Luke Snyder was born Luciano Eduardo Grimaldi.

Luke was born to Lily Walsh and Damian Grimaldi, but was raised by Lily, and Holden Snyder. He was originally born on May 16, 1995, but was revised to 1992 in 2001, when nine-year-old Christopher Tavani took over the role, and again revised to 1990 in 2005, when fifteen-year-old Jake Weary played the part.

His birth was a source of mystery. His mother, Lily Walsh, wasn't sure who the father was: her then-husband Damian Grimaldi or her true love, Holden Snyder. Damian turned out to be the father and Lily renewed her relationship with him. Damian died soon after. He turned up alive, though, and gave Lily his blessing to marry Holden. All were surprised, however, when he came back again to kidnap young Luke. Damian's plot almost worked, but Holden found out and attempted to rescue Luke, who he had raised as his own son. Luke and Holden were presumed dead in an explosion, but Lily found them held prisoner by Damian's brother Dante in Malta, Italy. Once they all returned home, Luke was officially adopted by Holden.

All was well between son and parents until Luke became a teenager. Holden began to see a woman named Julia Larrabee and Luke was heartbroken. Holden prepared to divorce Lily to be with Julia, but Luke would not let it happen. He wanted to confront Julia, but when no one was at her apartment, he trashed it. After Julia and Lily had a violent encounter, Julia turned up dead.

Luke confessed to killing Julia, believing that his mother was the real murderess. In turn, Lily confessed to the murder herself. It was revealed that Julia's ex-husband Les Sweeney was the true culprit. With the Holden/Lily divorce eminent, Lily began to date Julia's brother, pilot Keith Morrissey. Like with Julia, Luke was dead set against someone coming in and destroying his parents' marriage. To make himself feel better, Luke began to drink. He became an alcoholic in the process, and while in a drunken stupor, found himself on board one of Keith's airplanes. The plane landed in Mexico and Holden and Lily, who were falling back in love, quickly traveled to Mexico to retrieve their son. Unfortunately, Luke picked up a kidney infection while out of the country and needed a donor.

Keith found a kidney for Luke, but agreed to give it to him under one condition: Lily would have to marry him. Lily (who, at this point, fell out of love with Keith after learning that his job was to illegally transport human organs) accepted the terms of the agreement and went about planning her marriage to Keith. Luke was devastated and when he learned why his mother would marry this man, he went to Keith's house to have him personally cut his new kidney out in exchange for Lily's safety. When Keith realized that he didn't want to be trapped in a loveless marriage, he left Oakdale, leaving Lily free to renew her vows to Holden (they were just a signature away from divorce) and Luke in a good state of mind.

Worried for his new kidneys, Holden and Lily determined that Kevin Davis, Luke's best friend, was a bad influence on him, and wanted Luke to cut all ties with him. One night, while sneaking out to see Kevin, Luke hit a young woman with his car. The woman turned out to be Jade Taylor, the daughter of Lily's twin sister Rose D'Angelo.

While Holden, Lily, and Lucinda Walsh (Lily's adoptive mother) weren't so sure of Jade's credibility, Luke quickly befriended her. After Jade noted Luke's desperation to see Kevin, he revealed to her his deepest, darkest secret: he was gay and in love with Kevin. Jade promised to protect Luke from Holden, who secretly had his own suspicions about Luke's sexuality. Unfortunately, Jade was uncovered as a fraud. Luke, unsure of what to do, followed her in her scheme to stay in the Snyder home. Jade decided that the only way she could stay in the house was by pretending she and Luke were in love. Luke, believing that this would also throw off Holden's suspicions, went along with the plan. Jade informed him that if he ever told his parents the truth, that they were not in love, she would force him out of the closet.

