Damian Spinelli
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| Damian Spinelli | |||||||
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| General Hospital | |||||||
| Portrayed by | Bradford Anderson | ||||||
| First appearance | November 13, 2006 | ||||||
| Created by | Robert Guza Jr. | ||||||
| Profile | |||||||
| Nickname(s) | Spinelli The Jackal (by himself) The Ace of Cyberspace |
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| Gender | Male | ||||||
| Occupation | Computer hacker; private investigator; errand boy | ||||||
| Residence | 122 Harbor View Drive, PH #2 Port Charles, New York |
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Spinelli (full name Damian Millhouse Spinelli) is a fictional character on the ABC daytime drama, General Hospital, played by actor Bradford Anderson since November 13, 2006. Spinelli is also one of the characters in the summer 2007 run of General Hospital: Night Shift, which premiered on July 12.[1]
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[edit] Background
In September 2006, General Hospital put out a casting call for a "college-aged kid" who was a cross between Seth Green and Spicoli, a character played by Sean Penn in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. The part was won by Anderson, who says he tries to emulate Spicoli's speaking style when playing the character. Spinelli's dialogue, a rapid-fire mix of surfer lingo and Internet slang, has offered comic relief, and an unusual "tech-savvy" character to the show, that has been called "one of the quirkiest characters daytime has ever seen."[2] Anderson says that he generally doesn't improvise the part, instead sticking to the script that is supplied a couple days before filming. The name of the specific writer or writers who create Spinelli's dialogue have not been identified.[3]
Anderson initially played the character on a "recurring" (non-contract) basis, but the character has proved popular[4] and actor Bradford Anderson was offered a multi-year contract,[5] which he accepted in May 2007.[6] The character was added to the opening credits sequence on July 6, 2007.
There have been disputes about whether to spell the character's name "Damien" or "Damian". In the show's closing credits he is referred to as Damien, but in a scene from General Hospital, where Spinelli is holding a business card, it is spelled "Damian."
Spinelli is also one of the crossover characters that appeared in the Summer 2007 season of General Hospital: Night Shift.[7]
[edit] Storyline
The character of Damien Spinelli was introduced to the show in 2006, as the computer hacker responsible for creating a flash drive containing falsified evidence against Sam McCall. Spinelli is hired by Lorenzo Alcazar to create the flash drive, which in turn is handed over to corrupt Port Charles District Attorney, Ric Lansing, who has a grudge against McCall's beau-at-the-time Jason Morgan. Jason and Sam find Spinelli and convince him to confess to creating the flash drive. Spinelli agrees, and hides at a safe house with Sam while Jason waits for the right time to make his move. But before this happens, they are ambushed by Alcazar's hitmen. In the ensuing fracas, Spinelli disappears.
He reappears a short time later, working in a study group with Lulu Spencer. The two are kidnapped by Alcazar, who was planning to kill them, but they are rescued by Jason. Spinelli runs again, but Lulu helps Jason track him down at Spinelli's grandmother's house in the (fictional) city of Oakfield, Tennessee. This is the first mention in the show of Spinelli having any family. The part of Spinelli's grandmother, Miriam Spinelli, is played by Emmy Award-winning actress Bonnie Bartlett, of St. Elsewhere fame.
Spinelli is convinced to return to Port Charles, and provides Mac Scorpio with the evidence to exonerate Sam. He also helps Jason and Sonny Corinthos keep tabs on Alcazar; is helping Lulu to prove that her mother, Laura Spencer did not kill Rick Webber; and provides an ailing Alexis Davis with marijuana to ease the pain caused by her chemotherapy treatments for lung cancer.
