Alexis Davis (Nancy Lee Grahn)

Alexis Davis (née Princess Natasha Alexandra Mikkosovna Cassadine, raised Alexis Davidovitch, formerly Alexis Jacks and Alexis Lansing) is a fictional character on the popular ABC soap opera, General Hospital. Nancy Lee Grahn originated the role in 1996. She is the daughter of Mikkos Cassadine and Kristin Bergman. She is also the mother of Sam McCall, Kristina Davis and Molly Lansing.

Arrival and Cassadine heritage
Alexis is the daughter of Mikkos Cassadine, a Greco-Russian prince, and his mistress Kristin Bergman, a Swedish opera singer. Mikkos' wife Helena Cassadine slit Kristin's throat in front of young Alexis, who develops partial amnesia and forgets her true identity. Alexis is taken into Mikkos' house to be raised as a poor relative with the last name Davidovitch, while her infant sister disappears. Helena and her half-brother Stavros Cassadine torment her, but her other half-brother Stefan Cassadine (who believes that she is indeed his cousin) protects her, gaining her loyalty. As a teenager, Alexis becomes pregnant, but her father Mikkos Cassadine takes the baby, who grows up to be Sam McCall, and gave her up for adoption. Davis graduated from Yale University.

Stefan, who has instructed Alexis to change her name to Davis, brings her to Port Charles to aid in the legal side of his vendetta against Luke Spencer, the husband of his former lover Laura Spencer. Alexis is protective of Stefan and her nephew Nikolas Cassadine, going as far to make Stefan believe that his lover Katherine Bell was actually his half-sister Natasha. Upon learning of her deception, Stefan banishes her from his life. Luke helps her discover her true identity as the real Natasha, and Helena uses this to force Alexis to aid her in an attempt to wrest control of the Cassadine empire from Stefan, in turn giving Alexis the princess birthright she deserved. However, Alexis didn't want to become like the rest of the cruel, murderous Cassadines, and gave up her position as princess.

Alexis falls in love with Ned Ashton, but marries Jasper &quot;Jax&quot; Jacks as part of a convoluted plan to help her best friend Chloe Morgan save her company. Chloe eventually loses her company, and Alexis and Jax divorce. She reluctantly accepts Ned's proposal, and the two plan a massive wedding. However, her doubts get the better of her, and she leaves a devastated Ned at the altar.

Sonny Corinthos and birth of Kristina
She reluctantly becomes a lawyer for mob boss Sonny Corinthos, and aids Sonny and his enforcer, Jason Morgan, in their various legal struggles, including custody disputes. After Sonny is arrested, Alexis convinces him to marry her enemy Carly Roberts so that she would be unable to testify against him. She and Sonny bonded over their mutually complicated relationships and their affection for troubled teen Zander Smith. Sonny went on to save her life, when she, Zander, Sonny and Emily Quartermaine were attacked by a rival mafia family.

Alexis is left devastated by the murder of Chloe, but was comforted by Jax, who found her presumed dead sister Kristina Carter. Throught this, Sonny Corinthos has been her support. Kristina claims her birthright and becomes a Cassadine Princess, despite Helena's plots to attempt to murder her. Sonny also learned he had a sister, Courtney Matthews, and Courtney and Kristina both noticed the deepening bond between Alexis and Sonny. When Courtney elopes with Sonny's enemy, A.J. Quartermaine, he decides to have A.J. killed. Alexis is able to get Sonny to reverse the decision, and Sonny realizes how much Alexis means to him.

That night, Sonny and Alexis make love, which is witnessed by his ex-wife, Carly. A distraught Carly is in a car accident, and Alexis encourages Sonny to return to his wife. Alexis learns she is pregnant, but decides against telling Sonny, who has turned against Zander and is threatening his life. Ned, who is dating her sister Kristina, claims to be the father. Kristina learns the truth, but is critically injured a warehouse explosion meant for Sonny and decides to keep her sister's secret before dying. At Kristina's memorial service, the devastated Alexis berates Sonny, Jason, and Roy DiLucca, and reminds Sonny that her "Cassadine ancestors were ruling countries when his were toiling in the fields with the other peasants."

