Nurse Sabrina Maria Dominica Santiago, RN was a fictional character on the soap opera General Hospital. She was the daughter of Mr. Santiago and his late wife, Nurse Gabriela Santiago.
She was portrayed by actress Teresa Castillo from the character's debut on September 19, 2012 until September 23, 2016 before being replaced by James Patrick Stuart as Valentin Cassadine for nearly eight years from 2016 to 2024 before the character disappeared on July 17, 2024.
Casting and characterization[]
Her first appearance - as a wallflower (2012)
Castillo originally auditioned for the role of Delores Padilla when GH's casting director Mark Teschner noticed her on Franklin & Bash. She actually did a chemistry test with her current co-star Jason Thompson who portrayed Patrick. However, the series decided to stick with Rebecca Montoya as Delores.
In the spring of 2012, she was contacted again by the series and she auditioned for the role of "Maya." Castillo admitted that she didn't think they even came up with her character's real name until the day before she was to start taping her first scenes. She once again tested with Thompson. Castillo was chosen out of hundreds of other actresses for the role of Sabrina. After several weeks of waiting, she was contacted by the show again and read for executive producer, Frank Valentini. She went back for another chemistry test in late August.
Castillo began filming her scenes on August 31, 2012. During the audition, the actresses started out getting "pretty" to do a fantasy scene in which the character admits her love for Patrick, and then transforming into a nerdy girl with glasses for the rest of the scene. To make sure she stood out from the 9 other actresses that the producers had called back, Castillo admitted that she "decided to have fun." Several days later, Castillo learned from her manager that she had booked the role. The character first appeared on September 19, despite some sources stating the first air date to be September 14. The date may have been confused with Emily Wilson's first appearance as Ellie Trout, who did appear on the 14th. Castillo originated the role on a contractual basis.
- "I had them give me a half up party pony. I had them draw a unibrow on me, and they had this tray of glasses so I got the biggest set, and I was hunched over! Then, I am in the elevator, and what you are supposed to do is that when the elevator opens, you are supposed to step out and trip. And there he is … Patrick… and you start talking to yourself and he is right behind you. I had looked at myself in the mirror going, this girl is so ridiculous right now, and I thought naturally, she should have a lisp. So they are counting it down and I think to myself, “OK, I am going to take a risk here. And they are either going to love it or kick me out for not taking this seriously.” So I just did it with a lisp. And nobody stopped me! And the scene was with Jason, and I could see it in his eyes that he wanted to burst into laughter. At the end when they cut, I just heard Frank’s voice over the loud speaker going, “That was awesome, Teresa.” I was so pleased with what I had done."
-Castillo on her creative audition.
Though the character does not have a lisp, or the uni-brow, the huge glasses and the not so neat hair remain. Sabrina comes off very afraid at times, and usually cannot be honest about how she feels. Apart from her feelings for Patrick, Sabrina's whole life is defined by following in her mother's footsteps and becoming a nurse. Like her mother, "[Sabrina] wants to make a difference in the world. She truly cares about people." Castillo described the character as "considering, kind and loving." She has a mind of her own.
She went on maternity leave on June 16, 2014 and returned on August 21, 2014.
She went on maternity leave again on January 28, 2016 and returned on May 20, 2016.
In September 2016, it was revealed that Castillo would be departing the soap. Castillo last appeared on September 16, 2016. She is later since replaced by James Patrick Stuart as Valentin Cassadine after the character's death for nearly eight years until July 17, 2024 when the character left town and disappeared.
Background[]
Sabrina is the adoptive cousin of Juan Santiago. It is Juan who suggests Sabrina go to General Hospital to finish her nursing degree.
Sabrina's mother Gabriela was also a nurse whom according to Sabrina was pretty good at her job. However since Gabriela died when she was very young, she grows up idolizing her mother. After her mother's death, Sabrina's father sends her to live with her adoptive cousins in Puerto Rico as he is unable to raise her on his own. Sabrina carries her mother's stethoscope. In high school, Sabrina dates Carlos Rivera and she loses her virginity to him. Immediately after college, Carlos wants to marry her and start a family, while Sabrina wants to focus on her career.
She has a son named Teddy Rivera, who was born in January of 2016 with her late husband mobster Carlos Rivera. She also had a son named Gabriel Santiago who died shortly after his birth in 2014 with her ex-fiancé Dr. Patrick Drake.
Felix DuBois was her best friend.
In 2016, Sabrina was murdered by Paul Hornsby and is later since replaced by ex-fiancé Patrick's evil counterpart Valentin Cassadine after her death who later became ownership of Wyndemere Castle via disputed will meaning that both the Drake, Rivera, and Santiago families have since been replaced by the Cassadine family from Valentin's side of the family.
