General Hospital’s James Patrick Stuart On Valentin’s Return — And All Things Carly And Anna (Excl)
When Valentin was apprehended and shipped off to Steinmauer back in March, his portrayer, James Patrick Stuart (Valentin) told Soap Opera Digest that he was game for a return, but didn’t have a sense of when or if General Hospital would call him back to duty. After appearing via video call in September in scenes with Chris McKenna (Jack Brennan), Stuart — and viewers — got the hint of a bigger storyline to come when first his daughter, Charlotte (Bluesy Burke), and then a disguised Carly (Laura Wright), dropped in on him in the overseas maximum security prison he was calling home. Now, a fugitive Valentin is back in Port Charles, hiding out at Carly’s as the unlikely allies work toward a common goal: taking down Brennan. Digest checked in with Stuart about his GH resurgence.
You Can Go Home Again
The actor is tickled pink not only to be back on the show, but to be working with Laura Wright. “Isn’t it fun?” he enthuses of his new on-screen entanglement. “Listen, I’ve known Laura forever — Laura and I were pretty much teenagers when we met each other [in 1991]. She was on Loving [as Ally Rescott] and I was on All My Children [as Will Cortlandt]. What’s funny is that I remember that I was at a Christmas party with her about nine years ago, and we just looked at each other and she goes, ‘God, I hope we get a chance to work together.’ And now, all these years later, it’s like, ‘Here we are!’ And so when we’re on screen together, it’s just like, ‘Well, of course you’re going to see something [in terms of chemistry], we’ve known each other for decades!'”
Stuart notes that from the moment Carly sneaked into Steinmauer in a brunette wig and classes, posing as Valentin’s attorney, he saw both dramatic and comedic potential in the mix of the two characters. “One of the things that I’ve learned from my dear friend Michael Knight [Martin] was how desperately these melodramas require comic relief,” he says. “And I think there are some Bond-esque laughs to be had here, right? The piece of dialogue that comes to mind is when he jumps out of the plane [to escape the authorities] and she says, ‘Did you do this all yourself?’ And he says, ‘Well, I had a parachute [laughs].’ To me, that’s very Roger Moore, it’s very Daniel Craig. And that’s the kind of stuff I’m really looking forward to here, the one-liners and the irony of the situation. Finola [Hughes, Anna] and I used to find that kind of humor, too, and Laura is very available to that.”
This being a soap, some fans are already predicting that Carly and Valentin’s partnership might lead to some romantic sparks. The actor sees potential there, too. “I’d be a fool not to!” he winks. “And triangles are interesting — I mean, her continued fascination with Brennan, and Valentin’s continued fascination with Anna… Well, I guess that would be a square [laughs].”
Whether or not Valentin steals Brennan’s love interest, Stuart is also looking forward to crossing swords with Chris McKenna should Brennan succeed in catching up to Valentin, and says the actor earned his admiration by how seamlessly he stepped into his role when he came aboard the show as a recast for the original Jack, Charles Mesure. “Charles was a force of nature,” he offers. “When Chris showed up, I was like, ‘Jeez, man, I wouldn’t want to fill that guy’s shoes!’ And he’s really found it. He’s found his strength. He’s really got a very powerful energy — he’s very alpha, and I like watching him work.”
Of course, the top brass at GH might not be too eager to script the two men together. “When we’re in scenes, we’re like a couple of junior high schoolers,” Stuart confesses. “We crack each other up, probably to a point that we annoy the powers-that be!”
As much as Valentin is focused on his goal of revenge against Brennan — and, of course, reuniting with his beloved daughter, Charlotte — it is not lost on Stuart that Valentin’s last great love, Anna, is in a perilous situation of her own; she’s found herself held hostage in an unknown location (unknown to her, that is; viewers know that she’s somewhere inside Wyndemere) for unknown reasons. And if the actor has anything to say about it, Valentin will get involved with that, too. “Any opportunity I get, I want to work with Finola,” he says. “I love Finola Hughes up and down and sideways, and I think that Valentin’s lifelong obsession with Anna is not going to die easily, without question.”
The actor is immensely grateful to have received such a warm welcome back from the GH audience — well, for the most part. When his first scenes with Wright aired, he says, “The overwhelming response I got at first blush was, ‘No, you love Anna!’ and, ‘For God’s sake, shave that awful mustache off your face!'” Outside of that, though, it’s been nothing but love, and the audience’s support “means everything to me,” Stuart smiles. “This is an industry where everybody’s disappointed. You’re always too tall, too short, too this, too that. And when you just get something that is just so unanimously welcoming, like, ‘Oh, we’ve missed you,’ and, ‘Oh, thank goodness you’re here, and it’s great to see you with Laura,’ that’s just a nice, warm hug. That feels really good.”
And with so many irons in Valentin’s storyline fire, it looks like he’ll be around well into 2026, the year that will mark his 10-year anniversary on the show. “Isn’t that crazy?” he marvels. “It went by in the blink of an eye.” Not only that, but he’s been on recurring status the whole time. “10 years without a contract, which is, to me, the ultimate compliment, because that means they write for you because they like you and they like what you’re doing.”
His longevity is not something he takes for granted, “And I could never have predicted it,” he adds. “It was supposed to be 10 days! I mean, it was one of those things where I was really just hoping to get a down payment for my wife’s car [laughs]. It just goes to show that life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans.”
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