She gives birth to a girl, that she names Kristina, and she and Ned furiously work to keep her new enemy Sonny from learning the truth. When Luis Alcazar threatens the life of her daughter, Alexis confronts him and he accidentally falls to his death. She fakes dissociative identity disorder to avoid jail time, while Ned is given custody of Kristina. As Ned and Skye Quartermaine try to gain full custody of the baby, Alexis disguises herself as a man named Dobson and begins working at the Quartermaine mansion to be closer to her daughter. Ned eventually drops the suit, and gives her full custody of her daughter. During a fire at the Port Charles Hotel, Alexis reveals to Carly that Sonny is actually Kristina's father.

When Kristina is diagnosed with leukemia and needs bone marrow, Sonny learns the truth, and it is discovered that Kristina's only hope for survival is in stem cells from the unborn child of Sonny and his former lover Sam McCall. As Kristina will not survive long enough for the baby to be born, Alexis attempts to convince Sam to induce labor two weeks early, but eventually grows desperate and insults and guilts her into giving in, a decision she quickly regrets when Sam goes into premature labor and ultimately loses the baby; however, Kristina nonetheless gets the stem cells she needs to survive. Later, during an encephalitis epidemic, Alexis receives the last antidote. This results in the death of Sam's mentally handicapped older brother Danny, which only increases Sam's animosity towards Alexis.

Lost daughter found and birth of Molly
Fellow lawyer Ric Lansing flirts with Alexis a lot, as they see each other a lot in courtrooms. At first, Alexis pushes him away, not interested in a relationship, but slowly she falls for him, as well. They get married, but encounter a roadblock in their marriage when Ric sleeps with FBI Agent Reese Marshall. Alexis is pregnant at this time. She gives birth to Ric's daughter, Molly Lansing, which brings Ric and Alexis back together. Alexis is also appointed as District Attorney for the city.

During this time, she becomes the defending lawyer for Manny Ruiz, a serial killer who has tormented and stalked Jason and Sam for months, after he apparently reforms. Jason and Sam insist that Manny is faking and that things will end badly, but Alexis refuses to heed their warnings and successfully gets Manny acquitted. Ironically, Jason and Sam's warnings prove true when Manny reverts to his old ways by kidnapping Elizabeth Webber.

After several brushes with death, Alexis decides to find the daughter she gave up for adoption when she was a teen. Alexis learns that Sam is actually her daughter, but Sam hates Alexis and blames her for all of her recent problems, and the two continue to butt heads over Sam's relationship with Jason. Sam tried to claim her birthright as a Russian Cassadine princess, but was not eligible to hold the title because her mother gave the title up.

After Sam is shot by Manny Ruiz and rendered infertile (though it is believed at the time that Manny was trying to shoot Jason), Alexis manipulates Jason into breaking up with her, which causes more conflict between mother and daughter. Sam moves in with Alexis, who is having marital problems with Ric. However, Manny eventually kidnaps Sam once more, and Jason teams up with the police to stop him; Mac Scorpio is quick to throw it in Alexis' face that the entire ordeal is her fault for setting Manny free in the first place.

Alexis convinces Jason to break up with Sam who was left infertile after being shot by someone trying to kill Jason,(it was later revealed that Sam was the intended victim of Manny Ruiz, who wanted her to die in Jason's arms to hurt him), which causes more conflict between mother and daughter. Sam moves in with Alexis, who is having marital problems with Ric. When Alexis discovers that Jason's best friend, Carly Corinthos, is trying to get them back together, Alexis confronts Jason and attempts to convince him to stop Carly from doing so, eventually leading to an argument with Sam; Alexis furiously suggests that Sam live elsewhere to prevent Kristina and Molly from being exposed to her "pathetic, degraded attitude", while Sam insists that Alexis sees her as trash and hates that she is her daughter, though Alexis appears visibly hurt by her accusations. Infuriated and hurt, Sam gets drunk and ends up having sex with Ric in the living room. Alexis and Jason both witness this, and Jason takes Alexis to the hospital when she suffers uncontrollable coughing.