After Luke lied to Kevin that he and Jade were an item, Kevin revealed that he, too, had a girlfriend and no longer wanted to hang out with Luke. A devastated Luke informed Jade, who thereupon attempted to convince Luke that he wasn't gay by kissing him. Luke pushed her away, a development witnessed by Holden; Luke wanted to use that moment to come out to Holden, but a medical emergency with Lily prevented this. Observing the stress that Jade's presence created for his parents, combined with the increased bickering between Luke and Jade, led Luke to unload his problems and come out to his friend Will Munson, who advised Luke that the best thing for him to do was to be honest and tell his parents the truth.

When Luke finally came out to Holden and Lily, he was a bit taken aback by their reactions. Holden was accepting and supportive while Lily had trouble dealing with her son being gay.

Nothing surprised Luke more, however, than when his birth father, a man who hadn't been in his life much at all for many years, showed up in town a few weeks later.

Damian convinced Lily he would solve the "problem" with Luke and attempted to send him to a summer camp that advertised "gender re-alignment." Luke rebelled against his mother, hurt by her reaction to his revelation that he was gay. Things were strained between them for quite a while and Luke eventually agreed to go to Krieger's "summer camp" and went upstairs to pack his things. Lily, discovering at the last minute that Damien had lied to her about the true purpose behind Krieger's "de-gaying" camp and regretting her alignment with him, rushed home in an attempt to reconnect with Luke. Still hurt and angry at his mother's continual rejection, believing she alone was behind the idea to send him away, Luke pushed a pregnant Lily away from him causing her to fall down a long flight of stairs and lapsed into a coma.

At the hospital, Holden angrily confronted Luke about what could cause him to shove his mother down the stairs. Luke informed Holden that it was an accident and told him about the camp Lily wanted to send him to. Holden refused to believe that Lily would send Luke to a place like that and was initially cold toward Luke. At that point, a sympathetic Damian stepped in and offered Luke his unwavering support. He also offered him a place to stay.

Holden and Luke's relationship suffered, and Damian convinced Luke to move in with him. As the weeks went by, Damian helped Luke avoid Holden since Luke was convinced he hated him. When a still-comatose Lily gave birth to a baby boy Ethan Snyder, Luke tried making up with Holden. It was then Holden and Luke had a talk about his moving in with Damian. Luke talked to his unconscious mother about his plans hoping she would wake up. Luke later went home with Holden and the baby and had an argument with him and left the house for good. One week after Luke was once again caught between a rock and a hard place. Learning that Damian was dying and wanted him to come with him to Malta, or stay in Oakdale with his family and help his mother with her condition. Holden later got a hold of Luke and told him that he thinks Damian is lying about his condition, he once again turned his back on Holden.

Luke finally found out the truth about Damian in an unusual way. Jack and Holden confronted Damian and his partner in crime at the Oakdale airport. Luke and Damian had a falling out and Luke gave Damian what he wanted, his inheritance. Luke later found out Damian was the cause of his mother being in a coma, and that he had plans to send him away to a camp to force him to turn straight. Luke was given the chance to press charges but didn't give an answer. He eventually decided to let him off, as he just wanted the nightmare to end, and as far as he was concerned Damian was nothing to him and felt that Holden was his "true" father.

Soon after Damian went back to Malta, Luke went with a bunch of his friends to Raven Lake. Little did the teens know, the Oakdale Slasher (a serial killer who preyed on high school students) was on the loose. While at Raven Lake, Luke finally came out to Kevin. Kevin's response was not what he had hoped (Kevin called him several names, the least-hurting of which was 'liar'). Luke was able to find support in Will and Gwen, not to mention his grandmother Emma, who had just learned about his sexuality. The Oakdale Slasher, however, made things worse for everybody. The Slasher crashed the party and began a series of murders in the forest. Kevin fell into the lake, and Luke, unknowingly escaping the Slasher, jumped in after to save him, even giving him CPR. They end up at the hospital, where Kevin apologized to Luke for the way he acted and thanked him for saving his life.

