Jack Deveraux is a fictional character from Days of Our Lives, an American soap opera on the NBC network, most famously played by Matthew Ashford since 1987.

Ashford is the third actor to play in the role, and appeared regularly from 1987 through 1993 and from 2001 to 2006, with a few minor breaks in between, in addition to a small guest stint in 2007.

Ashford later took a brief absence from the series from October 2003 to June 2004 where he would appear as a special guest star on One Life to Live.

[9] In December 2020, it was announced Jon Lindstrom—the real-life spouse of Cady McClain—would step-in as Ashford's body double for scenes between Jack and McClain's Jennifer.

Although he entered the story as an outright villain wedging himself violently in between another popular supercouple, Steve Johnson and Kayla Brady, Jack eventually grew to establish himself as a core main character in the Days mythos through his passion, outrageous sense of humor, redemption, and undying love for heroine Jennifer Horton.

His father, Harper Deveraux hired Kayla Brady to be Jack's nurse, and when Steve "Patch" Johnson rejected her, she agreed to marry him.

Unfortunately, the only viable donor was his birth brother, who just happened to be Steve (who only donated the kidney when their mother, Jo, asked him to).

Sometime during this whole fiasco, Jack learned from Melissa Horton, who he had turned to when his marriage had gone sour (not realizing that Harper was trying to frame her for poisoning Kayla), that he was adopted.

It was initially hard for him to accept, but Adrienne convinced Jack to at least try, and he made his mother's Christmas when he extended an olive branch...in the form of expensive emerald earrings.

She was trying to help a homeless pregnant girl named Sally, and the two pretended to be married to give the baby a home.

Their fantasy love turned into a real thing, but the return of Jennifer's childhood sweetheart, Emilio, put a wedge between them.

When a bomb exploded on board the ship, the passengers found their way to an island, where Jack and Jennifer made love.

His own marriage plans were interrupted when Jennifer stepped in for her high-school chum Katerina von Leuschner (now known as Dr. Carly Manning) and married Lawrence Alamain.

When he learned that the Spectator was in trouble, he married Eve Donovan, who needed a husband to get her hands on Nick Corelli's fortune.

With the help of his partner, Desirée, Hawk not only got himself a spot in the Deveraux home (after pretending he threw his back out at their place), but managed to convince Jack the FBI was after him.

Finding out Jennifer was pregnant should have been the best moment of Jack's life, but he thought his Hodgkin's had returned, and that he would be leaving a widow with a baby girl.

When Jack learned shortly after that Abby had aplastic anemia, contracted because he had signed the wrong documents years before resulting in a polluted water well near their home, he decided Jennifer could never forgive him...and left Salem.

Imagine Jack's surprise when he found out Monica was none other than Laura Horton, his mother-in-law who had been released from the mental hospital after he'd left town.

When Peter Blake took Jennifer to his hometown of Aremid, Jack followed them, and befriended a young woman named Sarah, hoping she would help him.

She told him all about the woman in white, but once it was discovered that she was dressing like her (she'd fallen in love with Jack), Jennifer and Peter discounted the story.

When Tony DiMera was murdered during the wedding reception and John Black the accused, Jack and Jennifer joined forces to prove his innocence.

When Jack agreed to pay his debts (after luring him into a high-stakes poker game), Daniel confessed his dealings with Peter to Jennifer.

Jack had been planning to leave town until he learned that Jennifer kicked Peter out, and hung around to protect his ex-wife and daughter.

Jack saved her by bribing a guard to take him to the warden's office, and was paid back for it with a beating, not knowing Jennifer was hiding in his cell.

and Trent searched Jennifer's home and discovered she was posing as a guard, and Jack's visitors were limited to one person...his lawyer, Mickey Horton.

When Stefano decided (as part of a master plan) to become a respected resident of Salem, Jennifer told him that nothing better happen to Jack, because he needed the support of the Hortons.

Upon returning home, Jack and Abby found a very life Jennifer, who told them about the plan the circus people had to fake her death and resurrection.

Jack was happy to be home with his wife and children, but he soon began feeling sick, and when he went to Lexie, she advised him he only had a short period of time to live.

Although Lexie and later Marlena tried to convince Jack to tell Jennifer, he was determined to enjoy the time he had left with his family without having them concentrate on his illness.

In 2020, Charlie Mason from Soaps She Knows placed Jack 29th on his list of the 35 most memorable characters from Days of Our Lives, writing that "To Matthew Ashford's credit, he managed to turn the villain who raped [Kayla] into not only a beloved comic-relief character but a well-intentioned hero who became so popular, he was allowed to cheat death.