GH’s Maurice Benard And Actress Felicia Patti Talk Overcoming Disability

Maurice Benard is spreading his mental health wings to spotlight everyday people with struggles of their own on his video podcast series, State Of Mind. This week he sat down with young actress Felicia Patti, who is a huge General Hospital fan, to discuss navigating a career in Hollywood as someone with Down Syndrome, and addressing the anxiety and depression that comes with it.

Maurice Benard: Paint Him Impressed

Apparently Patti was inspired to get into acting at an early age by watching her favorite daytime drama, General Hospital. In fact, she was named after Port Charles resident Felicia Jones Scorpio (Kristina Wagner). And the budding actress makes no secret of the fact that Maurice Benard’s Sonny Corinthos and Steve Burton’s Jason Morgan are her two favorite characters.

It was that pure fan joy that inspired her to contact Benard via Instagram, moving him to contact her. Her inspirational posts gave him fodder for his show. “She sent me something on Instagram a while back. Very, very cute.” The actor explained, “And then she just sent me something so what I did was, I asked the fans do you want to see this person on State Of Mind? Overwhelmingly, it was absolutely, yes!”

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The host was caught off guard by her sweetness and candor. “I’m nervous because you are just a doll. Tell me about your acting,” he inquired.

Patti spoke about her first project, a TV movie directed by Bobcat Goldthwait and starring Bridget Everett and Loni Anderson, titled Love You More. “It was fun,” she enthused. “I played a different character named Brittany. It was kind of cool but snobbish. Kinda. Kind of like Esme [Prince, Avery Kristen Pohl] on General Hospital. A little bit. Just a little bit. Not too much.”

Her next big acting gig was a 10-episode Netflix series called Away with Academy Award winner Hilary Swank and Josh Charles. Patti appeared in seven episodes of the international space drama. “I play this girl named Cassie Ramirez.”

But breaking into show business isn’t easy, especially for actors with disabilities. She touched upon some of the obstacles. “The hard part is acting,” Patti acknowledged, going on to explain why. “Because nobody writes anything about people with disabilities to be included.” Her wish for Hollywood? “To include people, maybe write something.”

Felicia Patti: More Than Meets The Eye

The actress opened up to the beloved host about growing up and being bullied, her brother Jake coming to her rescue, anxiety/depression that began in high school, and how she dealt with it. Benard let her turn the tables on him and ask questions about the show. Find out what she had to say about Sonny, Carly Corinthos (Laura Wright), Nina Reeves (Cynthia Watros), Josslyn Jacks (Eden McCoy), and Michael Corinthos (Chad Duell). If you are in need of an uplifting story, don’t miss this episode. It will leave you with a smile!

Follow Felicia Patti on Instagram. Learn more about MDSC, the resource that helped Patti get her start. Follow Maurice Benard on Twitter, Instagram, or State of Mind.

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General Hospital (GH) airs weekdays on ABC. Check your local listings for airtimes. For more about what’s coming up in Port Charles, check out all the latest that’s been posted on GH spoilers, and for an in-depth look at the show’s history, click here.

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