Things seemed to calm down for Luke then. His friends seemed to be OK with his sexuality, but more importantly, Lily came out of her coma. Lily told Luke that she did not blame him for her fall and that she understood his anger and rage at her and she was only hesitant in accepting his sexuality because she was afraid of the prejudice and discrimination that he could face. They reconciled. The whole family was shocked, though, when Lily's search for Rose's real daughter (the young woman who Jade originally posed as) resulted in learning that Jade really is Rose's daughter, thus making her Lily's niece and Luke's cousin. The Snyder's let Jade back into their home and Luke began to befriend her again, but not without keeping his guard up.

Luke becomes an intern at WOAK, where he works with his friend Maddie Coleman. At WOAK, he meets Noah Mayer. At first Luke doesn't get along with Noah, though he later starts to develop romantic feelings for him. Luke later tells Jade that he believes that Noah is straight and he has fallen for 'the wrong guy' once again. Jade leaves Oakdale shortly thereafter, and Luke becomes closer to Maddie and Noah.

Luke admits to Noah that he is attracted to him. He assumes the feelings were one-sided, since Noah is dating Maddie, but they have strong sexual chemistry. One day, while Luke was helps Noah tie his tie, Noah leans in and kisses Luke. Noah swears he is only playing a joke and is straight, but Luke is skeptical; soon thereafter, Noah admits that he in fact kissed Luke because he had wanted to. The tension between them continues to grow, with Noah getting jealous after he sees Luke talking to another gay man. Luke, already uneasy about not telling Maddie the truth, tells Noah he does not want to see him again after the internship was over.

When Maddie begins having doubts about her relationship with Noah, she asks Luke if there is anything going on between him and Noah. Not wanting to continue to lie to his friend, Luke states that he can't answer the question. Shaken, Maddie responds that he just did. Luke tries to comfort Maddie, but she leaves, saying she needs to talk to Noah.

When Maddie wasn't even able to look Noah in the eye when she next saw him, Noah confronted Luke, asking him what he had said to Maddie that left her so cold towards him. Luke and Noah argued, and Noah left to find Maddie and try to resolve things.

After Maddie and Noah have broken up, Luke is finally able to talk to Maddie and helps her understand that Noah's being gay has nothing to do with her. Because of this, Maddie is later able to tell Noah that she wants to be friends with him again at some point, and that he'd be lucky to have Luke if he'd let himself.

Shortly thereafter, Noah calls Luke to WOAK, where he was finally able to acknowledge that his relationship with Maddie is over, and that he is gay. Luke repeatedly offers Noah support and advice around coming out to his father. When Noah expresses that his biggest fear is that his father, his only family, won't accept him and he'd be left alone, Luke told Noah that he isn't alone.

Noah and Luke later run into each other at WOAK again, and have an upbeat conversation about Noah's newfound comfort with himself. After Noah thanks Luke for his help, an awkward silence forms, and Luke seeks to excuse himself from the conversation, but Noah touches his hand, and the two share their second kiss--their first under open and honest circumstances. Their joy is short-lived, however, as they are interrupted by Colonel Mayer.

Colonel Mayer seemingly has a change of heart about both Noah's sexuality and his relationship with Luke, and invites the two to join him on a fishing trip. Mayer secretly plans to murder Luke while on the trip, but his plan is thwarted by Holden and Lily. Although Holden and Lily interrupt Mayer, they are unable to stop him from knocking Luke down a hill, leaving Luke paralyzed. Mayer later returns and attempts to administer a deadly dose of sedative to Luke in the hospital, but Lily once again interrupts, saving her son's life.

Luke initially refuses to begin physical therapy but changes his mind after Noah visits his bedside. Noah had kept his distance because he thought Luke would blame him for his condition, while Luke thought Noah could not be satisfied with a boyfriend in a wheelchair. The two express their true feelings to each other and officially become a couple.

Holden and Lily separate because of various strains on their marriage, including Luke's injury and Holden's feeling that Lily might have been able to prevent it. When Luke leaves the hospital, he stays with his father at his grandmother Emma's farm.