Battle with cancer
Alexis is diagnosed with second stage lung cancer, and pretends to not have seen her husband and daughter having sex. Ric takes over as D.A., and Alexis pushes him together with Sam while she begins chemotherapy. Eventually she furiously confronts the two, and attempts to take full custody of Molly. Due to the rigors of chemotherapy, the judge instead awards full custody to Ric. When his father Trevor Lansing comes to town as part of the Zacchara mafia organization, he returns Molly to her mother's care, and the two settle on joint custody.

When Sam shoots and apparently kills Diego Alcazar in front of Kristina, badly traumatizing her and rendering her mute for several months, this, combined with Sam's tryst with Ric, leads Alexis to cut Sam out of her life completely. However, the two continue to be drawn together for Kristina's sake and because Sam wants to help Alexis fight her cancer, and they finally reconcile when Alexis volunteers to be Sam's defense attorney when she is tried for Diego's murder. Ultimately, Sam is cleared of all charges due to a lack of evidence, and Alexis beats her cancer.

Scandal and trouble with Kristina
Alexis returns to her job as the D.A., forming a very close friendship with attorney Diane Miller, and also beginning an affair with the criminal Jerry Jacks.

After Michael Corinthos is shot in an attempt on Sonny's life, Sonny agrees to sign away parental rights to his sons with Carly, but refuses to do the same with his daughter with Alexis. Alexis had to adjust when Jerry had been supposedly killed and protected him when he snuck in to Sonny's house. Alexis learns that Jerry had been part of Michael's shooting.

Months later, Alexis is involved in the case of the death of Brianna Hughes, Mayor Floyd's mistress. She tries to balance that with raising Kristina, now a teenager, and Molly, who is now 11. When Mayor Floyd is arrested for murdering Brianna, he reveals to the press that he and Alexis had an affair. Kristina is there when he makes this announcement and is shocked and upset by this. Kristina helps Molly deal, but when Molly keeps finding gossip posting online about Alexis, she bans Molly from using the computer. As a result of this scandal, Alexis finds out that her post as D.A. is in jeopardy. Diane tries to help her out by getting Jason Morgan, Sonny's main enforcer, to stay in lock-up for a week to make Alexis look good, but A.D.A. Louise Addison ends up being put on the case when the Port Charles City Hall tells Alexis to step down, and Jason ends up going free.

When Claudia Corinthos, Sonny's wife, is run off the road and has a miscarriage, Michael is arrested for this. Alexis tries to work on a plea bargain for Michael with Carly, but Carly refuses, saying Michael wasn't responsible, and she believes it was Alexis. Michael is released, and he ends up fleeing the country with Kristina. Alexis is furious and blames Michael for messing up Kristina's life. Sam, however, tells Alexis that Kristina has been rebellious and emotionally distraught for a while, and it was not Michael's fault her attitude suddenly changed. Sam tells Alexis that Kristina believes she needs to be perfect for her mother. Alexis initially refuses to believe this, but eventually does.

Jax gets Diane to have both Alexis's cars impounded in connection to the case of Claudia's accident. He tells Alexis that he wants Carly to stop worrying for the sake of their unborn baby. However, evidence reveals that one of Alexis's cars was the one that ran Claudia off the road. Alexis immediately confesses to the crime, but Jax cuts her off and calls Diane to defend her. Alexis reveals to Diane that Kristina was the one who ran Claudia off the road. Alexis is charged with reckless driving, as well as the murder of Brianna Hughes; this leads to her being fired as the D.A.

