‘General Hospital’s Laura Wright Reveals the ‘Most Difficult’ Carly Storyline in Her 20 Years

On November 4, 2005, Laura Wright joined General Hospital as the fourth actress to play Carly Spencer and quickly made the role her own.

Twenty years later, Wright still marvels at her good fortune. “I feel like the luckiest person in the world,” reflects the actress, who began her soap career on Loving, crossed over to The City, then joined Guiding Light before making the move to Port Charles. “I wasn’t looking for this as a career. It was always my dream — I grew up watching soap operas, and I loved acting and being in theater — so it makes sense, but it still blows my mind.”

As it turns out, Wright’s GH destiny was written years before her first day on set, thanks to a fateful encounter at the 1997 Daytime Emmy Awards with the first actress who was hired for the role. ‘Sarah Brown was pregnant and playing Carly, and I was on Loving (as Ally Rescott),” Wright recalls. “We were talking and laughing in the bathroom, and she took me out to (then-executive producer) Wendy Riche and said,’ If I ever leave the show, she needs to play Carly.’ And I thought, ‘Howe crazy is that?’”

Eight years later, that offhand comment came full circle. At the time, Wright was on Guiding Light playing Cassie Layne, and the soap’s future seemed uncertain. “I was on that show for eight years and I loved every part of it,” she enthuses. “I had some of the most ridiculous fun there. I grew up a little bit more, and then I just felt the shifts and changes and people getting upset. I was just sad one day and was watching my daughter horseback ride when she was about six, and I thought, ‘Wow, I really need a change. People aren’t happy there.’”

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That realization led to a life-changing phone call. “My agent called (then-ABC exec) Brian Frons, who had called two years earlier asking about my contract length, and said, ‘Should Laura re-sign her contract on Guiding Light?’ And he said, ‘No, tell her not to sign it. There’s something happening.’ I had no idea that it was this.”

From the moment she arrived in Port Charles, Wright hit the ground running and never looked back. She has since become a powerhouse on the GH canvas, racking up countless high points along the way. “I loved when I worked with Ingo [Rademacher, Jasper “Jax” Jacks] and the Jax and Carly story,” she smiles. “I thought they were so funny. We wanted them to be the Ross and Rachel of daytime television. I absolutely loved the total train wreck of Todd (Manning, Roger Howarth) and Carly. It was one of my favorites ever, and I loved working with Roger. With Sonny (Corinthos, Maurice Benard), I wanted it to be sexy and dark. I also love the Carly, Jason (Morgan, Steve Burton), and Sonny dynamic.”

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Of all of Carly’s storylines, however, none hit harder than the death of her son, Morgan Corinthos (Bryan Craig), in 2016. “That was the most difficult and emotional,” Wright shares. “That was really hard, and I felt surrounded by my incredible castmates doing incredible work as well — Maurice, [Jacklyn] Zeman (Bobbie Spencer) when she was still with us, and Maura West (Ava Jerome). With [Dominic] Zamprogna (Dante Falconeri), I had probably my favorite material ever with him. I wish I had more on that level. I just felt like it was a storyline that everybody just dove in and took care of each other, so I really loved it.”

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After two decades of playing Carly, Wright continues to find ways to appreciate her alter ego. “I love how real she is,” Wright notes. “I love that she’s flawed. I love her justification for how she feels she has a right to Jason, and I love how she goes along this crazy path of justification. I love the little girl that we get to see in her sometimes because she’s afraid, and I love that she’s Scarlett O’Hara at the same time. She’s tough as nails and will slam someone up against the wall if they come near her kids. I love that she’s a brat, yet she’s just one of the strongest females on the show. I feel like Carly’s right a lot, but she just goes the wrong way about proving her point.”

As for what’s next? Wright says she’s always game to follow the story wherever it leads. “I work really hard at not ever saying, ‘Oh, she would never do that,’” Wright explains. “I also pride myself on being one of the people that say, ‘The story that you tell me can’t be played? Hand that story to me,’ because I believe every story can be played. The reason why it can’t be done is the story! Carly would not turn on Sonny or Jason or hurt her kids, but other than that, there are some interesting stories to be told if we stop saying, ‘My character would never.’”

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Her next chapter, Wright teases, will keep fans guessing. “No one’s going to see it coming,” Wright hints. “It’s going to be very surprising, and we’ll see what happens. I just know that it’s going to be fun and very sneaky, and it’s interesting. I think at first people might have thought that I would have been annoyed with it, but I’m like, ‘Oh, I love it and it makes sense to me,’ so I’m excited about that.”

And as she reflects on the amazing milestone she’s celebrating, Wright is as energized as ever. “I’m just in shock because when I was in my 20s, all I heard was, ‘You’re out by 40,’ and I haven’t slowed down at all,” she points out. “But I’m still the girl that was working at her dad’s gas station yesterday, so it’s unbelievable. It’s General Hospital. I grew up watching Luke (Spencer, Anthony Geary) and Laura (Collins, Genie Francis), and I play his niece on the show. Carly, to me, the best female character on daytime. I love her and I love every second of it. I love every single person I get to share the stage with. At 55 years old, I am so ready for every experience that I get to have on the show, and I feel like I’m just the most fortunate person ever.”

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