Soap Hub Performer Of The Week For General Hospital: Donnell Turner

This past week on General Hospital, we saw how a character can grow and how an actor who created that character can become him as he grows within the character. When a frustrated Curtis called Jordan out on everything that makes her Jordan, we felt everything Donnell Turner has put into this character over the past five-plus years. That is why this week he is Soap Hub’s choice for Performer of the Week for General Hospital.

Performer of the Week: Donnell Turner

When Curtis first arrived in Port Charles, he was there to do a job — help Hayden (Rebecca Budig) prove that Nikolas (then-Tyler Christopher) was the one who had her shot in the head months earlier. He knew all the tricks as he broke into the PCPD evidence and room and gave Jordan a hard time. We soon learned that Curtis was Jordan’s former brother-in-law, the sibling of her late husband, Tommy.

Turner has always played him as smooth, cool, and collected — and he also gave him a heart to go with his sense of humor. Curtis cared despite his gruff exterior and his friendship with some of PC’s strongest women — starting with Hayden, moving onto Nina (Cynthia Watros), and now as Laura’s (Genie Francis) go-to has endeared him to us and to Port Charles.

But Turner also made Curtis into a leading man via his romance with Jordan, someone he clearly always had feelings for even when she was married to his brother. Jordan’s (Briana Nicole Henry) love helped Curtis grow and change and he’s emerged as one of our favorite heroes. This week, Turner showed us that our hero can hurt and what happens when that hurt turns to frustration and then a quiet resignation that things may never be as he wants them to be.

Curtis has had enough of Jordan, he lies of omission and her constant excuses that nothing is ever her fault and she is only always doing what she thinks is best. He forgave when he realized Jordan kept the truth from him for weeks about what was going on with TJ (Tahj Bellow). In fact, he then helped his wife get her son back. But to keep the secret that Taggert (Real Andrews) was alive for months was just too much.

As Jordan and Curtis had it out in the park on Christmas Eve, Jordan pointed out that Curtis wasn’t always so innocent. Turner showed us his character’s sheer exasperation with that comment. Yes, he admitted his faults, and then he learned and evolved from them, but with Jordan, it’s always the same old, same old.

After a week when he once again expertly played Sidekick Curtis, Turner was allowed to play Curtis as an angry and hurting husband who finally had enough. We don’t know where Curtis goes from here, but we can’t wait for Turner to take us on whatever ride happens next. General Hospital (GH) airs weekdays on ABC. Check your local listings for airtimes.