The Young and the Restless star Joshua Morrow is celebrating his birthday

The Young and the Restless star Joshua Morrow celebrated 30 years as Nick Newman last year in June. Now, he's celebrating something he does every February -- his birthday. The fan favorite was born on February 8, in Juneau, Alaska, so today is his special day!

The Young and the Restless, happy birthday, Joshua Morrow

Joshua Morrow (Nick) and TV dad Eric Braeden (Victor) on The Young and the Restless | Image: JPI

Morrow came close to not even landing his role as Nick Newman on Y&R back in 1994. The actor had gone down to the fire at The Bold and the Beautiful for the role of Dylan Shaw, a Forrester Creations intern, who later became a stripper to pay for his education.

Shortly after losing out on Dylan (to actor Dylan Neal), Morrow was cast as Nicholas "Nick" Newman, the son of legendary supercouple Victor (Eric Braeden) and Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott).

The youngster was thrust into a young love storyline with Sharon (Sharon Case), as the two fought many obstacles to be together. Those challenges included Matt Clark (Eddie Cibrian; more recently, Roger Howarth), Nikki's disapproval of Sharon, and Nick being incarcerated for Matt's attempted murder.

Fortunately, Victor got the evidence to free his son, and along with the police, rescued Nick from the big house. Nick and Sharon married, and the following year, in 1997, she gave birth to their son, Noah (Lucas Adams). They were joined by Sharon's daughter, Cassie (Camryn Grimes).

Morrow turned in a tour de force in 2005 when Cassie died following injuries she sustained while driving a car that crashed. (Cassie didn't even have a learner's permit when she attempted to drive a drunk Daniel, played by Michael Graziadei, home from a party.)

He's not getting older, he's getting better

Joshua Morrow is attacking Nick's current story with the enthusiasm of a daytime newcomer on The Young and the Restless | Image: CBS

Currently, Morrow is acting up a storm as Nick has been recovering from a surgery that should have been a standard operation to repair injuries to his leg. Nick, however, has pushed aside proper recovery time to be there for his family, dealing with the threats of Matt Clark and Cane Ashby's (Billy Flynn) AI program that has now attacked Newman Enterprises.

Morrow's scenes with Phyllis (Michelle Stafford), his ex-wife, over the AI mess earned Morrow our Performer of the Week for Y&R honors. Read about his performance here.

Off-screen, Morrow is a devoted family man. He wed October "Tobe" Keeney in 2001. They share four children, sons Cooper Jacob, Crew James (Will, The Bold and the Beautiful), Cash Joshua, and daughter Charlie Jo