Maurice Benard Bio, Age, Sister Dies, Wife, Children,Net Worth, Movies

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Maurice Benard Biography

Maurice Benard is an American actor. He is known primarily for his portrayal of Michael”Sonny Corinthos on ABC soap opera, General Hospital, a role he has portrayed since 1993.

Maurice Benard Age

He was born on 1 March 1963, San Francisco, California, United States. He is 56 years old as of 2019.

Maurice Benard Parents

He was born to Humberto Morales, a bakery superintendent and Martha Morales, a bank employee.

Maurice Benard Wife

The charismatic actor is happily married to his long-haul girlfriend, Paula Smith. Maurice and Paul walked down the aisle together on August 11, 1990, after spending eight years as girlfriend and boyfriend.
Paula Benard is a producer/manager better known for her production credit on 2017 drama-thriller The Ghost and The Whale.
Maurice Benard Photo

Maurice Benard Children

Maurice and Paula have four children; three daughters, and a son: Heather Ann Smith-Benard, Cailey Sofia Bernard, Cassidy Rose Benard, and Joshua James Benard. He and his wife adopted Paula’s sister’s daughter, after her mother’s death.

Maurice Benard General Hospital  Soap Opera

Benard started his career on General Hospital, ABC’s daytime soap opera, where he portrayed the character of Sonny Corinthos, a mental patient. Benard received tremendous applause for his portrayal of Sonny which resembled his real-life battle against bipolar disorder.
At the young age of 22, Benard was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, a mental disorder causing periods of depression and abnormal moods. Since then, Benard has been a famous voice in the battle against such traumatic disease.
Benard openly claimed his battle against the illness on social media. And at the same time, he began to work with the National Mental Health Association (NMHA) on the ‘Bipolar Disorder: Do You Know It?’ campaign. With his immense interest in acting, Bernard initiated his on-screen career playing as a Nico on the soap opera All My Children, from 1987 to 1990. Subsequently, Maurice guest-starred in many television shows during the early 1990s.

Maurice Benard Sister Dies

Benard is mourning the loss of someone near and dear to him. Donna Messina Armogida passed away and the actor considers her family. Maurice posted a moving tribute on Instagram which shows how special Donna was to him. He has often referred to her as his “Sister”.
“Sometimes you meet someone in life You just connect with and then, unfortunately, life just takes that person away. And no matter how much your heartbreaks you want to remember the good times. My best friend my sister Donna used 2 hate taking pictures. 
I used to have to grab her and hold her. And we would and laugh and laugh I will never forget this memory and I will never forget what you meant in my life” He wrote. Donna Messina has known the GH star for decades from working with him.

Maurice Benard Net Worth

He has an estimated net worth of $2 million.

Maurice Benard Awards

For his phenomenal work as a movie star, Benard received two Soap Opera Digest Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in 1996 and 2003.

Maurice Benard New Movie

  • Nightmare Cinema
  • A lover Betrayed
  • Duke

Maurice Benard Movies

  • Joy (Movie) Ridge 2015
  • Restraining Order (Movie) Sicko 2000
  • Mi Vida Loca–My Crazy Life (Movie) Creeper 1994
  • Ruby (Movie) Diego 1992
  • Dead Again

Maurice Benard Twitter

Maurice Benard Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bx-QvclA4Dl/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Maurice Benard Interview

GH’s Maurice Benard Reveals How He Brought John Gotti to Life for His New Movie (EXCLUSIVE)

