Claudia Zacharra
| Claudia Zacchara Corinthos | |||||||||||||||||
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| General Hospital character | |||||||||||||||||
| File:ClaudiaZacchara.jpg Sarah Brown as Claudia Corinthos | |||||||||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Sarah Brown | ||||||||||||||||
| First appearance | January 31, 2008 | ||||||||||||||||
| Created by | Robert Guza, Jr. | ||||||||||||||||
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Claudia Zacchara Corinthos[2][3] is a fictional character on the ABC daytime soap opera General Hospital. The daughter of New York City mob boss Anthony Zacchara, Claudia has been portrayed by Sarah Brown[4][5] since January 31, 2008.[6][7] Brown also originated the role of Carly Corinthos on General Hospital in 1996, leaving the series in 2001.[7]
Casting and character backround
Claudia is summoned to Port Charles in January 2008 by mob lawyer Trevor Lansing in the hope that she can assert some control over her wayward younger half-brother, Johnny Zacchara. Mentally unstable mob boss Anthony had divorced Claudia's outspoken mother Domenica and kept custody of their daughter out of spite. After a 16-year-old Claudia had seduced Trevor, Anthony had sent her to Milan, Italy to be raised by his brother Rudy. Now Trevor, who has been secretly running the now fully insane Anthony's illegal operations for years, is surprised to find that Claudia, once a "gangly and awkward teen,"[4] is now a strong and vicious woman bent on taking over the Zacchara empire.
To viewers, Claudia's most loved one is Johnny Zacchara, her half-brother, who she had taken care of until she was 16 (13 according to Dominic) and left town after seducing Trevor Lansing. Her relationsips with her family has not been mentioned constantly but it is evident that her father had constantly abused her during her early years and that her mother loved her unconditionally. The hatred from her father was a result of Claudia's gender as Anthony would have preferred a son. nonetheless, he gives her his name "Antonia" as her middle name and raises her up until she turned 16. Claudia grew up without love and constantly states that she believes that love is the most destructive force any human can experience, and uses this to guilt Johnny out on his relationship with Lulu Spencer. Although she grew closer to Nikolas Cassadine, she soon pursued Ric Lansing, who she slept with until March 2009 (in which he raped her). Claudia experiences love at first hand at her enemy husband, Sonny Corinthos and when she felt threatened, she purposely got herself pregnant with his child, who she grew to love.
In November 2007, rumours were circulating that Laura Wright, the current Carly, had been fired and Sarah Brown had been cast to replace her. This was turned to be false, stating that Brown will return on January 14, 2008 as a new character who is viscous and sexually lethal [8]. Although Brown signed on for one year with General Hospital, her stay extended when she signed a renewal contract, which would keep her on the set until January 2010. During her debut, fans generally approved of Claudia's acts but the character is now receiving bad reception from fans. Brown has been nominated for an Emmy for her role.
Storylines
Arrival
Claudia Zacchara arrives in town on January 31, 2008 and seduces a vulnerable Sonny Corinthos at a hotel room and quickly announces to a shocked Trevor Lansing that she will taking control of the Zacchara Empire. As friction begins between Sonny Corinthos and the Zaccharas, she arranges for Sonny to be shot by Jerry Jacks and Ian Devlin, who botches the job and ends up shooting Sonny's son, Michael, landing him in a coma[9]. Exploding with guilt, she meets with a worried Jerry, who stabs her and leaves her drowning for dead, in which Nikolas Cassadine saves her and she confides with him the crime she committed[10]. The two strike up a friendship. After that, Johnny's girlfriend, Lulu Spencer murders Logan Hayes but Claudia is under the false pretense that Johnny did the deed and perjures herself on the stand to save him from the death penalty. After Anthony returns, he removes Claudia from power and shoots Kate Howard on her wedding day to Claudia's newly-found ally, Sonny Corinthos. Although she is dating Ric Lansing, Anthony forces Claudia in to a loveless marriage with Sonny and the two build a marriage based on self respect, but all this is irrelevant when Ric, Jax, Olivia, and Kate discover that Claudia is responsible in for Michael's shooting (through DVDs sent by Jerry Jacks blackmailing Claudia). Sonny gets wind of this but agrees not to act on it until further evidence is brought forward and after almost losing his wife to a mad Anthony Zacchara, Claudia and Sonny consummate their relationship and with Claudia's plan going well, she discovers that she is pregnant. Claudia later befriends an awakened Michael after he returned from his year long coma and supports his decisions, which gets her in to a confrontation with Michael's mother Carly, causing them both to fall down the stairs[11]. Ric causes friction between the two, claiming he's the father but an amnio taken on July 15, 2009 reveals Sonny is the father. Upon going to see Sonny to reveal the test results, she is caught in a traffic accident, causing her car to roll and catch on fire. Carly Corinthos Jacks rescues her and admits her to General Hospital.
References
- ^ http://www.soaps.com/generalhospital/update/5430/Laura_Comes_Alive
- ^ The character's full name "Claudia Antonia Zacchara" is mentioned in the April 30, 2008 episode.
- ^ http://abc.go.com/daytime/generalhospital/index?pn=bios#t=character&d=165649
- ^ a b Claudia Zacchara profile - ABC.com
- ^ Claudia Zacchara profile - Soaps.com
- ^ Sarah Brown biography - ABC.com
- ^ a b Sarah Brown profile - Soaps.com
- ^ Soaps.com profile
- ^ General Hospital recap (5/15/08) - ABC.com
- ^ General Hospital recap (5/16/08) - ABC.com
- ^ http://www.soaps.com/generalhospital/update/6752/Trust_Your_Instincts