General Hospital Star Kate Mansi Has Seriously Transformed

From aliens and weather machines to ghosts and serial killers, the soap opera "General Hospital" is famous for its drama. While the show's characters lead intense, occasionally absurd lives, off-screen, their actors are different. "General Hospital" star Katharine Theresa Rose Morris, better known as Kate Mansi, portrayed Kristina Corinthos-Davis on "General Hospital" and Abigail Deveraux on "Days of Our Lives," characters whose lives are full of twists and turns. While they may be far from Mansi's reality, the soap actor's life has also been full of unexpected challenges and complicated relationships.

Mansi has a successful, diverse acting career that has intersected with her health struggles, but through it all she has remained determined. In an interview with Life and Dog, the actor revealed, "My dream as a kid was to be a 'triple-threat'—dancer/actress/singer (which was literally my response when people asked what I wanted to be when I grew up)." She continued, "My goal was to be a dancer on Broadway." The actor followed her childhood dreams from the start, and although some of those dreams have changed, she has attained immense success. Today, Mansi is an award-winning actor who uses her own struggles to help others. 

Kate Mansi grew up in Los Angeles, California, and from the very start, she was a determined child who did not let fear stop her from doing what she wanted. While she aimed to be a triple threat, Mansi initially focused on dancing during her childhood. Many little girls take ballet classes, but the future actor did not limit herself to one style of dance; instead, she learned jazz and ballet, and danced her way through grade school. 

Mansi's family dynamics while she was growing up may have been as complicated as her characters' on the soap operas, but there was no shortage of entertainment. The "General Hospital" star's parents divorced when she was young, and as a result of her parents remarrying, she grew up in a loud family as one of 13 children. The future soap star was close with her family and kept herself busy with her studies and hobbies. Inspired by her father, Jeff Morris, she grew up riding horses with her siblings on his ranch. While the prospect of interacting with a giant animal, let alone riding one, could intimidate many children, Mansi did not let the fear of a potential accident stop her from doing what she enjoyed, and her love for the animals continued into adulthood.

By the end of high school, Kate Mansi knew what she wanted to do. In her interview with Life and Dog, she admitted that although she always wanted to be in the entertainment business, she "sort of stumbled into acting accidentally." Mansi said, "I never had any experience with acting until my high school theater teacher encouraged me to audition for the fall play my senior year." The future daytime television star got the lead in the performance and has acted ever since.

After high school, Mansi was offered a dance scholarship to a performing arts college in New York, but she did not accept. She knew she wanted to continue acting, so she decided to stay in California and attend Pepperdine University, where she studied film and public relations while taking acting classes. Mansi's mother, a former dancer, did not want her daughter to enter the entertainment industry, but Mansi was determined to deal with any challenges that arose. In the interview, Mansi recalled her mom saying, "[I]f you absolutely can't imagine having a career doing anything other than acting—then go for it—but it won't be easy.'" And that was just what the young actor did. During college, Mansi booked her first onscreen roles in commercials and continued to perfect her acting skills. 

After graduating from college, Kate Mansi booked her biggest role yet. She joined the cast of "How I Met Your Mother" as a guest star for an episode in 2008. As they say in the show's theme song, she grabbed the opportunity like a cup, drank it up, and made a battle plan. The actor soon traded the sitcom for a soap set in 2011 when she got her breakout role on "Days of Our Lives." In her interview with Life and Dog, Mansi revealed her favorite aspect about being on Days was "the surprise of finding out where the writers are taking your character next." The soap star continued and said, "Getting to my dressing room and finding new scripts on my couch is like Christmas morning—I can't read them fast enough!" Mansi was just as intrigued by the plot changes as fans of the NBC soap opera were. 

Mansi played the character Abigail Deveraux on the soap opera, a role that had been recast for her. The fact that the daytime television star was essentially playing two characters since Deveraux had Dissociative Identity Disorder made the role a bit of a challenge. Yet Mansi did not let that affect her performance, and she soon became a fan favorite. The soap actor was in over 700 episodes of the acclaimed show and cemented her place in soap opera history with that one role alone.

In 2015, at a time in her career when she should have been celebrating her success as a soap star, actor Kate Mansi was dealing with the most pain she had ever experienced. One day, Mansi woke up with a swollen stomach and felt intense cramping. Doctors misdiagnosed it as a bad period or an issue with her IUD, but the pain worsened. Ever determined, Mansi continued to act through it but eventually had to drive herself to the emergency room by the end of the week. In a 2026 interview with People, the soap star recalled how she continued acting and, between takes, attempted to manage her pain. "They would say action, I would do my scene, and then the second they said cut, I was literally doubled over in pain," Mansi described.

As it turned out, the actor had a ruptured cyst, but her doctors were not quick enough to take action or even believe her symptoms, so her stepfather, a doctor, performed a life-saving emergency surgery. The procedure not only saved Mansi's life but also led to the discovery that she had endometriosis. The "General Hospital" star used her diagnosis to educate others and, later in life, incorporated it into an episode of the soap opera that she directed. 

Winning an Emmy Award is a crowning achievement for any television actor, and in 2017, soap star Kate Mansi earned this honor. Mansi was one of the actors who played the role of Abigail Deveraux on "Days of Our Lives," and her work on the show led to an Emmy Award. Her performance as Deveraux setting her boyfriend's bed on fire was memorable enough to earn her the distinction of Outstanding Supporting Actress on the daytime soap opera for her recurring role. Mansi was not only nominated for an Emmy, but she also won the prestigious award. It was both her first official nomination and win, and in an interview on the red carpet, the Emmy winner described the moment as "surreal" (via Facebook). 

