Gina Von Amberg
Gina Von Amberg | |||||||
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Days of our Lives character | |||||||
Portrayed by | Kristian Alfonso | ||||||
Duration | 1999-2001, 2012 | ||||||
First appearance | 1999 | ||||||
Last appearance | April 6, 2012 | ||||||
Profile | |||||||
Aliases |
Hope Brady Countess Elsa | ||||||
Occupation | Art thief and forger | ||||||
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Princess Gina Von Amberg is a fictional character on the American soap opera Days of our Lives. The role was portrayed from 1999 to 2001 by Kristian Alfonso, who also plays Hope Williams Brady on the series. Alfonso reprised the character of Gina in March 2012 as part of a retconned storyline on the series.[1]
Character's Background
Gina was married to Prince Philip Von Amberg, hence the title "princess". She gives birth to a daughter, Greta, soon after Prince Phillip dies. Princess Gina was a trained art thief and forger hired and manipulated by Stefano DiMera. She stole priceless works of art for him in the 1980s. It was during this time that she falls in love with John Black. When Stefano took John away from her in 1985, Gina becomes mentally ill, and no longer wishes to paint, which meant she was completely useless to Stefano. She believed that John had died. Stefano hires a replacement for her in the presumed dead Hope Brady. Gina was lured to Maison Blanche by Stefano, who claimed to be able to cure her depression. After the procedure, Stefano locks Gina in a castle turret at her home, Chateau de Reves, in the countryside outside Paris. She descends into the depths of madness until her daughter, Greta, arrives at the chateau with her friend, Eric Brady. Gina begins to reclaim her mind, and is eventually allowed by her manservant, Kurt, to attend a ball thrown in her honor. It was at this ball that Princess Gina meets her imposter, Hope. Disguising herself as Countess Elsa Schwengel, Gina and Hope talk and she eventually learns that John was still alive and living in Salem. Gina then lures Hope to the chateau, where she imprisons her. She then has plastic surgery, makes her way to Salem, and impersonates Hope. When Gina arrives in Salem, she realizes that John would never leave his wife, Marlena Evans. She then decides to marry Hope's love, Bo Brady, who thought she was Hope. The two planned to marry on New Year's Eve 1999-2000.
On the day of her wedding to Bo, she tries to shoot Marlena Evans and Bo and Hope's son Shawn-Douglas.[2] In Bo's struggle to get the gun away from her, she is shot and dies of her wounds on January 14, 2000. She also appeared to her daughter Greta in 2001, when she was completing the tasks necessary for her to become the new Princess Von Amberg.
Gina returns to Days of our Lives on March 29, 2012 as an alternate personality of Hope's, after being hoaxed and coaxed out of Hope by Stefano, to reclaim a Fabergé-like egg that had been stolen from him; something only Gina and John Black as (The Pawn)/Father John can recover for him.