Luke Gianni

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Luke Gianni is a fictional character on the new English language telenovela, that is Soap opera, Fashion House. He is played by Taylor Kinney.

[edit] The soulful artist

Luke was the son of Maria Gianni, the powerful head of House of Gianni, a prestigious Los Angeles fashion design house.

For many years, he had thought that he was also the son of the late Antonio Gianni, who his mother was married to, but he discovered that he was the son of an extramarital affair between his mother and Charles Blakely, a struggling artist that she once loved. This explained the animosity between Maria and Sophia Blakely, whom his father was married to.

An aspiring artist, his mother had often scorned his art, and had tried to pressure him to join her at House of Gianni, but he steadfastly refused, because he had also inherited Charles' artistic talent.

He also discovered that his mother's former fiance, William Chandler, was his half-brother. His best friend was fashion photographer, Michael Bauer, who was in love with fashion model Nikki Clark.

He met and fell in love with recently separated Michelle Randall Miller, a budding designer he met at a club when she was with her friend, Nikki. This irritated Maria to no end. She did as much as she could to break up Luke and Michelle.

Until he fell in love with Michelle, Luke had been seeing a girl named Tania Ford, a scheming, arrogant and highly self-destructive model. He broke up with Tania to be with Michelle, which earned her Tania's hatred and jealousy. However, Tania was no more liked as a girlfriend as Michelle was; since Maria had a tendency to make more telling insults toward Tania, than she would toward Michelle.

However, during a dinner, his mother decided to drug one of his shots with the "date rape" drug, while she sent Michelle and senior designer, John Cotter, to New York for a business trip. She also convinced her assistant, Lexi, who had low self-esteem and also a crush on Luke, to seduce him.

Maria was pleased to discover that Michelle has left her son, however Luke continued to ask her forgiveness. However, Lexi, who was dead set against the plot to break them up, finally convinced Michelle that Luke had been drugged by own mother, and Luke, who didn't remember anything of what happened, didn't believe either one of them.

With House of Gianni in severe financial insolvency, Maria, unbeknownst to Luke, had been raiding his trust fund to keep the company afloat. However Sophia loudly broadcasted the whole sordid scheme to everyone in the office, including designers Hans, Harold and Lexi, who were shocked.

At his mother's ill-fated wedding to William, all of Maria's crimes came to light, thanks to him and Sophia. At first, Luke was furious and highly protective of his mother, until William divulged some unknown secrets. That Luke was not the son of Antonio, as he had always believed, but in fact, he was the son of Charles Blakely.

Not to mention that his mother had done some very wicked things to people, including Luke's erstwhile girlfriend, Michelle, (by virtue of Maria stealing her designs and passing them off as her own, not to mention her breaking him and Michelle up).

Finally, Luke confronted his mother on his parentage, and was angered to discover that Maria had known all along about his parentage, lied about it all this time, and hadn't told him the facts herself.

William made it clear that he felt that his half-brother was an innocent victim of Maria and her selfishness; and as such, wanted to make sure he was protected. Although Sophia didn't see this as a viable option to their plan, she had sympathy for Luke who wasn't to blame for the way his mother was; and she saw him as an opportunity to bring him (and also Michelle) into their fold, and hurt Maria.

William recently also brought Luke the proof that his mother had been raiding his trust fund to keep House of Gianni afloat. After seeing the bank records which proved that his mother had been robbing him of his money, this latest event has made Luke very unhappy and could well be the catalyst that turned him against his wicked and highly vexing mother once and for all.

Luke and Michelle had been together and split up enough times, that one had to keep a scorecard to keep up the times. However, Luke, deep down, still loved Michelle, yet, he was still threatened by Lance. As such, to figure out what is going on, Luke considered going to New York City, to think about his life.

Both Luke and Michelle discovered that Maria had been charged with fraud and forgery, due to her robbing his trust fund. Maria's lawyer has tried to get Luke to lie to get his mother spared jail time, because she thought she won't last in jail.

However, Luke, who also had Charles' honesty, stated that he will not set foot on the stand and swear to tell the truth, and not do so, even to spare his mother. He finally believed that although he loved her, and always will, he felt that she was getting exactly as she deserves.

Lexi also seemed to think that Luke was a distraction to Michelle, which almost infuriates her, but once she explained that Luke would still be around after the first showing, Michelle relented and helped her new partner get things ready for the first Michelle Miller Designs fashion show.

Luke's tendency to protect his mother, despite her conniving and scheming, had also perhaps landed him in legal trouble. Because he lied to the District Attorney, despite the hard evidence planted in front of him, this could land him on charges of obstucting prosecution.

A young artist's representative named Amanda arrived in Los Angeles, and thought that Luke's art had real promise, and was working with him to come to New York, despite Michael's objections. Amanda had attempted to seduce him, but failed miserably, and she returned to New York solo.

Nonetheless, Michelle extended an invite to her upcoming show, and also asked Luke to bring Amanda with him.

With Luke, things went from bad to much worse. He caught Michael in a compromisng situation with Maria, which perhaps spelled the end of his friendship with Michael; and he also received a tape which John Cotter had recorded him and Maria conniving to break up him and Michelle. This also spelled the end of his protecting his mother.

After Maria and Lexi connived to forcibly remove Michelle from her own company, Luke had to extricate Michelle from a fountain where she and Maria were in a catfight that would have made Sophia proud. Luke then discovered that Michelle had lost her company to his ever-increasingly evil mother.

Although he was highly protective of his mother, at the beginning, Luke began to see that his mother was not the most honest woman there was; in fact, she was downright evil, and it would be a matter of time before Luke finally cut the apron strings.

However, the apron strings were cut, but by someone else. Luke finally confronted her at her last fashion show about all the evil things she had done, and then, a few moments later, she was shot and killed. Maria's last words to a devastated Luke were "I'm sorry....I love you...never forget that I love you."

At her funeral, Luke was so angered at the hypocrisy that everyone was gushing about his mother, (when in reality, they had nothing more than contempt for her, although he had his issues with her, he still loved her) that he lashed out at everyone in the heat of grief. He believed that everyone in that room hated his mother so much that any of them, even Michelle could have killed her.

The only one who thought his anger filled speech was good was his mother's equally conniving attorney. Michael and Nikki walked right by him without a word, since he had outright accused both of them of killing Maria; and Tania, his ex, also walked by without a word. Afterwards however, he talked with Michelle, who did understand his grief. She too had lost her parents and that helped bond them once again.

Luke may well be in line to receive both House of Gianni and Lexi Walker Designs, the company his mother stole from Michelle. Not that he needed the money, if he sold them. Luke also received a gift from his half-brother, William. It was a painting that Charles, their late father, had painted of Maria and Luke when he was a baby. It was that painting that told William that he had a half-brother. The two parted on amicable terms as William was going on overseas business. He also gave Luke his number, knowing that he would be there for him if he needed him.

Arrogant former Gianni designer, John Cotter, who had used blackmail against Maria, decided to try that same tactic on Luke. He told Luke that for selling him the House of Gianni, he would tell him the name of who killed his mother. However, Luke anticipated what kind of chicanery John was up to and had himself wired with the help of the police. John was then arrested for extortion and tampering with evidence in a murder investigation.

To add even more heartache and grief, as if he didn't need any more, a shocked Luke discovered Michael and Nikki injured in her apartment and Michelle had been kidnapped by wicked mobster Eddie Zarouvian, who himself had his own ax to grind against Maria. After helping save Michelle, Luke sold Gianni Fashion House and finally moved to New York City, accompanied by his Michelle.