Luke and Noah confront Colonel Mayer before he is sent to prison, and Luke is able to stand and profess his love for Noah during the confrontation. Noah isn't able to respond in kind, but asks Luke not to take it back. Noah continues to support Luke's physical therapy, and at Christmas Eve dinner, Luke is able to stand and walk in front of his family.

That night, Noah gives Luke a card expressing how he feels about him, and signs it "Love, Noah". Luke then expresses his love directly to Noah for the first time. The two kiss under the mistletoe.

With Luke out of his wheelchair, Luke and Noah share their first date and their first dance at the grand opening of Metro on New Year's Eve. A few days later, Noah asks Luke to get a place together. Luke is nervous that they'd be moving too fast, but after Noah expresses his loneliness and says that Luke is his only family, Luke seeks an alternate solution. He gets permission from his grandmother and asks Noah to move in with him and his family permanently at Snyder Farm.

Luke supports Noah and Ameera Ali Aziz, a young Iraqi girl with connections to Colonel Mayer, in their efforts to go visit the Colonel in prison, but the trio is attacked en route by bigots. Noah is badly hurt after being hit with a tire iron, but Luke manages to protect his friends, and prevents the men from kidnapping Ameera until Holden and Lily stumbled across the scene and helped. Luke commits to helping Noah as he supports Ameera's efforts to stay in the United States.

When Ameera is about to be deported by Homeland Security, Noah decides that the only way to keep her in the country is to marry her. Luke struggles with the idea, wondering if this is just a way for Noah to go back in the closet. Noah assures Luke it isn't. Luke asks Noah if he loves him, and for the first time Noah is able to say that he loves Luke...more than Luke will ever know. Luke and Noah tell Luke's parents about Noah's plan, and Lily and Holden agree to help. Luke puts on a brave face and gives his blessing for the wedding to go forward, but quietly struggles watching the man he loves marry someone else, knowing their relationship will once again have to be kept secret. He agrees to be Noah's best man, and even writes his wedding vows. At the end of the day, looking over the wedding certificate, Luke mentions that he hopes he and Noah will have one with their names on it some day...and Noah promises they will.

Luke struggles as the outsider in Noah and Ameera's marriage. The marriage finally comes to an end because of a bizarre kidnapping plot that ends with the apparent death of Noah's father, and Ameera's being taken into custody by police. Noah blames Luke for those outcomes, and asks him for a break, so that he can clear his mind. After being forced to hide his relationship for so long, Luke bristles at the idea of more time apart from Noah, and the two break up.

Luke interviews Cyndi Lauper for the Oakdale University student newspaper. She performs at Oakdale University's Gay Pride celebration, and dedicates "True Colors" to Luke, after seeing the way he looks at Noah. The dedication works, and Noah finds Luke and apologizes, telling him he wants them to be back together. The pair thank Cyndi, and tell her True Colors will now be their song. Luke, however, is soon crushed to find out Noah has enlisted in the Army. Luke follows Noah to Chicago to convince him to forget about the Army, but fails. Luke returns to Oakdale devastated, but Noah returns, saying he couldn't go through with enlisting.

Luke's father Damian sends word that he wants Luke to have a large portion of his Grimaldi inheritance back. Luke initially wants to turn down the money, wanting nothing to do with Damian. However, Noah and Lucinda convince Luke to do something meaningful with the money, and Luke decides to start a charitable foundation, inspired by Noah's desire to help others.

Luke, Noah and Lucinda begin working on establishing the foundation, hiring Brian Wheatley to run it. Luke struggles to build a working relationship with Brian after he suggests Luke and Noah be more discreet in their relationship, due to the conservative nature of the philanthropic community.

