Anna Devane has been one of General Hospital’s most popular characters ever since her introduction, back in April of 1985 when Finola Hughes joined the cast. She departed in 1991, being replaced by Camilla Moore for a few months. Hughes returned again for a brief appearance in 1995 and then returned to playing Anna full-time on All My Children in 2001. She left AMC in 2003 but didn’t resurface on GH until 2006, making sporadic appearances until 2008. Anna returned to Port Charles in 2011 on a more permanent basis, only disappearing during the summers when the actress takes her annual vacation!
Anna was introduced as a jewel thief interested in Robert Scorpio and his wife, Holly Sutton, but it turned out she was Robert’s ex-wife who he divorced after discovering she was a double agent working with the DVX. A jealous Holly left Robert, who teamed with Anna to rescue their daughter, Robin Scorpio, who had been kidnapped. Later, Anna was named co-police chief alongside Burt Ramsey.
Although Duke Lavery was involved in some questionable activities, Anna couldn’t help falling in love with him, and he even promised to get out of the mob for her. At their wedding, the press exposed that Duke covered up a murder and Anna dumped him. She started a private investigation firm and Robert became her partner. Sparks flew, but she ended up going back to Duke and they married in October of 1987. They were happy raising Robin when Anna learned she was pregnant. Unfortunately, she lost the baby when she was trapped in a falling elevator by Olivia Jerome, who had become obsessed with Duke. When Olivia was shot, Anna was the prime suspect, but she was cleared.
Anna was devastated when Duke was killed in a fire, but Olivia claimed that he was alive and posing as an art dealer, Jonathan Paget. Tragically, just as the couple was about to reunite, Julian Jerome shot and killed Duke in revenge for betraying the Jerome family. Next, Robin convinced Anna to help her friend Casey recover a crystal and return to his home planet. which led to them being kidnapped by P.K. Sinclair, who was really her obsessed rival, Cesar Faison. Thankfully, they thwarted his evil plans. Anna and Robert fell in love and were married in June of 1991. But in 1992 the pair were presumed dead in a boat explosion along with Faison.
However, in March of 2001, it was revealed that Anna was alive when her twin sister, Alexandra Marick, brought her home to Pine Valley, having cared for her for years. Anna married David Hayward so she wouldn’t have to testify against him, but they eventually fell in love. Unfortunately, they had a rocky marriage, and it couldn’t survive the death of their daughter, Leora, shortly after her birth. As chief of police, Anna was responsible for bringing many Pine Valley criminals to justice, but she eventually left for Paris to live with Robin, ordering David to stay away from her.
Anna was stunned to discover Robert very much alive in 2006, mixed up in a jewelry heist with Luke Spencer and Holly. During her next visit to Port Charles, she had a quick fling with Noah Drake and was around for Robin’s wedding to Patrick Drake and the birth of their daughter, Emma (though not necessarily in that order!).
When Anna next returned to town in 2012, she grieved Robin’s death and grew closer to Luke. She also became the police commissioner, and brought criminals to justice, including Heather Webber, who told her Robin was really alive! Anna traveled to Switzerland looking for her daughter and was stunned when Duke showed up. Unfortunately, she soon learned that it was really Faison in an elaborate mask trying to seduce her. Robert helped her expose Faison and locate the real Duke (who actually was alive as it turned out).
Anna and Duke reconnected and she worked with Robert to locate and free Robin from the Cassadines. Sadly, Duke got mixed up with the mob again and he was killed. Anna took revenge by taking out his shooter, Carlos Rivera, but was haunted by guilt and soon came to suspect something was odd about the case. She was surprised to meet Dr. Griffin Monroe, who was Duke’s long-lost son, and they bonded as she told him about the father he never knew.
Eventually, Anna and Sonny found Carlos alive and brought him back to Port Charles so Anna could clear her name. She resumed working for the WSB, making PC her home base. She was intrigued by Valentin Cassadine, feeling that they shared a connection. Eventually, he revealed that they were at the training academy together, but she had rejected his advances and even ordered his assassination!
Anna suffered migraines and was ultimately diagnosed with polycythemia vera, a type of blood cancer. Later, Anna began acting strangely and it wasn’t until months went by that it was revealed that she was actually being held prisoner in London and had been replaced by her twin, Alex! As Anna put her life back together again, Faison made another return appearance, but was killed by Peter August. Anna confessed to the villain’s lifeless body that she had a child with him she’d never told anyone about, and after investigating his whereabouts, learned that Henrik Faison was none other than Peter August himself!
