Donald Drake Hogestyn (born September 29, 1953 in Fort Wayne, Indiana) is an American soap opera actor.
A graduate of Fort Wayne's North Side High School, he went on to earn a baseball scholarship to the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida, graduating with a double-major in microbiology and applied sciences. He was drafted by the New York Yankees, playing third base for their farm team until he was injured in 1978.
After his baseball career he segued into acting. His first credit was the television series Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1982).
In 1986, he started playing the role of Roman Brady on Days of Our Lives and became a fan favorite. In 1991, Days producers wanted to bring back Wayne Northrop, the actor who originally played Roman, but needed to find a way to keep the popular Hogestyn on the show. Therefore, a new storyline was written revealing that villain Stefano DiMera had brainwashed "Roman" into thinking he was Roman; he was actually born Forrest Alamain but had always gone by the name of John Black. This allowed Northop and Hogestyn to co-exist on the show.
Since then, the John Black character has been retconned a number of times, but Hogestyn continues to play John Black on the series today. His character's pairing with Marlena Evans became very popular and the couple is considered to be a supercouple.
