Billy Abbott is a fictional character from The Young and the Restless, an American soap opera on the CBS network.

Thompson has received critical acclaim for his performances in the role, winning Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 2020, and earning another nomination in 2022.

Up to 1999, the character was portrayed by child actors, first by a set of twins named Katrin and Margret Ingimarsdottir, then by Brett Sherman, Shane Silver, Blake Pontello, Josh Michael Rose and Scotty Leavenworth.

[5] The character was absent from the series from August to December 2002; even though he was supposed to return much sooner, the casting department allegedly had trouble finding a suitable replacement for Tom.

[17] In November 2013, amidst contract negotiations, Miller opted to leave the soap opera, and it was announced that David Tom, who previously played Billy, would be returning to the role.

[19] On May 23, 2014, Daytime Confidential broke news Tom had been released from the series, with the writers taking Billy in a different direction.

"[22] In October 2015, Daytime Confidential announced Jenkins had been fired from the show, and former General Hospital actor Jason Thompson was one of the top choices for recast, following another "plastic surgery arc" storyline.

After being unable to conceive a child, Billy presented Victoria with a baby girl that he adopted illegally, whom they named Lucy.

"[31] When the illegal adoption came to light, Victoria and Billy eventually lost custody of Lucy to Phyllis Newman.

Victoria didn't know what was to come of her marriage and went forward with divorce proceedings, just as Billy's daughter, Delia, was diagnosed with leukemia.

There is a potential for a huge rift between father and daughter and there will be some consequences for Victor with his relationship with Victoria in light of all that he's done to keep her apart from the man she loves," noted then co-head writer Scott Hamner at the time.

Jill paid little attention to her son; John then took Billy to New York City where he attended boarding school.

He attended Walnut Grove Academy with his friends and enemies, including Brittany Hodges (Lauren Woodland), J.T.

Hellstrom (Thad Luckinbill), Mackenzie Browning (then played by Ashley Bashioum) and Raul Guittierez (David Lago).

Jack Abbott (Peter Bergman) trapped Billy and Mackenzie in an elevator together, and they finally sorted out their feelings.

Billy (then played by Ryan Brown) decided to do something different with his life, so he went to Louisiana to help Mac's father, Brock Reynolds (Beau Kazer), build houses for the poor.

Billy decided to attend Genoa City University to study business while he worked his way up in his family's company.

Jack found out about his addiction; consequently, he relocated Billy to Hong Kong as the NVP/Jabot Liaison for House of Kim.

Billy paid Primrose Deville (Ellen Greene) $2 million for a newborn baby girl, which he took home to Victoria.

It was revealed she was the biological daughter of Daisy Carter (Yvonne Zima) and Daniel Romalotti (Michael Graziadei) as a result of her raping him.

Billy had been imprisoned in Myanmar on trumped up drug trafficking and rape charges, and Victor agreed to pay off the authorities for his release on the condition that he didn't contact Victoria again.

Victor hired a security guard to escort Billy to New Delhi, India, with a connecting flight in New York City, where Victoria was.

It was later revealed that while Billy was away, he was drugged and taken advantage of by a girl from Myanmar, Chelsea Lawson (Melissa Claire Egan).

In October 2013, Billy leaves Delia and her dog, Dash, alone in his car at night while going into a store to purchase ice-cream after a school play.

After Delia's death, Billy embarks on an affair with Kelly Andrews, a woman he meets in his grief support group.

When Billy discovers Adam is the driver who killed Delia, he kidnaps him at gunpoint and mentally tortures a confession out of him.

Billy manipulates Jacks mother, Dina Mergeron (who is struggling with the early stages of Alzheimer's), and takes a picture of her password, to later hack into Phyllis's Jabot computer.

It becomes evident that Billy is suffering from a split personality disorder and tries to run Adam down with his car but is rescued by Kevin and Chloe from making that mistake.

In May 2020, Thompson earned his first (fifth overall) Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his work as Billy.

[36] Charlie Mason and Richard Simms from Soaps She Knows called the 2023 breakup of Lily and Billy the "Worst Break-Up" in American soap operas of that year, commenting that "The level of commitment — heck, the level of interest — that Young & Restless playboy Billy showed as he and Lily ended their relationship made us wonder anew why we'd ever invested in the pairing in the first place.