When Molly hears what happened to her mom, she goes to her cousin, Nikolas Cassadine, for help. Nikolas manages to negotiate a plea bargain and Alexis is given six months of community service, serving as a pro bono lawyer, for running Claudia off the road. Kristina is brought home by Sam after Alexis admits to Sonny that Kristina has been emotionally distressed for a long time and needs their help. Alexis reassures Kristina that she loves her and she doesn't have to be perfect for her, but the situation devolves into an argument between herself and Sam over whether or not Alexis is too lenient on Kristina. In the end, Sam loses patience and leaves, leaving a shocked Alexis with the warning that Kristina will spiral out of her control some day. Shortly afterwards, Sam and Jason rekindle their old romance; though she still has her doubts, Alexis respects Sam's choices this time and chooses not to interfere.

In September 2009, Alexis attends the GH Carnival with Molly and Kristina. There, she is hounded by Andrea Floyd, the mayor's wife, who taunts that she's not going to be with her daughters much longer when she goes to prison for murdering Brianna. Edward Quartermaine ends up driving his car through the carnival when he suffers a heart attack at the wheel. He ends up hitting Andrea, who is killed instantly, and narrowly missing Alexis.

Alexis frantically searches for Molly and Kristina, but finds no sign of them. In the hospital, she finds Molly, but Kristina was buried in the rubble when the car drove through the ride she was on. She is eventually found by Michael. Andrea is revealed to be the perpetrator, having drugged Edward so that he wouldn't reveal that Andrea was the one who actually killed Brianna.

Sonny holds a birthday party for Claudia on October 29, 2009. Alexis refuses to let Kristina go, and goes by herself. She finds Mayor Floyd there, who offers her position as D.A. back, now that he knows his wife was the one who killed Brianna. Alexis declines, saying she enjoys having more time to devote to her family now. Kristina sneaks into the party, wanting to come. She is found by Michael, who wants to tell Sonny that Claudia was the one who got him shot. Sonny, though, finds out and reveals Claudia to her entire birthday crowd, which both Kristina and Alexis hear. Kristina's relationship with Sonny is strained at this point, and she tells her mom she wants nothing to do with him after finding out Sam was kidnapped by an artist obsessed with Sam's boyfriend, Jason. Alexis is worried and tries to help her daughter repair her relationship with her father.

Mac Scorpio and Kristina's abuse
For Thanksgiving in 2009, Sam, Kristina, and Molly all team up with Robin Scorpio to set Alexis up with Robin's uncle, Police Commissioner Mac Scorpio. Alexis and Mac figure it out, though, when they show up at Robin's house for dinner. Though they're disappointed that their kids were scheming, but they decide to enjoy dinner as a family. They later go on a date together at Jake's on their own wish. Kristina and Molly later invite Mac over to their house during Christmas, and bring Mac and Alexis together under the mistletoe, where they kiss. On New Year's Eve, Alexis lets Kiefer Bauer, Kristina's boyfriend, into the house, and finds out he's there because she has a date with Mac. Alexis is upset that Kristina and Molly keep setting her up, but they later inform their mom that Mac called and was the one who set up the date. She later agrees when Mac shows up, but they get stranded when her car breaks down. They end up dancing in headlights while ringing in the new year. Mac comes to her house on Valentine's Day to give her a present, and they end up making out on the couch just as all three of her daughters walked in. Alexis is mortified, but Kristina tells her she shouldn't be ashamed of dating a guy who actually respects her.

Sonny is put on trial for Claudia's murder in February 2010, and Alexis serves as co-counselor to help Kristina see that her father is not a bad person. She later joins Diane's law firm. In March 2010, Alexis comes home from a night out with Molly and finds Kristina gone and the house in a mess. She later goes to GH, where she finds out Kristina was assaulted. When Kristina identifies Ethan Lovett as her attacker, Sonny overhears this and goes to kill Ethan, but he is stopped by Ethan's brother Lucky Spencer, as well as Kristina's brother, Dante Falconeri.

He comes back to the hospital, and Kristina begs him not to go after Ethan just as Alexis comes in. Kristina pleads with her mom to not let Sonny kill Ethan. Alexis agrees and goes outside to talk to Sonny, who is furious that his daughter has been beat up the same way his mother was. He tells Alexis that no one gets away with hitting one of his kids. Alexis angrily retaliates that it's about what Sonny wants, but what Kristina wants. She tells him to let Ethan be prosecuted by the law, and not to cause Kristina "one more minute of pain." Sonny reluctantly agrees, but it's obvious he's still contemplating killing Ethan.

