The role was portrayed by John Aniston from 1985 until his death in 2022, with a storyline driven absence in 2004 when his character was "killed off" but found alive on the island of Melaswen.

[2] Aniston received a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series nomination in 2017 for his portrayal of Victor.

He grew up and spent most of his childhood in rather modest circumstances in Salem, but then returned to Greece with his family as a young man, where he apparently made his fortune on both legitimate and illegitimate fronts.

[3] Initially a quiet sponsor of a local drugs-and-prostitution ring, it was eventually fleshed out that Victor was a full-fledged mobster, with underworld connections in Greece and Italy as well as throughout the US, partnerships and rivalries with other villains (including the nefarious Stefano DiMera), and was the subject of various investigations by the local police and a fictional crime-fighting spy agency called the International Security Alliance (ISA).

At one point, his son Philip, young and irresponsible (probably because he grew up pampered due to his father's wealth,) foolishly became indebted through illegal gambling to a criminal gang, who injured him in a ritualistic manner as a warning to him to pay up.

In more recent years, it's been slowly revealed that Victor and the Kiriakis organization still maintains a very strong hand in the underworld, with deals and rivalries with the DiMera family and other criminals.

After surviving a typhoon in the Pacific, Philip agreed to drop the pursuit of custody if Belle and Shawn would allow him to be a part of Claire's life, to which they were okay with.

After a brief absence from Salem, Victor made a dramatic return during John Black's funeral, with an extremely moving eulogy to a man who was once his bitter enemy, but eventually became a beloved friend and trusted member of his family and inner circle.

When Vivian Alamain returns to town, Victor begins dating her once again, and marries her to protect his ex-wife Carly Manning from her wrath.

Victor's scenes have become fan favorites of late due to his biting sarcasm and witty one-liners, and his general desire to see family and friends safe and happy as he rounds out his twilight years.

Deimos vowed to steal everything that Victor held near and dear, and even arranged for Maggie to have an accident which led her to break her back and become crippled once again.

Maggie struggled for many months to regain the use of her legs, dealing with severe depression as a result, but with patience from Victor, was able once again to walk.

In 2020, Charlie Mason from Soaps She Knows placed Victor #25 on their list of the 35 most memorable characters from Days of Our Lives, commenting "Cut from the same expensive cloth as The Young and the Restless's Victor Newman and General Hospital's Edward Quartermaine, John Aniston's formidable Kiriakis patriarch is a millionaire misanthrope for the ages.