Finola Hughes

Finola Hughes
Hughes in October 2013
Born	(1959-10-29) 29 October 1959 London, England, U.K.
Occupation	Actress, author
Years active	1980–present
Spouse(s)	Russell Young (m. 1992–present; 3 children)
Children	2 sons, 1 daughter
Website	www.finolahughes.com

Finola Hughes (born 29 October 1959^[1]) is an English actress, television host, entrepreneur, author, and dancer, best known for role as Anna Devane on the ABC soap operas General Hospital and All My Children, and her portrayal of Laura in the 1983 film Staying Alive, the sequel to Saturday Night Fever.

She is also known for her portrayal of Anna Devane's identical twin, Dr. Alexandra Devane Marick, on All My Children, and Patty Halliwell on the supernatural series, Charmed. She also portrayed Carol in the final seasons of the NBC sitcom Blossom. Hughes has also appeared in the films Aspen Extreme, Above Suspicion and Like Crazy.

Career

Hughes trained in dance and performing arts at the Arts Educational Schools London. In 1981, she originated the role of Victoria the White Cat in the London production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Cats.^[1] In 1983, Hughes starred with John Travolta in the musical film Staying Alive, a sequel to Saturday Night Fever.^[2] She played the role of Laura, an English dancer who is the romantic interest of Travolta's character Tony Manero. Hughes also appeared on the sitcom Blossom, and as the X-Men character Emma Frost in the television movie Generation X (1996).

In 1997, Hughes starred in Aaron Spelling's short-lived primetime soap opera Pacific Palisades.^[1] She was a frequent guest star on the television series Charmed, playing the mother of the Halliwell girls, Patricia "Patty" Halliwell. She provided the voice of Lara, Kal-El's biological mother in Superman: The Animated Series. Another voice-over role she had was Miss Robertson on an episode of Fox's animated comedy series Life with Louie.

Hughes at the premiere for Earth in April 2009

From 1985 to 1992, she played Anna Devane on General Hospital. Hughes won a Daytime Emmy in 1991, for Outstanding Lead Actress on General Hospital. She was nominated for the same category in 1990 for Anna, in 2000 for All My Children as Alex, and, in 2002, as Anna. After establishing herself as a daytime television star, Hughes shot a feature film cameo as a soap opera actress who loses an award to Sally Field in the satirical film Soapdish (1991).^[1] Two years later, she played a leading role in the film Aspen Extreme (1993). It was announced in April 2006 that Hughes would be returning to GH. In May 2006, as part of the May Sweeps period, three GH veterans would return. Finola Hughes would be reunited with Tristan Rogers (Robert Scorpio) and Emma Samms (Holly Sutton). Following a rise in ratings from her sweeps return, Hughes returned to General Hospital for a limited run through August 2006. She returned the following year on July 13, 2007 and once again on April 15, 2008.

In September 2008, Hughes guest-starred in the General Hospital spinoff series General Hospital: Night Shift. It has been said^[3] that Hughes will return to GH in early 2012 as character Anna Devane to be with her daughter, Robin, and help her through her toughest year. She will be a recurring character but Anna Devane will be front and center and staying in Port Charles awhile. Ex-GH co-star Genie Francis, who played Colin's ex will still remain on the soap and will not be returning to GH. In 2010, Finola also appeared in the CSI: NY, Make It or Break It and Melissa & Joey. Finola made a permanent return to General Hospital in March 2012. Her character, Anna Devane, moved in with Luke Spencer.

In 2013, Hughes made her feature-film directing debut with indie comedy-drama The Bet.^[4] She later starred with Kathryn McCormick in the dance movie Platinum the Dance Movie.^[5] In 2015, Hughes directed her second film, Byrd and the Bees a romantic comedy starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Tracy Spiridakos.^[6][7]

Personal life

Hughes was born in London, England. She married Russell Young in 1992. They welcomed their first child, son Dylan Joseph Young, on 9 November 2000. Later, they welcomed a boy named Cash Justice Young (born 2005) and a adopted girl named Sadie Beatrice Young (born December 2007)

Filmography

Hughes in 2013

Film

Television

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Finola Hughes.

• Official Website
• Finola Hughes at the Internet Movie Database
• Finola Hughes at the TCM Movie Database
  
• Finola Hughes at AllMovie
• Finola Hughes at TVGuide.com
• Finola Hughes on Twitter