In Mansi's acceptance speech, the actor said, "To be in this community of passionate and hardworking actors and actresses that work every single day, I'm honored to be among you" (via Daily Motion). Having dreamed of the spotlight since she was a child, the award was a symbol of Mansi achieving her acting dreams and not letting a medical diagnosis stop her from doing what she wanted. 

In 2016, Kate Mansi decided to leave the role that made her famous. While she was a fan favorite as the legacy character Abigail Deveraux, the real reason she left "Days of Our Lives" was that she felt she had given the character all that she could and believed it was time to focus on other projects.

However, as fate would have it, Mansi was not actually finished with the soap opera where she got her start. The actor eventually returned to "Days of Our Lives" in 2018 when she reprised her role as Deveraux once more, but this time she was a brief recurring character rather than a series regular. Mansi's performance earned her yet another Emmy Award nomination, but two years after her return to the show, she stepped away again. 

After completing her role as Deveraux, Mansi eventually swapped one soap opera for another in 2023 when she left "Days of Our Lives" for "General Hospital. The soap actor played Kristina Corinthos on "General Hospital," where a whole new audience of soap opera fans fell in love with her dramatic acting skills. 

For much of her on-screen career, "General Hospital" star Kate Mansi played highly dramatic characters, an unsurprising fact for soap operas. While Mansi impressed audiences with her portrayal of Abigail Deveraux and Kristina Corinthos, in 2020 she took on an entirely different role in a new genre of television. She starred in a bilingual familial drama set on California farmlands called "Casa Grande." The role consisted of many changes for Mansi that went far beyond her acting style. It required a physical transformation as well; Mansi donned a new 'do with short bangs and wore a more rugged wardrobe for her favorite character yet in the Amazon show.

Mansi's Hunter Clarkman, the scrappy adopted daughter in "Casa Grande," is a far cry from her character as the rich daughter of a power couple in "Days of Our Lives. The show premiered in 2023 and explores themes of family and immigration. In an interview with LA Style Magazine, Mansi said, "[Hunter is] gritty and raw and complex in a way I haven't portrayed before in my work. I loved working on it and even more so, love hearing from fans about how empowered they feel by her." She also revealed that playing Hunter helped her embrace a more capable attitude in life overall.

Like those of the characters she has played throughout her career, Kate Mansi's love life has been far from easy and uncomplicated. In 2021, the "General Hospital" actor thought she had found the one and married film and television producer Blake Levin. While she did not end up setting his bed on fire like her character Abigail Deveraux did in "Days of Our Lives," their marriage was a rocky one. Mansi went through a challenging divorce in 2023, but her real love story began when she started dating her future husband, producer and director Matt McInnis. 

As part of her stunning personal transformation, the soap star soon marked another major milestone. On May 31, 2025, Mansi and McInnis tied the knot in a stunning garden ceremony that was just as unique as the duo themselves. The happy couple threw an engagement party and surprised their guests by turning the event into their wedding. In an interview with People, the bride described the intention behind her surprise wedding. "The entire evening was meant to mirror our relationship: unexpected, full of humor, moving to its own rhythm, and rooted in deep connection," the actor explained. 

It is not uncommon for actors to occasionally direct an episode or more of the show they star in, but in Kate Mansi's case, it was personal. The soap star directed an episode of "General Hospital" that dealt with endometriosis, the health condition that could have derailed her career. In the episode, her character's sister experiences a flare-up of endometriosis and has an educational discussion with her new boyfriend about it, indirectly teaching audiences about the condition and spreading awareness. In her interview with People, Mansi expressed her gratitude for the opportunity to advance her career and highlight an important health issue. "As someone who's been in this industry for a while, I've never even read a script in my life to this day, apart from here, that even mentioned endometriosis," she explained.

Mansi joined the cast of "General Hospital" in 2023, but after her contract ended in 2026 on the heels of her directorial debut, the soap star left the show. In an interview with Soap Steph, she explained her reasoning behind her major career change. She cited new work projects and also revealed, "[W]ith my husband [Matt McInnis] currently producing a series filming primarily abroad, I needed the flexibility to travel while continuing to develop and work in Los Angeles."

Like many famous actors, "General Hospital" star Kate Mansi may seem like she has it all together on the surface with a happy marriage and successful career. However, even when her personal and professional life are where she wants them to be, the actor has bravely shared that she still struggles at times with her mental health. Mansi was diagnosed with anxiety and depression and has also been open about her struggles with her physical health in an effort to help others. She is so passionate about mental health that in an interview with Naluda Magazine, she revealed that if she were not an actor, she would have become a psychiatrist.

While Mansi was initially nervous about getting on antidepressants, in 2024, she shared how Zoloft was helping her function better, normalizing seeking medical help for this health issue. At the start of 2025, the soap opera star also created a series on her Instagram page called the "Sunday Support Series," a weekly talk where she is joined by mental health professionals to provide guidance for Angelenos struggling with grief. The series began during the Los Angeles wildfires to help the local community cope, but it also shares helpful resources and provides a safe space for anyone struggling.