‘General Hospital’: How Maurice Benard Learned to Become His Characters

Maurice Benard is one of the most famous faces in daytime television, but even he had some work to do when he first made it big. In a recent interview, the actor spoke about how he sharpened his acting skills before he debuted on General Hospital.

The actor has been recently revealing details about his career trajectory

Benard has played mobster Sonny Corinthos on General Hospital since 1993. Despite being a mobster, the character is a hero and not a villain, and Corinthos is one of the most popular characters in the show’s history. The character is one-half of two major General Hospital supercouples: one with Carly Benson and the other with Brenda Barrett.

Ahead of the release of his memoir, Nothing General About It, Benard revealed a lot of details about his storied career in daytime television.

According to the official description of the memoir, Benard “looks back to his youth in a small town and his tenuous relationship with his father. He describes how his bipolar disorder began to surface in childhood, how he struggled to understand the jolting mood swings he experienced, and how a doctor finally saved his life.”  

Benard has revealed short stories on social media about great experiences with his co-stars like Laura Wright, who plays Carly, and Dominic Zamprogna, who played Dante Falconeri.

Maurice Benard’s experience of using an acting coach

In a recent interview with Soaps in Depth, the actor talked about his experiences before landing the role of Sonny on General Hospital and how he learned to improve his acting skills. Like most soap stars, Benard has been on multiple shows. He first had a role on All My Children, and for his work on the show, he was nominated for a Soap Opera Digest award.

“When I played Nico on All My Children and Desi in Lucy & Desi: Before The Laughter, I didn’t know what I was doing. I didn’t have technique, but I had talent, emotions, and instincts.”

Then, Benard says he began working with an acting coach and learned method acting.

“I had an acting coach who humiliated me, because he believed in me! When I got with this guy, he changed my acting completely. And when I got GH, I was a whole different actor. I learned how to become another person,” he said.

General Hospital airs weekdays on ABC.