Benard was born Mauricio José Morales in Martinez, California, the son of Martha, a bank employee, and Humberto Morales, a bakery superintendent. He grew up in San Francisco, California, and is of Nicaraguan and Salvadoran ancestry.[2]
Career
In 1980s, he began career as a model before acting.[3] In 1987, Benard made his television debut playing Nico Kelly in the ABC daytime soap opera All My Children, a role he played until 1990.[3] He received Soap Opera Digest Award nomination for Outstanding Male Newcomer: Daytime in 1989.[4] He later made guest appearances in prime time shows include DEA, Stat and Dark Justice. In 1991, Benard appeared in a supporting role in the made-for-television movie Her Wicked Ways and later that year played Desi Arnaz in the biographical television film Lucy & Desi: Before the Laughter opposite Frances Fisher.[3] The following year he made his big screen debut appearing in the biographical drama film, Ruby and later had secondary role in the 1993 independent film Mi Vida Loca.[2]
In 1993, Benard was cast as Sonny Corinthos, a manic depressive mobster kingpin in the ABC daytime soap opera, General Hospital. His first air date on GH was August 13, 1993. Initially, the character was only supposed to last for six months as Benard was not interested in anything more than a year. He revealed that after his stint on All My Children, he was not interested in doing another soap.[5] He joined the cast of General Hospital because he had gone broke and acting was all he knew at the time. The producers offered him two separate roles, that of mobster Damian Smith, with a two-year contract, and that of Sonny. Benard revealed that just two weeks after starting work, he suffered a manic depressive breakdown. At one point he had stopped coming in to work but expressed his gratitude to the network for keeping faith in him instead of firing him immediately.[6] He reprised his role in the 1996 prime time special General Hospital: Twist of Fate, daytime spin-off Port Charles in 2000, and in an episode of prime time spin-off General Hospital: Night Shift in 2007.
In addition for his daytime television career, Benard also starred in a number of feature and made-for-television movies. He appeared in the 2015 comedy-drama film Joy directed by David O. Russell.[8] He starred in the 2017 independent mystery thriller film The Ghost and the Whale, executive produced by his wife Paula.[9] He guest-starred on ABC crime series Castle in 2016 and appeared opposite Jamie Luner in the Lifetime thriller A Lover Betrayed (2017). In 2018, Benard appeared in the horror anthology film, Nightmare Cinema starring in segment directed by Ryuhei Kitamura. In 2019 he played John Gotti in the Lifetime crime film Victoria Gotti: My Father's Daughter.[10][11] He later starred in films Hold On (2019),[12] and Equal Standard (2020).[13]
Personal life
Benard married Paula Smith on August 11, 1990.[14] They have four children: three daughters and one son. He and his wife adopted his wife's younger sister Heather, after their mother's death.[15]
Benard was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at age 22. He has become a spokesperson for treatment of the disorder with Mental Health America.[17] He made the decision to have the General Hospital writers make his character, Sonny Corinthos, also have the disorder. Many of the struggles he faces on the show due to the disorder are ones he faced in his own life. Much praise has been given to the show for the realistic depiction.