[edit] Metro Court hostage crisis
In the 24-inspired storyline during the February 2007 sweeps, Spinelli helps as Jason Morgan's sidekick in an attempt to rescue the hostages who are being held at the Metro Court Hotel. It is also revealed that he has a major crush on Lulu Spencer, and that he has a very vivid Walter Mitty-like imagination. His fantasies usually revolve around his desire for "The Blonde One" Lulu, portraying himself as a swashbuckling hero figure who rescues her from danger. In an August 2007 episode, Spinelli's fantasy involved him being attended by three beautiful blonde women, all of whom he rejected so that he can attend to Lulu. The parts of the women were played as a cameo by Holly Madison, Bridget Marquardt, and Kendra Wilkinson, the three girlfriends of Hugh Hefner who appear on the reality show The Girls Next Door.
Lulu used to live with Spinelli and Jason after having her heart broken by Logan. Later, she left to try to help put her torn-apart family back together. Spinelli also hit Logan Hayes once he found out that Logan hurt Lulu.
[edit] Georgie's death and the Text Message Killer
Jason and Spinelli talked about Georgie. "Stone Cold" told him it was obvious that Georgie had a crush on him. Spinelli was stunned, but elated. He told Jason that Georgie was beautiful and smart and could have anyone she wants. He was confused why someone as wonderful as "Wise Georgie" would want someone like him.
Spinelli found Georgie's dead body while walking through the park on December 17, 2007 and discovered that she was killed by the text-message killer. He tried fruitlessly to revive her as he called the police sobbing, asking them to come quickly because "Someone beautiful has died". After he was questioned by the police on what happened, he trudged back to the penthouse and told Jason that Georgie had been murdered, while depressed and downing shots of alcohol. He talked to Jason about who she was and the guilt he felt that he could not protect Wise Georgie. He lamented that "The Jackal" lost the one person who thought he was special. Jason tried his best to comfort his grieving friend. Later, Spinelli lit a candle and made a remorseful offering to Georgie's spirit so she would know he would miss her. He also comforted Maxie and Dillon and attended Georgie's funeral.
Spinelli became determined to prove that Cooper Barrett killed Georgie and stop him from striking again and asked Jason to help him.
The police had made Spinelli a major suspect in Georgie's murder, before other evidence pointed to different people. The evidence were some e-mails that she had never sent, stating that except around girls, Spinelli was the smartest, sweetest guy she had ever met and she thought she was falling in love with him. Lucky Spencer told Spinelli he was determined to prove that he killed Georgie. Spinelli was incredulous at the idea that he could have killed his closest friend. Jason told Lucky to back off Spinelli and promised to help him get out of the trouble he was in. Spinelli later asks to keep the e-mails, which he dubbed "Georgie's secret pain." Later he tried to write a reply, but was discouraged by the fact that Georgie would not be there to read it.
[edit] Maxie and Spinelli
Spinelli feels awful because he did not know about Georgie's love for him until it was too late and made her suffer in silence for him for months. He still mourns Georgie's death and the loss of their potential romantic relationship, which made him only more determined to prove that Cooper is the text-message killer. Jason agreed to help him.
However, after the apparent suicide of her boyfriend, Cooper Barrett, Maxie Jones enlisted Spinelli's help in uncovering Coop's killer because she believes that whoever killed Coop, killed her little sister. Spinelli believes that her want to find the killer is because she hasn't had time to properly grieve. However, Maxie says differently. The unlikely duo are trying to work together to find the killer. At first, there were many arguments between the two, but after a stakeout at Logan's house, Maxie kissed him to avoid a cop's accusation of loitering outside the house, sparking a new camaraderie between the two--but not without its flaws. For example, Spinelli's growing feelings for the late Georgie's sister (as evidenced by the numerous black-and-white fantasies he has had as Sam Spade and Maxie as a blond bimbo making out with him, and by the fact that he no longer calls her the bad blond one, but the wounded blond one) are getting in the way just slightly. Diego finds Maxie and Spinelli, he starts to strangle Maxie until she stabs him with a pole bar, and Spinelli punches him. Diego gets his neck tied around a rope and falls off the catwalk.
