Dante Falconeri on GENERAL HOSPITAL quickly became a fan favorite character soon after his introduction in June of 2009. Portrayer Dominic Zamprogna has also earned himself four Daytime Emmy Award nominations for his work over the years. While Zamprogna left GH in 2018, he made it clear he’s happy to return and did so in March of 2019 for a brief stint. And although it took a bit longer, the actor eventually returned to GH full-time in August 2020!
Introduced as Dominic Pirelli, Dante quickly became part of Sonny Corinthos’ life when he saved the mob boss from an ambush and rescued his son, Morgan Corinthos. He also became smitten with Lulu Spencer, and it was revealed that he was actually an undercover cop named Dante after he was arrested and tipped the Port Charles Police that he was investigating Sonny. But when he attempted to arrest the mobster, Sonny shot him just as Olivia Falconeri arrived to announce he’d shot his own son!
When Dante discovered that Sonny was actually his father, he was horrified and angry at his mother Olivia for lying to him. To avoid being charged against Sonny, he did, however, agree to lie and say he had unintentionally shot himself. Mac Scorpio sent Dante an offer to join the PCPD after he was let go from the NYPD. Dante was shocked to see that Sonny was essentially acting as Michael Corinthos’ go-between when he chose to put him in jail for the murder of Claudia Zacchara.
When it was discovered that Brenda Barrett and Lulu had a love history together and she moved back to Port Charles, their relationship took a turn for the worse. But they made up quickly, and Dante made a proposal.However, when he was shot on the job, Lulu had second thoughts about becoming a policeman’s wife. She eventually overcame her fear and the pair were married in a private ceremony in Brooklyn by his cousin, Tommy, with only Olivia in attendance.
Lulu discovered she was unable to carry a child, despite Dante and Lulu’s intense desire to become parents. Maxie Jones volunteered to carry their child for them, but in the end, she gave birth to her own child after having a one-night affair with Damian Spinelli. She momentarily lost memory of Dante when he had to save a kidnapped Lulu from an enamoured Stavros Cassadine! Dante and Lulu were devastated to find their daughter was actually Maxie’s, but they were even more devastated to realise that Dr. Britt Westbourne’s kid, whom she had said was Patrick Drake’s, had actually developed from their other embryo! After bringing the boy home, Dante and Lulu gave him the name Rocco.
Despite everything, Lulu still desired a child, and Dante helped her have the surgery she needed to become a mother. However, he had to work with Nathan West, his colleague, to free Maxie and Lulu from Levi Dunkleman’s kidnapping! Due to the fact that Stavros desired to have a child with Lulu, Dante was forced to save her from him once more! Lulu promised Dante that she would be ok with just him and Rocco for the time being when that ordeal was over and Stavros was sent away.
When Dillon Quartermaine came back and accompanied Lulu on an expedition to save her brothers, Dante became envious. Dante had a one-night affair with Valerie Spencer, her cousin, who had a major infatuation on him, thinking that his wife was having an extramarital affair. Due to this, Dante and Lulu were forced to file for divorce. However, they later changed their minds and decided to try again, getting married in their living room on Thanksgiving of 2016.
When Lulu learned that Charlotte Cassadine was her daughter with Valentin, things became more complicated, and a contentious custody dispute started. The girl was briefly given to Dante and Lulu, but in the end, her father regained custody of her. After Nathan was brutally murdered by Cesar Faison, Dante was saddened and found it difficult to get along with Detective Harrison Chase, his new colleague on the case. Ultimately, however, out of concern for his safety, Dante left Port Charles with his wife and joined a special WSB task force to find the felon who had attempted to assassinate Lulu a few years prior.
Sonny was determined to bring his son home after the serial killer who was terrorising Port Charles almost killed Lulu. With Robert Scorpio’s assistance, he followed Dante to Turkey, where he had gone undercover to work for the evil Raj. With Raj dead, Sonny was able to assist Dante in getting away and return to Port Charles. Regretfully, Dante’s experience has left him with scars that extend well beyond his back, and he told Lulu that he had to go away once more in order to manage his PTSD.
