Samantha Reilly is a character on FOX drama soap Melrose Place. She is portrayed by Brooke Langton.
Character[]
Samantha was an artist from Maryland who was introduced as the new roommate of Jane Andrews in the season 4 finale. At first, Samantha was the voice of normal, as she was always thrown off by all the weirdness around her. When Jane got her involved in the heist involving Richard Hart, Samantha tried to move out because she didn't care for her "alternative lifestyle". After initially finding Billy Campbell attractive, she was repulsed to find him kicking in his door after finding Jake Hanson and Alison Parker together. When he snapped at her, she just dismissed him and went back to her apartment. The next morning, Alison snapped at her in passing and Samantha wondered if she and Billy were taking "rude pills". She was also in disbelief when Jane told her the events surrounding the death of Brooke Armstrong, as well as Alison dating Brooke's father. She also at one point told Sydney Andrews she thought she was evil.
She later began dating Billy Campbell when he tried to apologize to her, but the date went badly when Billy started mourning his relationship with Alison. Billy and Samantha decided to just be friends. She later started dating Craig Field, who worked at D&D with Billy. Craig bought her a studio after seeing her painting at 4616 Melrose Place, but later implied it meant more to Billy. Samantha broke it off with Craig and returned his studio keys, but would not give back her painting of apartment complex. Samantha was upset. At the same time, Sydney had sold a painting of hers to Kyle McBride for his restaurant, but Taylor McBride, annoyed at Sydney's constant presence, donated it to an auction, making it two paintings of Samantha's from which she didn't make any money.
After Samantha lost her job when Sydney's was shut down after a lawsuit, Samantha took a job cashiering at a local retail store. However, her controlling, manipulative, convict father, Jim Reilly, broke out of prison in Maryland and made his way to Los Angeles, where he used Samantha and Billy to hide himself. Once Billy found out that Samantha was hiding him at a nearby hotel, the two had friction between them. It reached its boiling point when both of them were arrested for aiding & abetting a known criminal. Although they were released, Jim blackmailed them into giving him ten thousand dollars. Samantha finally reached her boiling point when Jim tried to make her leave town with him. She tipped off the cops about his whereabouts, but he sensed something wrong and got out of it.
She was again arrested, but Billy made a deal to let them tap their phones. When Jim called from Mexico, the police cleared Samantha, despite her being angry at Billy for making the deal. However, Jim doubled back and robbed Samantha at gunpoint inside the retail store, taking her hostage in the process. As they were speeding away in the car, they fought, but the car veered out of control and they crashed into Sydney at her wedding. Jim was killed on impact and Sydney was presumed Dead, though it would come out years later that Michael Mancini helped fake her death. Samantha had trouble dealing with the fact that she "killed" Sydney and Craig didn't help matters by blaming her for everything. Craig, at one point, planned to run down Samantha, but stopped at the last second. The two of them broke down emotionally and Craig offered her forgiveness.
In time, Billy and Samantha were married, despite attempted interference from Connie Rexroth, but both harbored romantic attractions for other people. Samantha became smitten with a baseball player named Jeff Baylor, while Billy became drawn to Jennifer Mancini. Eventually, the couple's mutual affairs were revealed and Samantha and Billy got into a heated fight with Billy and Jennifer at the Melrose Place Apartment Complex. Billy and Samantha later divorced, but Samantha began to become bitter, often treating Jeff badly, as well as Billy and Jennifer. She ended up faking a fax from Alison Parker to Billy as he was about to leave for Rome with Jennifer, which caused problems between them. Jeff was disgusted with her behavior, citing all the problems she's had as reasons as to why she became so full of hate. He then left for Tampa, Florida and a new job as a radio sportscaster. Samantha later followed him there and proposed to him on the air, saying she was sorry for her recent behavior. They became engaged and stayed in Florida to conclude Samantha's time on the series.