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.

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