Storylines[]
In September of 2012, Sabrina comes to General Hospital as a new student nurse; and Epiphany Johnson, the Head Nurse, shows her around. When Sabrina sees Dr. Patrick Drake, she instantly becomes smitten by him. Dr. Britt Westbourne, however comes and pulls Patrick away to talk to him. Sabrina finds out that Britt is going out on a date with Patrick. Patrick's sister-in-law Maxie Jones, however, can't babysit his daughter Emma, so Britt suggests that Sabrina can babysit. When Sabrina goes to babysit, Emma is shy and not happy about her dad going on a date, so soon after her mom, Robin, has seemingly died. Emma mopes around, not wanting to do anything, and Sabrina has a hard time entertaining her. Sabrina calls Patrick, but Britt answers the phone.
Britt scolds Sabrina for calling, saying she's the babysitter and she should handle it. Sabrina later calls again and tells Patrick that Emma has locked herself in a closet, and Patrick ends the date early to go home to Emma, and Britt is upset about it. When Patrick arrives home, he is able to get Emma out of the closet, and he tells Sabrina he's hungry since his date got cut short. Sabrina brings Emma and Patrick chocolate milk and cookies, and Emma finally warms toward Sabrina. As Sabrina's leaving, Patrick asks her to stay and have milk and cookies with them, and Sabrina agrees. Later, at the hospital, Britt overhears Patrick talking to Sabrina about her calling him home while on their date. After Patrick leaves, Britt berates Sabrina again for not being able to handle Emma and for ending their date.
Days later, Carlos arranged for Sabrina to see a doctor, but once he sees Anna and Robert are at the doctors, he decides against going and the two of them go back to the cabin. While at the cabin, Sabrina goes into labor and then gives birth to a silent baby. When Robert and Anna finally make it to the cabin, Carlos, Sabrina and the baby are gone. It is later revealed that Sabrina and the baby are okay. It was later revealed that she and Carlos had a boy and they got married.
On September 14, Sabrina was murdered by Paul Hornsby after discovering that he is the General Hospital killer after Valentin Cassadine was sent to prison by the authorities. Sabrina died a heroine having saved Dr. Monica Quartermaine's life after she was also attacked by Paul. On September 15, Sabrina was found by Felix and she was officially pronounced dead. Over one month later on Halloween, Sabrina is now since replaced by her enemy her former co-worker Patrick's evil counterpart Valentin Cassadine who later became the owner of the castle and the entire estate of Wyndemere Castle via disputed will as Nikolas has been replaced by Valentin's own daughter Charlotte Cassadine after Teddy was taken in by his uncle Joe to Puerto Rico meaning that both the Drake, Rivera, and Santiago families have since been replaced by the Cassadine family from Valentin's side of the family before Nikolas was revealed to be alive and well and reclaiming Wyndemere Castle as owner in 2020 after the death of Hank Archer aka "Shiloh" who bore a striking resemblance to the late Nathan West.Crimes Committed[]
- Conspired with Felix, Ellie and Patrick to secretly run a paternity test on Britt's "unborn child" [Jun 2013]
- Switched out a pregnant Ava Jerome's Nifedipine for Misoprostol, a medication that causes miscarriage/preterm labor [revealed Sep 18, 2014]
- Allowed Johnny Zacchara and Carlos Rivera to hide from the police at her apartment (when the police arrived, Carlos claimed that he had forced Sabrina to take them in at gunpoint) [Feb 5, 2015]
- Aided and abetted Carlos, a known fugitive (he had killed Duke) [May 2015; Teddy was conceived during this time]
- Withheld information that Carlos Rivera was very much alive [Nov 24, 2015-Early 2016]
- Aided and abetted Carlos, a known fugitive again [Nov 24, 2015-Early 2016; arrested on May 26, 2016; the charges were dropped on Jun 8, 2016]
Health and Vitals[]
- Suffered emotional anguish when her marriage to Patrick was halted when his not-so-dead wife Robin Scorpio-Drake made a surprise appearance at the wedding after Julian Jerome was revealed to be alive 23 years later just nearly a year after the death of Jason Morgan after Julian replaced him before he was revealed to be alive [Dec 2013]
- Drank herself into oblivion to numb the pain of losing Patrick and woke up the next morning in Carlos' bed [Dec 2013]
- Rendered unconscious in a car accident caused by Rafe Kovich, Jr., who was put up to it by Victor Cassadine [Apr 23-24, 2014]
