In a surprising turn of events, Kelly Monaco, who has portrayed Sam McCall on ABC’s General Hospital for 21 years, is leaving the show. The news was first reported by Soap Opera Network and later confirmed by Variety and Deadline.
Monaco, 48, has been a staple of the daytime soap opera since 2003. However, according to reports, her character is set to be killed off this fall.
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Before joining the General Hospital cast, Monaco played Livvie Locke on the show’s spinoff, Port Charles, from 2000 to 2003. Throughout her career, she has earned two Daytime Emmy nominations—first in 2003 for her role on Port Charles and again in 2006 for her portrayal of Sam McCall.
Earlier this year, Monaco was temporarily replaced on General Hospital by actress Lindsay Hartley, who also stepped in during 2020 and 2022 when Monaco had to take a break, including a quarantine period after testing positive for COVID-19.
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Monaco expressed her gratitude to fans for their support during her absences and thanked Hartley for stepping into the role. “I must thank the amazing #GH fans for all the love and support they have shown me in the past couple of weeks,” she wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “I also wanna give a huge shout out to @lindsayhartley for stepping in and doing a beautiful job playing Sam.”
In addition to her long-running role on General Hospital, Monaco is widely known for winning the first season of Dancing With the Stars in 2005.
