‘General Hospital’ News: Finola Hughes Celebrates 30 Years as GH’s Anna Devane

Finola Hughes recently celebrated her 30th anniversary on General Hospital playing Anna Devane. And it’s a credit to her acting chops that she can still command the screen and remains one of the most compelling characters on the long-running ABC soap. Finola proved this again this week with the scenes portraying the loss of her soul mate Duke Lavery [Ian Buchanan] just as they had made plans to run away and start over. As she visited Duke dead in the hospital, it was yet another incredible performance.

Since the first time Finola appeared in 1985 as an undercover WSB agent, she was enchanting. Her beautiful milky complexion and British accent lured in many men over the years from Robert Scorpio to Duke Lavery and Luke Spencer. But in real life, Finola has been married to artist husband Russell Young since 1992. She has one biological child and two adopted children with Young. Son Dylan Young is 15, son Cash is 10 and daughter Sadie is 8.

Finola began her career as a dancer and trained in ballet since she was 10. Her first major stage role was in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats in London. At 24, she landed the female lead role in the John Travolta Saturday Night Fever sequel Staying Alive. Two years after her big movie debut, Finola landed the plum role of Anna Devane and joined the cast of General Hospital. She’s taken breaks here and there but has remained a welcome presence and when she periodically returns. Finola won a Daytime Emmy for the role of Anna in 1991 and has received other nominations.

In addition to her work on GH, Finola played Anna’s twin sister Dr Alex Devane on All My Children and then crossed over and brought Anna to life on AMC as well. She also played Anna on General Hospital: Night Shift. Over the years, Finola has appeared in a number of other movies and TV shows in guest starring and recurring roles and recently directed her first feature film. Despite this other work, Finola will always be Anna Devane for most fans.

Who can forget her spectacular Scottish wedding to sexy criminal Duke Lavery? Or her Australian themed nuptials with Robert Scorpio [Tristan Rogers]? Her reunions with daughter Robin Scorpio [Kimberly McCullough] have always been poignant from when Robin was young to when she found out she was HIV positive and later gave birth and married Patrick. And now, with the Duke death scene, Finola continues to do memorable work on General Hospital.

In case you want to include, here’s a fan made video that saluted her 30 years:

If you’re a fan of Finola Hughes, please share your favorite Anna Devane moments from the past 30 years in the comments below!

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