General Hospital's Maura West Reveals Why She Loves Working With Ava's Greatest Mortal Enemy The Most

Ava Jerome (Maura West) first appeared on "General Hospital" in 2013. According to Soap Central, she came to Port Charles as part of the Jerome crime family, which immediately put her at odds with mob boss Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard). Ava became enemies with Sonny's wife, Carly Corinthos (Laura Wright) because she got involved with their son Morgan Corinthos (Bryan Craig). Ava was also indirectly responsible for Morgan's death. She had swapped his bipolar medication with placebos, and an out-of-control Morgan stole her brother Julian Jerome's car and was killed when it blew up (via Soaps in Depth).

Eventually breaking her mob ties, Ava continued to rack up a list of enemies. She and Sonny had a one-night stand which resulted in a daughter named Avery. However, Nina Reeves (then Michelle Stafford) had a break from reality, induced Ava's labor, and stole the child. Eventually, Ava and Nina went from enemies to friends. 

Although little Avery sees both Ava and Carly as mother figures, the two women have never been able to find common ground, especially since Ava plotted to break up Sonny and Carly so that he could be with Nina (per TV Season Spoilers). More recently, Ava's drawn-out feud with the evil Esme Prince (Avery Pohl) resulted in her accidentally knocking the teenager off a parapet to her presumed death.

Ava has run afoul of several characters over the years, and actress Maura West recently spoke out about which of Ava's enemies she enjoys acting with the most.

At a recent "General Hospital" fan event, Maura West answered viewers' questions during a Zoom meet-up. According to Soap Hub, a fan asked what performer she most enjoyed doing scenes with, and the actress revealed that she particularly enjoys her scenes with Laura Wright (Carly Corinthos). West said, "[Laura is] an actor who's going to know what she's doing. She's not going to try to undermine me, Maura, or my character. She's going to tell the story, she's going to do her job, do it quickly, we're going to have a few laughs, and we're going to get out of there. That's a great feeling." West also went on to praise Wright for being an excellent screen partner and shared that they are great friends in real life. 

In 2021, Soap Spoiler also reported on West and Wright's off-screen friendship. Wright explained that she tells fans the characters aren't real, and each actress goes home to their family at the end of the day — which sometimes ends with the two watching the same show while texting each other about it.

In the same way that Nina Reeves (now Cynthia Watros) and Ava Jerome can eventually become friends, actors like West and Wright can, too — without all the vindictive baggage that comes with soap opera characters.