Luke decides to run for President of the Student Government at Oakdale U, after a run-in with his old friend Kevin who is running on what Luke feels is a frivolous platform. This starts to bring up old memories and feelings for Luke and puts strain on his relationship with Noah. Kevin's campaign manager runs a dirty campaign against Luke and this causes Luke to have Casey stuff the ballot box in order to win the election and show Kevin up. After the election, Kevin is suspicious about the results due to the high voter turn out, and Luke is called in for questioning. Luke wants Noah to lie for him but Noah can't and as a result both Luke and Casey are expelled for rigging the election.

Noah broke up with Luke because of what the election has done to him and because there is a lack of trust between the two, telling Luke he needs to sort out his feelings for Kevin. Luke then begins to drink heavily. Luke makes drunken advances at Noah one night when Noah finds him drunk causing an upset Noah to walk out on Luke. Luke falls into a drunken depression is found by Brian, who had just married Lucinda, walking the streets drunk. He takes Luke back to the farm and Luke vents all of his frustration out and calls himself a bad person. Brian says he's not and kisses him on the forehead, then the cheek, and then the mouth. This causes Luke to freak out and causes their already tense relationship to become even worse. Luke begins to question Brian's motives for marrying his grandmother and he begins to question Brain's masculinity around other members of the family.

Noah comes over for Thanksgiving and things seem to be better between him and Luke. Luke then confesses to Noah that Brian kissed him and Noah has his doubts about it because of Luke's drunken state when it happened. Luke continues to drink until one morning he drinks a beer and a sharp pain in his side causes him to double over. Luke talks to his father about moving back into the house with them to which Holden in incredibly happy about. All seems to be going well until Luke learns that Brian and Lucinda are going to be living at the house because Lucinda is having her house remodeled for her Brian. Brian tries to privately talk to Luke but Luke tells him to never touch him again and storms out of the house.

Noah and Luke reconcile before Christmas time, but their reconciliation is quickly thrown in doubt by the return of Maddie, which leaves Luke feeling jealous of her and Noah's closeness. Noah reaffirms to Luke that he could never feel for Maddie what he feels for Luke. Noah plans a special night for them on New Year's Eve, with the intent that they will finally make love. However, when Maddie shows up distraught, Noah comforts her, and briefly leaves. Luke's jealousy flares up again, and he gets drunk. Eventually, he kisses Brian who was seeking to make sure he was safe, and Noah sees. Noah misundersands, and punches Brian before taking Luke home. Once there, Luke feels guilty that Noah is blaming himself for what happened, and admits to Noah that it was he who kissed Brian, not the other way around. Noah is devastated and angry and leaves the house.

When Luke's recently returned cousin, Jade, reveals to Lucinda that her husband is gay, Brian is forced to admit to his wife that he hit on her grandson. Lucinda kicks Brian out, but is also angry at Luke for keeping secrets from her. With Noah and Lucinda angry with him, Luke feels alone, and it is clear to him (as it is to Noah) that things are over between them. Their friends, however, see things differently, and Casey and Alison Stewart work to reunite the two, to little success. However, a convergence of steps taken by Jade, Lucinda, and Casey result in the two arguing face to face...and the passion of the argument quickly gives way to romantic passion. The two return to Luke's house and finally make love for the first time.

Luke starts to repair his relationship with Lucinda, while exploring his newly sexual relationship with Noah, and later works with both of them to help Brian come to terms with his sexuality and seek therapy, rather than commiting suicide.

Despite reuniting with Noah, Luke still lacks direction in his life. After Luke's friend Reg dies of a drug overdose at Casey's birthday party, Luke and Noah look into the circumstances around his death. Luke is determined to bring someone to justice in connection with what he believes to be Reg's murder. Noah is supportive, but Luke's investigative techniques border on out of control. Eventually, Luke and Noah discover who was behind the drugs that killed Reg, and they're able to put the case behind them.

