Brady (Patsy Pease), much to the amazement of
auctioneer Alex Marshall (Quinn Redeker), Marlena Evans (Deidre Hall) and the other party guests.



John's first major "Days" interview
"So You Think You Know This Man...Think Again!" by Michael Logan (Soap Opera Digest, August 26, 1986)




"Victor-y" by Stephanie Sloane (Soap Opera Digest, September 19, 2000)

Although Aniston was on the first-ever cover of Soap Opera Digest in November 1975, he's only made one appearance on the cover during his 24 years on "Days." He appeared in a collage of the Salem Stalker murder victims on the June 1, 2004 cover.

Prior to joining "Days" John Aniston appeared for six years as Martin Tourneur on "Search For Tomorrow." In this article from January 17, 1983, John's daughter is mentioned as becoming an actress in the future: "John Aniston enjoys bringing his daughter Jennifer to the "Search for Tomorrow" set. "It's an exciting place," says 13-year-old Jennifer. "I love meeting all the people." Between trips to the studio, Jennifer helps dad by reading lines with him in the morning, a chore she doesn't mind at all since she plans to become an actress."

John's daughter, Jennifer, started acting in 1990 and got her first big break as Rachel Green on "Friends" in 1994.