Finola Hughes (born 29 October 1959) is an English actress, best known for her 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, Alexandra "Alex" Devane on '' All My Children'' and Patty Halliwell on the supernatural series, '' Charmed''. She also portrayed Carol in the final seasons of the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

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 Victoria is a principal character in the 1981 musical ''Cats'', written by Andrew Lloyd Webber based on T. S. Eliot's 1939 ''Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats''. Primarily a dance role with no solo singing parts, the role demands extensive ba ...

in the London production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical '' Cats''. In 1983, Hughes starred with John Travolta in the musical film '' Staying Alive'', a sequel to '' Saturday Night Fever''. 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 Emma Grace Frost is a fictional Character (arts), character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, most commonly in association with the X-Men. The character first appeared in ''The Uncanny X-Men'' #129 (Jan. 1980), and was ...

in the television movie '' Generation X'' (1996). In 1997, Hughes starred in Aaron Spelling's short-lived primetime soap opera '' Pacific Palisades''. 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

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, 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 ''Life with Louie'' is an American animated sitcom television series that ran on the FOX Network from 1994-1998. The series was based on the childhood of well-known stand-up comedian Louie Anderson, growing up with his family in the town of Ced ...

''.

From 1985 to 1992, she played Anna Devane on '' General Hospital''. Hughes won a

Daytime Emmy The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (N ...

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 ''Soapdish'' is a 1991 American comedy film directed by Michael Hoffman, from a screenplay by Robert Harling and Andrew Bergman. The film was produced by Aaron Spelling and Alan Greisman, and executive produced by Herbert Ross. The film tells ...

'' (1991). 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 Tristan Rogers (born 3 June 1946) is an Australian-American actor. He is best known for playing Robert Scorpio on the ABC soap opera ''General Hospital'' and for voicing Jake in Walt Disney Pictures' ''The Rescuers Down Under''. He is curren ...

( 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 13 July 2007 and once again on 15 April 2008. In September 2008, Hughes guest-starred in the ''General Hospital'' spinoff series '' General Hospital: Night Shift''. It has been said that Hughes would return to ''GH'' in early 2012 as character Anna Devane to be with her daughter, Robin Scorpio, and help her through her toughest year. She is a recurring character but Anna Devane is front and center and staying in Port Charles awhile. In 2010, Finola also appeared in the '' CSI: NY'', ''

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'' and ''

Melissa & Joey ''Melissa & Joey'' is an American television sitcom starring Melissa Joan Hart and Joey Lawrence that aired for four seasons between 2010 and 2015 on ABC Family (now Freeform). The series follows local politician Mel Burke (Hart) and Joe Longo ...

''. Finola made a permanent return to ''General Hospital'' in 2012. In 2013, Hughes made her feature-film directing debut with indie comedy-drama ''The Bet''. She later starred with Kathryn McCormick in the dance movie ''Platinum the Dance Movie''. In 2015, Hughes directed her second film, ''Byrd and the Bees'' a romantic comedy starring

Jonathan Rhys Meyers Jonathan Rhys Meyers (born Jonathan Michael Francis O'Keeffe; 27 July 1977) is an Irish actor, model and musician. He is known for his roles in the films ''Michael Collins'' (1996), '' Velvet Goldmine'' (1998), ''Titus'' (1999), '' Bend It Like ...

and

Tracy Spiridakos Tracy Spiridakos ( gr, Τρέισι Σπυριδάκος) is a Canadian actress. She starred as Becky Richards on the Teletoon children's comedy series '' Majority Rules!'' from 2009–2010. She then starred as Charlotte "Charlie" Matheson on t ...

Personal life

Hughes was born in London. She married Russell Young in 1992. Their first child, son Dylan Joseph was born on November 9, 2000. Later, they adopted a son, Cash Justice Young born in 2005 and a daughter, Sadie Beatrice Young born in December 2007.

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Official website
(archived) * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hughes, Finola 1959 births Living people Actresses from London British identical twins English expatriates in the United States English stage actresses English film actresses English voice actresses English television actresses English soap opera actresses Daytime Emmy Award winners Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series winners People educated at the Arts Educational Schools