Laura Wright Originally Turned Down the Role of GH's Carly!

When Laura Wright joined the cast of GENERAL HOSPITAL in 2005 as Carly Corinthos, she knew that the role was the perfect fit for her, but it almost didn’t happen! “At first, I turned it down,” the actress confided to Soaps In Depth, “because I didn’t want to leave the East Coast, and I was nervous about moving my family.”

At the time, Wright was living on the East Coast and starring as Cassie on the CBS sudser, GUIDING LIGHT, a role she’d been playing since 1997. “When my friend asked why I was so nervous to say yes, I told her I was afraid to leave GL. It’s been my family. It’s a part of me. Then she asked me if I thought I could do this part and I said, ‘Oh hell yeah. I was made to do the role!’ That was my answer. After playing Ally on LOVING and THE CITY and Cassie on GL, the next logical step was Carly. It all felt like prep for Carly.

“I couldn’t have played her early on,” she continued. “I didn’t have the strength or confidence as an actor. I needed the experience and all the incredible actors who helped me become the actress I am today. I just didn’t yet have a lot of things I needed to play Carly.”

By the time she and Maurice Benard (Sonny) shot this scene in 2009, Wright had definitely settled into the role! (Photo Credit: Alice Hall/ABC via Getty Images)

But even though she felt like the GH heroine was the perfect role for her to tackle at that point in her career, Wright admitted that she still felt the pressure taking over the fan-favorite character. “Carly was a character fans had a complete love for, and there was definitely love for the first two actresses [Sarah Brown and Tamara Braun] who played her. They weren’t sold on the third [Jennifer Bransford], so I had to prove myself. I was concentrating on the dialogue and talking to the writers and finding out who she was — I really wanted to give the audience what they loved about Carly.”

And if you ask GH fans today, they’ll agree that Wright has done an absolutely tremendous job making Carly her own, so it turns out she really was born for this role! For more on your favorite GH stars, keep reading the ABC edition of Soaps In Depth magazine!

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