When Luke and Noah are discriminated against in their apartment search because of their sexual orientation, they decide, along with Lily in her new role as foundation director, to use the resources of the Luke Snyder Foundation to fight for equal housing rights for the LGBT community, and for gay rights in general. Lily, Holden, Brian, and Noah are thrilled to see Luke back on course. However, outside a foundation rally, Luke is the victim of a hit and run. He is brought to the hospital, and it is revealed that his biological father Damian is the one who brought him in.

Damian claims to have returned in order to make amends with Luke, but Luke wants nothing to do with Damian, and makes that clear to Noah and his parents. Strange things start happening to Luke's family, and to the foundation, and Luke suspects it's a plot by Damian to undermine the foundation. At the same time, twins Zac and Zoe Finn arrive in Oakdale and sign on to volunteer on behalf of the foundation. Luke takes them on and keeps them on, despite their odd behavior, and Noah's urgings to keep the twins at arms length.

After several minor arguments about the twins, Luke doesn't see or hear from Noah for a week, until he finally calls him and says that he has gone on a school trip to Lisbon. In actual fact the twins have kidnapped him, and have him tied up in a secret location, where they reveal to him that they aren't really twins but lovers, and want Luke's money. Meanwhile, Damian suspects that a branch of the Grimaldi family are involved with the strange things happening at the foundation and decides to go to Malta to check some things out, and when he hears from Lily that Noah is in Lisbon, he decides to stop there on the way back to convince him to come home.
When Damian returns, he reveals that Noah wasn't in Lisbon, and Luke starts to panic as he also received a text from Noah that didn't sound like him. After receiving the text with Noah's location on it Luke's runs after his boyfriend, only to find Zac and Zoe holding Noah captive. They tie Luke up too and he is shocked to find out the truth about them. Zac and Zoe demand money from Lily and Holden to have Luke and Noah back, but Damian hatches a plan with Lily, when he suspects Luke and Noah's captive to be a Grimaldi relative. However, their rescue attempt goes wrong, and Holden asks Lily not to get involved anymore, and to let the police do their work.
Noah and Luke are rescued by Damian and Luke and Damian are working on a relationship now.

Read enough? Want to see it? Watch Luke's Story and Luke & Noah's Story!

Parents

• Damian Grimaldi (biological father)
• Lily Walsh Snyder (mother)
• Holden Snyder (adoptive father)
  

Siblings

• Abigail "Abby" Williams (adoptive half-sister)
• Aaron Snyder (adoptive half-brother)
• Faith Snyder (maternal half-sister/adoptive sister)
• Natalie Snyder (maternal half-sister/adoptive sister)
• Ethan Snyder (maternal half-brother/adoptive brother)
  

Other Relatives

• Unnamed man (paternal grandfather, deceased)
• Orlena Grimaldi (paternal grandmother, deceased)
• Josh Stricklyn (maternal biological grandfather)
• Cal Stricklyn (paternal biological great grandfather)
• Iva Snyder (maternal biological grandmother)
• Lucinda Walsh (maternal adoptive grandmother)
• Emma Snyder (adoptive grandmother)
• Rose D'Angelo (maternal biological aunt, deceased)
• Matthew John "M.J." Dixon (maternal biological uncle)
• Sierra Esteban (maternal adoptive aunt)
• Bianca Walsh (maternal adoptive aunt)
• Meg Snyder (adoptive aunt)
• Seth Snyder (adoptive uncle)
• Caleb Snyder (adoptive uncle)
• Ellie Snyder (adoptive aunt)
• Jade Taylor (maternal biological cousin)
• Bryant Montgomery (maternal adoptive cousin, deceased)
• Lucy Montgomery (maternal adoptive cousin)
• Many, many others

Played By

• Spencer Goodnow - as an infant (1995)
  
• Sean Cohan - as an infant (1996)
• Jeremy Zelig (1996 - 2001)
• Christopher Tavani (2001 - 2005)
• Jake Weary (2005)
• Van Hansis (2005 - present)
  

*Biography revised from Wikipedia.org