Maxie worried about Lulu being alone and missing her husband so she roped Peter August into helping her bring Dante home but when they went to visit him in a WSB facility in Ithaca, Dante grabbed a guard’s gun and shot Peter! After that, Lulu was stunned when she received divorce papers in the mail and it appeared that Dante was trying to cut everyone out of his life and give her the chance to move on. Later, Olivia was heartbroken when all the letters she’d been writing to her son were returned to her, unopened. Eventually, Lulu decided to move on with her life and began dating schoolteacher Dustin Phillips.
However, Dante was spotted composing a letter home that he would never deliver in August 2020 when he was in his dorm at a WSB facility in Geneva. In an effort to help Dante, Dr. Kirk even declined to see Olivia when his mother went to see him in Switzerland. Dante eventually made his way back to Port Charles when Dr. Kirk gave his patient a new task to look into Peter. Dustin offered to step aside if Lulu wanted another opportunity, but Lulu insisted she’d moved on. Lulu introduced him to Dustin. Sadly, Lulu was transported to a long-term care facility after suffering catastrophic injuries in an explosion, just as she was telling Dante that she still loved him.
In order to facilitate his access to Peter’s computer files for his assignment, Dante started working for him. Unaware that Liesl Obrecht had been manipulating Kirk from the beginning, Dante resisted accepting her as his new handler after Dr. Kirk passed away suddenly. Additionally, he was unaware that each time Kirk or Obrecht clicked a pen, hypnotically suggested power over him was taking place! When he attempted to stop Alexis from attacking Franco at the hospital, things took an unexpected turn! The inebriated lawyer stabbed Dante with a needle, and the chemicals within nearly killed him!
Fortunately, Dante made it out alive. Obrecht gave him the order to murder Peter and accuse Dr. Kirk of being behind the mission, but Sam McCall intervened before he could fire the shot. Dante agreed to assist Mac in finding a missing Jason after gathering his thoughts again, but that one task motivated him to go back to work as a PCPD investigator. In addition to working on crimes like Peter’s disappearance and Maxie’s kidnapping, he also became more intimate with Sam. On July Fourth, the two kissed, which left them both shook and wondering if it was a smart choice.
Dante and Sam tried to ignore their feelings at first, but in the end, they were romantically involved. When Drew turned out to be alive, things became more problematic, but he went to Greece with her in order to save him from Peter and the Cassadines and return him to Port Charles. After Jason was slain during that journey, Dante consoled Sam, and the two went on to consummate their new relationship and confess their love for one another. Sam and Dante worked well together to bring down Victor Cassadine, but they fell out when she looked through his phone in an attempt to establish Trina’s innocence.
Dante was surprised when his old friend Cody Bell dropped into Port Charles — literally — by skydiving into the Metro Court Pool during a party. The pair reminisced about their wild past, and Cody opened up to his pal about his troubles. Dante and Sam cleared the air between them and decided to move in together, though he asked her to stop digging into Cody’s past. The detective then found himself very busy investigating the series of attacks and murders committed by The Hook. He and Sam also traveled to England to track down Esme Prince’s nanny, Maggie Fitzgerald, and were stunned to learn that Esme’s father was Ryan Chamberlain! After Heather Webber was arrested for being The Hook and Ryan shot dead, Dante tried to find out what happened to a missing Nikolas Cassadine but came up empty. He was also stunned when Cody revealed that he’d lied and the paternity test revealed that Mac is his father.
Dante opened an investigation following threats against Anna and a gunshot at the Metro Court pool. In addition, he arranged for Maxie to stay at their empty house and brought Charlotte to see Lulu. Sam led Dante to the cabin where they were hiding out after telling him she had assisted Cody in entering Ferncliff to save Sasha. Dante was able to apprehend Dr. Montague for Sasha’s abuse thanks to their assistance. Dante shot Mason Gatlin in response to Ava’s kidnapping and assisted in her rescue. Following Charlotte’s unintentional shooting by Anna, Dante’s inquiry connected the teenager to a few of Anna’s threats.
After Jameson Forsythe’s body was found, the coroner gave Dante the key he found on the body before the WSB stepped in. Trying to stay under the radar, Dante used the key to open a locker that contained photos of Anna, Forsythe, and another man as well as a wallet and the file on a WSB mission gone wrong that had been stolen from Anna. He filled Anna in and she identified the photo of the other man as John Brennan, who is the current director of the WSB.
Stay tuned to see what happens next!