After enlisting Dr. Hamilton Finn to help in her investigation, Anna began developing feelings for him, but kept him at arm’s length, not wanting to get involved. She stood by while he had a quick fling with Alexis, but eventually, Anna and Finn admitted how they felt and have started a real relationship. Of course, just as they were embarking on a proper romance, Anna left town to visit Robin to discuss the Peter/Henrik situation and ended up being abducted!
Finn joined forces with Robert to track down Anna, who was being held by men using her as bait to lure Finn into their clutches to cure the ailing criminal Cassandra Pierce. After returning safely to Port Charles, Finn continued to aid Anna in her occasional investigations, such as tracking down the fugitive Liesl Obrecht. He has also been by her side to support her as she struggles to forge a relationship with Peter.
Unfortunately, just as things were looking up, Anna became dizzy after a phlebotomy treatment and collapsed in Peter’s arms declaring that she couldn’t see anything! Thankfully, her blindness was only temporary and Finn and Griffin were able to cure the virus that caused her vitreous hemorrhage. As they investigated the condition, it was revealed that Anna and Alex, among other twins, were experiencing the blindness as a side effect of Dr. Cabot‘s twisted memory experiments! Anna went to visit Alex to figure out which memories were hers and which belonged to her twin. And although Robin was proven to be Anna’s child, she began to wonder if Peter might be Alex’s!
While she was gone, Finn’s ex-fiancée, Hayden Barnes, resurfaced with their daughter, Violet, so Anna was taken aback to find them in her home. But after Hayden skipped town, Anna was happy to step in and help Finn raise the little girl. Anna also covered up Peter’s past crimes, which Robert warned her to stop ignoring. As she and Finn were planning their wedding, Anna continued to be haunted by her sister, Alex, and while suspecting that her twin was actually Peter’s real mother, a violent confrontation between the siblings left Alex shot and left for dead!
Finn confessed his long-ago one-night stand with Jackie and Anna was okay with that, but on the day of their double wedding with Peter and Maxie, Obrecht revealed the truth that Alex was Peter’s real mother and Finn was hurt that Anna felt she could share her secrets with Valentin and not him. The pair agreed to part ways and Anna moved on to partner with Valentin to bring down Peter. But the villain held the cure to the poison he’d given Finn’s brother, so their hands were tied. However, after Peter mysteriously went missing, Anna was determined to track him down, and her investigation again brought her dangerously close to Valentin!
Anna was stunned when Finn confessed to pushing Peter down the stairs and hiding his body but when they opened the freezer, the corpse had vanished! Eventually, Peter resurfaced in Nixon Falls, but when Anna and Valentin caught up to him, he gave them the slip. They then tracked him to Greece, where Valentin opened up about his feelings and after Anna confessed her own, they shared a kiss. Robert warned Anna not to trust Valentin, but when the Cassadine was injured in a shootout, Anna stayed by his side and they continued investigating together.
After Peter kidnapped Maxie and their daughter, Louise, she was able to secretly get a message out so Anna and Felicia Scorpio raced to Switzerland to intercept. After Felicia struck Peter a fatal blow, Anna opted not to call for an ambulance and stayed with him until he died. Once back in Port Charles, Anna joined the efforts to prove that Victor Cassadine was behind Luke’s death in Austria. She and Felicia even flew to Austria where their digging uncovered proof that Luke had been murdered.
When the Ice Princess resurfaced, Anna went to French Polynesia to investigate the black-market auction, and it led her straight to Jennifer Smith. But she had no idea that Valentin had also been there in disguise. Back in Port Charles, Valentin and Anna shared a passionate kiss and decided to go on their first date. After a romantic night at the drive-in, Anna suspected Valentin was hiding something, and eventually got him to admit that he was under Victor’s thumb because his father was holding Charlotte prisoner in boarding school.