- Went into premature labor following a car accident [Apr 24, 2014]
- Gave birth to her premature son, Gabriel completely natural [Apr 25, 2014]
- Suffered from severe postpartum hemorrhaging and fell temporarily unconscious after giving birth and was rushed to GH [Apr 25, 2014]
- Suffered a mental breakdown after the death of her son, Gabriel (she blocked out his death) [Jun 12, 2014]
- Duct-taped to a chair by Carlos Rivera [May 13, 2015]
- Fainted during her pregnancy when a not-so-dead Carlos Rivera showed up at her door very much alive [Nov 23, 2015]
- Manhandled by Carlos Rivera while pregnant [Dec 4, 2015]
- Experienced Braxton Hicks contractions [Jan 2016]
- Gave birth to her son, Teddy completely natural [Jan 28, 2016]
- Held hostage by Marcos (along with her son) [revealed May 20, 2016]
- Threatened and held at gunpoint by Marcos [May 20-23 2016]
- Snatched, dragged into a room against her will and then fatally strangled by Paul Hornsby under her former co-worker Patrick's counterpart Valentin Cassadine's orders and attempted revenge for Paul's counterpart Victor Cassadine and Paul to grant Valentin's wish so he can have Wyndemere when he gets released after Nikolas Cassadine's presumed "death" [Sep 14, 2016; Sabrina was revealed to be strangled on Sep 15, 2016 and later since replaced by Valentin Cassadine a month later before Nikolas was revealed to be alive]
Family tree[]
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| Mr. Santiago |
| Gabriela Santiago | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Carlos Rivera |
| Sabrina Santiago | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Teddy Rivera | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Relationships[]
- Teddy Rivera - Sabrina's son with Carlos
- Mr. Santiago - Sabrina's father
- Gabriela Santiago - Sabrina's mother (deceased)
- Armando Santiago - Sabrina's uncle
- Gabriel Santiago -Sabrina's son with Patrick (deceased)
- Juan Santiago - Sabrina's adoptive first cousin
- Marcos Santos - Sabrina's cousin
- Curtis Ashford
- Jordan Ashford - Former Commissioner of the Port Charles Police Department and current Deputy Mayor of Port Charles
- Lucy Coe
- Kevin Collins
- Michael Corinthos - Sabrina's ex-boyfriend
- Anna Devane - Current Commissioner of the Port Charles Police Department
- Emma Drake - Now living in Berkeley attending the University of California in Berkeley
- Patrick Drake - Sabrina's former co-worker now living in Berkeley
- Felix DuBois - Sabrina's former co-worker
- Hamilton Finn - Sabrina's former co-worker
- Epiphany Johnson - Former Head Nurse at General Hospital and Sabrina's former boss (deceased)
- Maxie Jones
- Janice Lomax - Former Mayor of Port Charles and Valentin Cassadine's friend and supporter now receptionist at The Invader
- Andre Maddox - Sabrina's former co-worker
- John McBain
- Trey Mitchell - (deceased)
- Griffin Munro - Sabrina's former co-worker
- Dillon Quartermaine
- Monica Quartermaine
- Tracy Quartermaine
- Joe Rivera - The late Carlos Rivera's twin brother, Sabrina's ex-boyfriend, and her son Teddy's uncle both now living in Puerto Rico
- James Scorpio - Detective of the Port Charles Police Department
- Luke Spencer - (deceased)
- Valerie Spencer
- Damian Spinelli - Private investigator
- Ellie Trout - Sabrina's former co-worker
- Nathan West - The late Cesar Faison's son with Liesl Obrecht, the late Britt Westbourne's brother, and Dante Falconeri's former partner (deceased)
- Mary Wells - Current Head Nurse at General Hospital
- Andreas
- Nelle Benson - (deceased)
- Helena Cassadine - The late Stavros and Valentin Cassadine's mother (deceased)
- Stavros Cassadine - The late Helena Cassadine's son with Mikkos (deceased)
- Valentin Cassadine - The late Helena Cassadine's son with Victor and her former co-worker Patrick Drake's evil counterpart now owner of The Invader as well as operating as the new leader of Pikeman Security Group
- Victor Cassadine - The late Stavros Cassadine's uncle and Valentin Cassadine's father (deceased)
- Stephen Clay - aka Caleb Morley, the late Cesar Faison's American counterpart, and the late Nelle Benson's uncle (deceased)
- Cesar Faison - The late Britt Westbourne and the late Nathan West's father (deceased)
- Gregorio
- Peter Harrell, Jr. - aka Levi Dunkleman (deceased)
- Paul Hornsby - (imprisoned)
- Kostas
- Winston Rudge - Valentin Cassadine's associate from South Africa who bores an uncanny resemblance to Valentin (imprisoned)
- Jeffrey Scribner - (deceased)
- Joe Scully, Jr. - (deceased)
- Spiros
- Johnny Zacchara - (imprisoned)