Sam later confesses to Alexis that she helped Kristina get birth control pills five months before, and that she made Sam swear not to tell her mother. Alexis finally realizes that Kristina's in a ton of pain and emotionally a mess because she feels like she can't measure up to her mother's standards, and tries to prove to Kristina that's not true. Alexis's friendship with Luke, Ethan's father, starts going sour due to this incident, especially after Kristina convinces Alexis to drop the charges. However, on April 2, 2010, Alexis finally discovers that Kiefer is the one who has been abusing her; she arrives home and walks right past him just before finding a bruised and bloodied Kristina unconscious on the floor. She takes Kristina to the hospital. On the way, she runs down Kiefer, but doesn't stop due to her shock.

Kristina finally identifies Kiefer as her attacker, but she has to deal with the emotional trauma when she finds out Kiefer died in a hit-and-run. Alexis covers up her guilt for a while, but she finally goes and confesses to Mac on April 10, 2010. Mac charges her, but lets her go, and she goes back to the hospital and tells Kristina she's the one who hit Kiefer. Kristina forgives her, but Kiefer's parents, grief-stricken and overwrought, both harass Alexis and Kristina for what they put their son through, going as far as denying that he ever hit Kristina. Alexis asks Jax, a friend of the Bauers, to get them off Kristina, and he agrees. Kristina is later discharged, and Alexis takes her home, unsure of what's going to happen next.

On her way out, Alexis encounters Nikolas, who has become aware of Alexis and Kristina's situation. He brings them both to Wyndemere to spend time with his son, Spencer, which actually helps Kristina. Alexis later thanks Nikolas for helping Kristina smile again. Helena, however, comes in while she's there, and Alexis becomes wary of her intentions to help the family, knowing she has an ulterior motive, but not sure what.

With Sonny's trial nearing its end, the prosecutor, Claire Walsh, issues a subpoena to bring Michael in to testify, believing that Michael's testimony will ensure Sonny's conviction. Upon learning of what happened to Kristina, Michael returns to town to visit her. Unfortunately, Alexis returns while Michael is talking to Kristina at the lake house, and has no choice but to alert the police to his return despite Kristina's pleas. Dante, having discovered that it was actually Michael who killed Claudia, albeit to protect Carly, rats him out right before the verdict on Sonny comes in, and Michael is brought to the stand and forced to confess. Alexis, like everyone else, is left shocked and upset when Judge Carroll unfairly sentences Michael to five years in Pentonville Adult Correctional Facility. In order to protect Michael, Jason makes a deal with Claire and is sent there along with him. Nonetheless, Alexis begins to worry about her chances of escaping prison time for Kiefer's hit-and-run, because she essentially did the same thing Michael did. However, thanks to Diane's maneuvering, Alexis gets off with a suspended sentence and community service; unfortunately, Warren pushes a civil suit in retaliation. Dante eventually gets Michael out of Pentonville, but Jason is forced to remain behind for several months.

Dealing with Kristina and Sonny
In early June, Kristina begins to pretend-date Johnny in order to spite her father, and ignores everyone's warnings that doing so is dangerous. With tensions between Johnny and Sonny reaching a boiling point, Alexis visits Jason in Pentonville, hoping that he might convince Johnny to back off. Jason tells her that he is not certain if he will be able to do anything, but nonetheless makes some good points in the argument. Before leaving, Alexis admits to Jason that she admires him for sacrificing so much for Michael. Kristina ultimately learns her lesson the hard way when she is caught in a car bomb meant for Johnny; fortunately, Kristina survives with minimal injuries. Furious, Alexis confronts Sonny and has no choice but to believe him for the time being when he denies any part in the bomb.