Anna and Valentin finally made love and she vowed to help him bring down his father and rescue his daughter. Noting Victor’s interest in Lucy Coe, Anna recruited her to find out what the Cassadine was really up to. Unfortunately, things took a deadly turn when Lucy was shot and Anna found herself framed for it! Sonny and Valentin worked together to help Anna escape police custody and Valentin whisked her overseas where they tried to find Lucy. Andre pointed them towards Paris, where they teamed with Renee, but Valentin’s old acquaintance tried to betray them!
Anna set off a bomb that flooded the catacombs and allowed her, Valentin, and Lucy to escape and leave everyone — especially Victor — believing them dead. The trio hid out at a safe house and Anna worked with Felicia to get deputy mayor Eileen Ashby to rat out Victor and help them take him down. Unfortunately, Victor killed Eileen for her betrayal and Lucy slipping out to try and help with the Nurses Ball led the villain right to their doorstep! Victor forced Valentin to give him the Ice Princess necklace, then shot Anna in the chest!
Thankfully, Anna made it through surgery and recovered. Realizing that Victor’s mad plot revolved around a virus that would cleanse the world’s population, she joined others in tracking the villain down in Greenland. Finding Valentin already infected with the virus as a test case, Anna risked infection to stay by his side and while he survived thanks to the antidote, Victor perished when The Haunted Star exploded. But the Cassadine arranged for Anna’s shady past with the DVX to be exposed and she was forced to resign from the WSB or be arrested for treason.
Anna was disturbed when she found “murderer” spray painted on her front door and when shots rang out at the Metro Court, she wasn’t sure if she or Sonny was the real target. As she investigated, Anna learned that a security company named Pikeman was involved, and that Valentin had connections to them. After someone set her house on fire, Anna worried Valentin might have been blackmailed into working with Pikeman. While staying at the Metro Court, Anna found a threatening message written on her bathroom mirror. She then rented Maxie’s old apartment and coming home one night discovered an intruder. Believing they had a gun, Anna shot them and was horrified to discover it was Charlotte!
Valentin confessed that he’d known Charlotte was the one who had been stalking her and she was so upset at being kept in the dark that she broke up with him. Charlotte denied setting fire to Anna’s house, and the spy soon came to believe a WSB agent named Forsyth was behind the arson. When a man named Hume opened fire on Anna and Dante they got the upper hand and were soon able to arrest Brennan, a former WSB head who had gone rogue.
Anna was surprised when Laura offered her the job of police commissioner, and needed time to think about it. Jordan told Anna that while investigating Curtis’ shooting, she was warned off the case by FBI agents, so they teamed up to visit Brennan in Pentonville to get some answers about the gun used in the Metro Court shooting. The pair set up a sting at a motel, but their plan was interrupted when the FBI busted the whole thing and Anna recognized John “Jagger” Cates as the agent in charge! She wanted to work with him but he had her and Jordan arrested for obstruction! Anna accepted the police commissioner job and then convinced Jagger to work with the PCPD on the case.
After Olivia Jerome was murdered in prison by another stolen WSB weapon, Anna enlisted Cyrus Renault to use his connections with the prisoners to get intel. Thwarting an assassination attempt on Sonny, Anna and John went searching for Jason, who they believed responsible. When Dex Heller told her that Sonny had ordered him to kill Cyrus, Anna admitted she couldn’t do anything without proof, and it would put Dex in danger. Though she did suggest that he come to work with them at the PCPD!
Jason told Anna that he was being forced to work for the FBI because Cates was threatening to bring RICO charges against Carly. After an assassination attempt on Jason, Anna called the number on a suspect’s burner phone and was stunned when Valentin answered! She then rekindled their relationship in an attempt to discover evidence proving he was running Pikeman only to discover Valentin had framed her for heading the criminal organization! After retrieving Valentin’s satellite phone and downloading the evidence for Jason to hand to Cates, Anna went to warn Valentin so he could go on the run with Charlotte.
After discovering Brennan was no longer in Pentonville, Anna was stunned to find he had been reinstated at the WSB! After Agent Cates was shot dead, Anna’s investigation hit multiple dead ends. She joined Jason on a mission to Africa to help locate and rescue Lucky Spencer. After tangling with the villainous Sidwell, Anna and Jason feared their lives were at an end and shared a passionate kiss! However, they both survived, and along with Holly, brought Lucky back to Port Charles. Settling back into normal life, Anna told Jason they were never to discuss the kiss again. She also promised Laura that she would bring Valentin and Charlotte home somehow.
