Belle Black is a fictional character from Days of Our Lives, an American soap opera on the NBC network. Created by head writer James E. Reilly, she was born on October 21, 1993, as the only child of supercouple John Black and Marlena Evans. She is also one half of the supercouple Shawn Brady and Belle Black. Belle was rapidly aged to a teen when Kirsten Storms was hired to portray the character from August 5, 1999, to July 16, 2004. Charity Rahmer briefly played the role from July 19 to August 9, 2004. Martha Madison appeared in the role from August 10, 2004, to March 21, 2008. In June 2015, Madison confirmed she would reprise the role of Belle in November, as part of the show's fiftieth anniversary celebration. In March 2016, it was revealed that Madison was among four actors who been let go from the soap, with Belle departing on September 12. However, on September 7, 2016, it was confirmed that Madison had been re-hired shortly following her firing and would remain on the soap indefinitely. Madison returned on January 24, 2017 and departed on February 20, 2017. In July 2017, it was announced that Madison would return to the series. Madison returned from December 4, 2017 to March 27, 2018. Madison then appeared from August 21 to November 8, 2018. Madison then aired from March 18 to July 9, 2019. In November 2019, it was announced that Madison would again reprise the role for the digital series, Last Blast Reunion. It was then announced in May 2020 that the character would once again return during the summer. Later that year, Madison was upgraded to a regular again.