Occupation: Con man

Parents: Richard and Helen Shiveley

Children: Violet Armstrong

Relationships: Miranda Blackthorne, Devon Graham, Marilee Walker, Heather Rydell, Suzanne Rogers

Appearances: Seasons 1 – 6

Who’d Play Him: Kyle Lowder

From Con Man to Kingmaker: Born Rick Shiveley, Brett grew up in Henderson, Nevada. After his mother died during his high school years, his alcoholic father quickly remarried. Brett supported himself by working as a busboy and occasional bartender at a strip club until his father and volatile stepmother threw him out. He fled to Las Vegas with his girlfriend, Devon, and his best friend, Bailey, where the three spent the next decade surviving through a series of cons. Their partnership collapsed when Devon left Brett for Bailey. Brett attempted to disappear with their money, leading to a violent confrontation with Bailey, who later died after mysteriously falling from a window.

Needing an alibi, Brett impulsively married Miranda Blackthorne, who happened to be in Las Vegas at the time, and returned with her to Los Angeles. He quickly befriended Stormy Blackthorne and helped launch the career of singer Lauren Spencer. After discovering that Stormy and Lauren were having an affair, Brett grew jealous and blackmailed Lauren into sleeping with him. The betrayal destroyed his friendship with Stormy and contributed to the collapse of his marriage to Miranda. Miranda later became pregnant with Brett’s child but suffered a miscarriage after considering an abortion.

Brett subsequently became public-relations adviser to Congressman Seth Walker, who intended to use him to distract his wealthy wife, Marilee. During this time, Brett fell in love with Stormy’s former wife, Heather Rydell. When Seth kidnapped Heather and threatened to throw her from the roof of the Los Angeles Theatre, Brett rescued her, sending Seth to his death in the struggle. Brett and Heather eventually married and welcomed a daughter, Violet. Their happiness was shattered when Victor Distefano manipulated Heather through hypnosis as part of a plot against her father, Jordan Rydell, resulting in Heather spending eighteen months in a mental institution.

Left alone to raise Violet, Brett began an affair with Heather’s mother, Suzanne Rogers. When Jordan attempted to take Violet away from him, Brett retaliated by seizing control of Rydell Productions and merging it with Sunset Studios. His relationship with Suzanne drew him into further danger when she joined Warren Abbott’s cult in Death Valley. Brett uncovered Warren as a con man exploiting vulnerable followers, but his attempt to rescue Suzanne left him captured and beaten. Brett and Suzanne ultimately escaped and exposed Warren’s plan to destroy the compound and flee with its money, narrowly surviving when Warren detonated explosives and vanished.

Brett later targeted Double Strike Studios CEO Deacon Edgewater, who was suing Sunset Studios for plagiarizing The Benefactor. Hoping to derail the lawsuit, Brett manipulated the recovering alcoholic into relapsing. The scheme worked, but Deacon’s apparent suicide left Brett consumed by guilt. In the aftermath, Brett was unexpectedly named CEO of Double Strike Studios. Heather soon returned from treatment, determined to rebuild her relationship with Violet while warning Brett that any reconciliation between them would have to happen slowly.