All The Soap Opera Characters General Hospital's Maura West Has Played

Maura West has been thrilling daytime audiences since 1995 (via IMDb) when she landed her first soap role (and her first professional acting gig) on CBS' "As the World Turns." In fact, she was still in school at Boston University when the soap's casting director spotted her in a production and cast her in a pivotal role, according to Soap Hub. West played that role off and on until 2010 and earned two Daytime Emmys for best actress along the way, according to Gold Derby.

"As the World Turns" changed West's life in another way, as well. That is where she met Scott DeFreitas, the actor who played Andy Dixon on the show and the man she would marry and raise five children with. The series launched her soap career, which has been going strong almost non-stop for more than a quarter of a century now. 

In fact, West is still a staple on "General Hospital." You might recognize her from several other classic soaps, too.

Carly Tenney is the soap opera character that allowed Maura West to first make her mark on daytime television. The spunky and vulnerable vixen arrived in town with a chip on her shoulder since she felt she was entitled to the Cabot fortune her half-sister Rosanna Cabot (played by Yvonne Perry and Cady McClain) had claimed. Carly ended up inadvertently sleeping with Rosanna's boyfriend Mike Kasnoff (Shawn Christian) and that sparked a rivalry between the sisters that would last for years (via Soaps.com).

Ultimately, Carly had a years-long on-again/off-again romance with Jack Snyder (Michael Park) and became a mother to Parker after a fling with Hal Munson (Benjamin Hendrickson). Jack ended up adopting and raising her son. He and Carly wound up with a happy ending when "As the World Turns" left airwaves in 2010. They learned that Parker was going to join the police academy while also discovering they were about to have their first child together (via Soap Central).

The character name "Diane Jenkins" is a hot one in 2022 as the presumed-dead woman revealed she was alive after all. Susan Walters once again returned to the role (via TV Insider). However, the version of Diane that allegedly died was played by Maura West briefly but memorably between 2010 and 2011. "As the World Turns" had just ended so West packed up her family and moved out to Los Angeles to take over the role on CBS' "The Young and the Restless," according to Soap Hub.

In one year, West's Diane made such a mess of her life that she apparently faked her own death just to get herself together. During West's tenure, Diane had two different love affairs: one with Nick Newman (Joshua Morrow) and another with Tucker McCall (Stephen Nichols). When Victor Newman (Eric Braeden) didn't want Diane, one of his ex-wives, dating his son, he married her himself for the second time. Like he did before, Victor dumped Diane soon after to reunite with Nikki Newman (Melody Thomas Scott). 

It was Nikki who dealt the allegedly fatal blow to Diane's head and brought West's run on "Y&R" to a memorable close (via Soaps In Depth).

Two years after leaving "The Young and the Restless" behind, Maura West turned up on another network for the first time in her soap career; she originated the role of Ava Jerome on ABC's "General Hospital," a part she still plays as of this writing (via IMDb). West has infuriated, exasperated, and moved audiences to tears playing the martini-sipping mobster's daughter who slept with both a father and his son on two separate occasions and then had to figure out which one of them fathered her baby.

West's Ava also had to suffer the loss of her adult daughter Kiki Jerome (Hayley Erin). She was then horrified to learn that her lover, Ryan Chamberlain (Jon Lindstrom), who she thought was his twin Kevin Collins, was the man who viciously killed Kiki. She thought she finally found her happy ending when she married Greek Prince Nikolas Cassadine (Marcus Coloma) but found life as a Port Charles princess isn't all it's made out to be (via Soaps In Depth). 

The role won West her third best actress Daytime Emmy in 2015 (via Gold Derby).