He is sexy, ruthless, charming, handsome, and “Sonnylicious.” Since coming into Port Charles in 1993 as the seductive, brooding, and bi-polar Sonny Corinthos on General Hospital, Maurice Benard has went on to create one of the most controversial yet compelling and charismatic characters on daytime television.
“This role is what I do best” states the award-winning fan favorite, who is bi-polar in real life, and is now a spokesperson for treatment of it with the Mental Health America. “Sonny is unpredictable. You never know from one second to the next what he’s thinking, feeling, or planning. He’s a man in personal conflict who maintains an outward appearance of calm at all times, at any cost.”
But before Sonny, Benard was Nico Kelly on All My Children from 1987 to 1989. The role led him to being nominated for an Soap Opera Digest Award for “Outstanding Male Newcomer.”
Over the past fifteen years, Sonny Corinthos has been breaking laws as a mobster — and hearts as a player. Known for baring his soul, his body, and showing off those famous dimples, several of his romantic pairings reached “supercouple” status. Along of them includes fiery heroine Brenda Barrett (Vanessa Marcil), which led to an triangle with white knight billionaire Jasper “Jax” Jacks (Ingo Rademacher) in the late 1990s; his stormy, torrid, love-hate, and on/off relationship with headstrong Carly Corinthos (“Carson”), with whom he shared two sons: Michael and Morgan Stone, named after two important people: Stone Cates, who died of AIDS in 1995, and former enforcer/best friend Jason Morgan (“Sason”).
Bernard has been called the “Al Pacino of daytime,” for his character is a bad boy with a heart of gold, a tragedy, and romanticalized by the writers of GH as an “hero” despite his criminal activities. His portrayal of Sonny earned the actor kudos from critics and a SOD Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in 2003. That same year, he won an Daytime Emmy in that same category — receiving a standing ovation from his peers and fans when he accepted the award.
Now retired from the mob (for now?), Benard’s alter-ego plans on setting down and starting over with his fiancee, fashion mogul Kate Howard (Megan Ward) — known to fans as “Skate.”
“Sonny has evolved and grown as a man, as a father, as a human being, and his reunion with Kate is partially to thank” emailed Susan Lowell from in the latest issue of ABC Soaps In Depth at the Message Board on “Sonny & Kate.” “She makes him want to be a better man, and he is. I, just and about every GH fan I know, root more for him now more than we ever did. He’s more likable, more real, dreamier and just as sexy as ever.”
Continue to get a taste of “Sonnylicious” on General Hospital, weekdays on ABC and weeknights as well as weekends on SOAPnet.
For more on Maurice Benard, then go to his website at www.mauricebenard.tv