After closing the case on Georgie's killer, Spinelli and Maxie continued to work together and developed a deep friendship. After Dr. Ian Devlin's botched attempt on the life of Sonny Corinthos left his son, Michael Corinthos III, in a permanent coma, Spinelli and Maxie dug for evidence that they could use against the doctor. Maxie stowed away on a trip to Canada with Jason and Spinelli as they tracked down Devlin, who would later take Maxie hostage before being killed by Jason. It was on this trip that Spinelli revealed to Jason that he had fallen in love with "Maximista."
It is obvious to people who frequently watch General Hospital that Spinelli has trouble with girls, first Lulu-the blonde one, then nurse Crowl, Maxie-previously the bad blonde one and now "Maximista". For advice on girls, Spinelli often seeks help usually from Jason. Although Jason usually seems like Spinelli is just a burden. But when you really think about it, besides the main characters like Sonny, Carl and Elizabeth, Spinelli is Jason's only friend.
Recently, Spinelli has turned to Diane for advice because Jason is to busy to be bothered. Jason asks Diane to help him out(Diane only really helped because it was billable). This time, Spinellis problem was that he and Maxie walked in on Kate and Sonny being intimate on Kate's desk. Spinelli is sadly traumatized, especially because of the way Maxie reacts, she reacts like she is jealous of Kate and Spinelli just won't have it. Therefore, Diane advises him to do the same thing as Sonny. Spinelli storms into Kate's office where Maxie was and kisses her, then when Kate walks in, Maxie thought it was a plot so that Kate wouldn't know that Maxie was looking at the Vira Chang designs. Therefore Spinelli is at a loss again.
[edit] General Hospital: Night Shift
While playing around with Jason's gun, he accidentally shoots himself in the foot and Jason takes the fall for it. As a form of thanks, Spinelli designs a game based on Jason called the "The Stone Cold Saga". He also harbors a small crush on one of the nurses, Jolene Crowell. It is also revealed that Spinelli harbors an immense fear of clowns. He helped Jason with Stacey Sloan's c-section in the elevator. He blames himself for Stacey dying because he pushed the elevator button hard. He also had an affair with Jolene. Spinelli later finds out from Jason that Jolene may be the one that has been sabotaging the hospital. Jason tells Spinelli to see if he can find anything that might prove that Jolene is a killer. Spinelli checks it out on his computer, wanting to prove that Jolene isn't capable of murder. In the season finale, Spinelli goes to Jason and tells him that he was right about the Angel of Mercy (Jolene). There is later a shootout at the hospital and Spinelli throws his laptop at one of the gunmen. Surprisingly, Jolene jumps on top of him, knocking him to the floor to shield him from a bullet. When the shootout is over, Spinelli is kneeling on a corridor floor wondering why Jolene saved him. After visiting Touissant he goes to see Jolene, who is in a coma. He thanks her for saving him, without looking at her. He finally looks at her and calls her Fair Jolene.
[edit] Nicknames
Spinelli has a penchant for giving nicknames to those individuals who he has come into contact with, and on occasion to inanimate objects.
[edit] References
- ^ General Hospital: Night Shift Cast Announced! - General Hospital News - Soaps.com
- ^ Kelli M. Larson, "A different kind of hero", ABC Soaps in Depth, May 22, 2007
- ^ "Local actor makes the grade: Meredith native Bradford Anderson lands recurring role on daytime soap", January 28, 2007, Foster's Daily Democrat
- ^ "Making the Rounds at General Hospital", February 26, 2007, Blogcritics Magazine
- ^ February 26, 2007 news, soapzone.com
- ^ General Hospital - Comings & Goings. soaps.com. Retrieved on 2007-06-05.
- ^ General Hospital: Night Shift Cast Announced! - General Hospital News - Soaps.com
[edit] External links
- Bradford Anderson at soapcentral.com
- Bradford Anderson at IMDB