Victoria Gotti couldn’t have cast a better actor than Maurice Benard as her infamous father, John Gotti, in the new Lifetime movie Victoria Gotti: My Father’s Daughter — and not just because the Emmy winner has spent the last quarter of a century keeping viewers glued to their screens with his searing portrayal of another made man, GENERAL HOSPITAL’s Sonny Corinthos. The daytime legend was the perfect choice for the part because he dedicated himself to getting it right. And ahead of the premiere (Saturday, Feb. 9, at 8 p.m. EST), he revealed to Soaps In Depth what it was like to bring Gotti to life for the late mobster’s daughter.
In Depth: In a nutshell, how would you describe the movie?
Benard: It’s about John Gotti’s relationship with his daughter and his family, and his love for his wife. There’s not a lot of violence in it, and I like that. And I love the fact that Victoria Gotti is an important part of the film, doing the voiceover! It’s going to be fun to watch and hear directly from her what happened.
In Depth: Is the late Mob boss the villain of this story?
Benard: That’s up to the audience to decide. I played him like a real-life guy who’s loyal to his people and loves his family — and that’s kind of what the story is about. It’s through Victoria’s eyes and told with complete compassion.
In Depth: How does Gotti compare to Sonny?
Benard: When I was shooting the role, I didn’t really know how different it was from Sonny. But my last day, I wrapped at about 1 in the morning in Canada, flew back and went straight to work as Sonny. I remember shooting the scene and thinking, “Wow, Sonny’s in about second gear, Gotti’s in about fourth or fifth gear!” It’s two different energies.
In Depth: Was it hard to shift those gears back when you returned to GH?
Benard: It was. I remember I said to Steve Burton (Jason), “You gotta get the ca’ [instead of a car].” He laughed and said, “You’re still John. Get back to Sonny!”
In Depth: What was the casting process like for the movie?
Benard: They called and said they were interested in me, so I auditioned, and then there was the waiting… and then they said, “You got the role. You’re going to be aging from 20 to 60 years old. You’ve got to do a Bronx accent. And by the way, you have 48 hours.” It was difficult — and exhilarating!
In Depth: How did you prepare?
Benard: I didn’t have time to prepare like I would have wanted. I did a crash course [on Gotti]. There’s a lot of documentaries on this topic, but you never actually see Gotti talking. And there’s nothing of Gotti on YouTube. I only found one video, which I used to try to get his essence. I tried to do the accent subtly — just enough to make it real.
In Depth: Did you get to work with executive producer Victoria Gotti?
Maurice Benard: Yeah, she was great to me — and to my wife, Paula. They got along really well. It was just nice to talk with her. And she gave me beautiful advice, which was, “Play it more like Michael Corleone in The Godfather than THE SOPRANOS’ Tony.” That was pretty much the end of my research. After that, I just started grinding. It was never really “fun,” because I just wanted to be great for her, for Lifetime and for our director, Catherine Cyran. It was just three weeks of boom, boom, boom!
In Depth: Aren’t you used to that from GH?
Maurice Benard: In that regard, it was great. I could handle it!

“I had a nice connection with Chelsea Frei,” who plays Victoria, said Benard. “We kind of clicked in a father/daughter way, so it was sort of real.” (Photo Credit: Lifetime 2018)

In Depth: Are you looking forward to finally seeing the movie?
Maurice Benard: Oh yeah, I’m excited! Well… actually, I’m always really nervous watching anything that doesn’t have to do with GH. I’ve been doing daytime for so long, and I like the stories on GH. But when I do these movies or TV, it’s out of my comfort zone. And when you’re playing someone famous, you put yourself under a lot of pressure! It’s not only that you want to be great, but you want to live up to the expectations of the people who knew and loved the person.
In Depth: So have you gotten any feedback from Victoria Gotti?
Maurice Benard: We’ve gone back and forth on Twitter, and she said some very nice things. So that makes me feel good. What’s funny is that usually, anything I do outside of the soap, it’s not a big deal. Unless it’s called GENERAL HOSPITAL: The Movie, fans don’t really seem to care. But the fans seem all into Gotti! Everything I put up on social media, people respond. I think it’s because, even being dead, John Gotti is incredibly interesting, and so is Victoria.
In Depth: Any last thoughts on the movie?
Maurice Benard: Just that I want all the GH audience to check it out, obviously! I think they’ll be into it.

Adopted from:www.abc.soapsindepth.com

Feb 8, 2019

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