Kiefer's father, Warren Bauer, embarks on a campaign to make Alexis and Kristina pay for Kiefer's demise and turn the citizens over to his side, but everyone only hampers him. Eventually, on July 23, 2010, Warren snaps and induces a shootout at the hospital, critically wounding Mac and Ethan before being shot and killed by Mac himself. When Sonny and Alexis discover this, Alexis becomes very upset and declares that she is to blame for every bad thing that has ever happened to Kristina, citing the fact that she was the one who encouraged Kristina to date Kiefer in the first place as proof, though Sonny tries to comfort her and convince her otherwise.

In September 2010, Alexis gently warns Brook Lynn Ashton that getting romantically involved with Nicholas would be a bad idea. On November 5, 2010, Sonny is discovered to be the one who planted the bomb in Johnny's car and is confronted by Kristina, who, realizing that he only did so to protect her, forgives him and finally reconciles with her father, which Alexis witnesses.

Jacks custody battle
In spring 2011, Alexis is hired to be Jax's lawyer when he becomes convinced that Carly is an unfit mother to Josslyn and decides to fight her for full custody. Though Alexis aids Jax in his attempts to win full custody, she does so reluctantly and repeatedly tries to convince Jax to try to compromise with Carly. In the end she steps down as his attorney due to conflicts of interest. On the day of Jax and Carly's custody hearing, it's revealed that Jax has been paying off the court appointed mediator Grace Yang. When Sonny finds out about this he blackmails the mediator and makes her help him frame Jax for attempted rape and drug possession. Carly is awarded full custody of Josslyn as a result of Sonny's maneuvers. Jax leaves town, and Brenda also leaves Sonny. Jax later returns and attempts to kidnap Josslyn for her own safety, but Sonny blames Jax for Brenda's departure, and tampers with Jax's plane causing it to crash in the ocean. Grief-stricken, Alexis decides that she shouldn't have resigned from Jax's case, because the danger was real and she later confronts Sonny. It is later discovered that Jax parachuted out of the plane before the crash.

Carly later approaches Alexis and asks for her help in keeping Sonny away from her children. Alexis is skeptical of Carly's motives and refuses to help her. She gives Carly a verbal lashing, telling her that what happened to Jax is just as much her fault as Sonny's because she riled Sonny up and set him on Jax in the first place. In early November, Alexis goes to Sonny and asks him to pull some strings and get Kristina off the wait list at Yale. He agrees on the pretense that Alexis will owe him a favor, and to that she agrees to repay the favor any way she can. Sonny is successful and they throw Kristina a party before she goes off to Yale. Before the party Diane goes to Sonny and quits her job as his attorney so that she can focus on other journalistic endeavors. Now in need of a lawyer, Sonny goes back to Alexis to cash in on that favor and asks her to represent him. At first she refuses but after some convincing she agrees to go back to work as Sonny's attorney again

New troubles with Maxie and Sonny
Later in the year Alexis begins to suffer from what appears to be hot flashes. Diane suggests that maybe Alexis has begun menopause which Alexis thinks is a disaster. Diane tries to push Mac and Alexis into a relationship together, but when that relationship doesn't stick, she starts to date Mac herself much to the chagrin of Alexis.

In January 2012, Alexis was excited to learn that she was going to be a grandmother when she correctly assumed that her daughter Sam is pregnant. She later tries to encourage her daughter Molly to have more of a social life. She suggests that Molly begin to tutor T.J. Ashford, a new kid in town that was staying with Shawn Butler. However TJ arranged a party at the lakehouse on MyFace to coincide with when Alexis was to be away at a charity function and invited everyone from their highschool, without Molly's knowledge. They turn up with alcohol and Molly accidentally ends up drinking some and passing out. Alexis arrives home furious and grounds Molly and tells her she is not to see TJ anymore. After Sonny is accused of shooting out Anthony Zaccara's tires and thus causing the death of Cole Thonhart and his daughter Hope, Alexis is called in to be his lawyer. She is also called in to be Maxie's lawyer who has confessed to the police that she killed Lisa Niles on a cruise boat and had a hand in the death of the ship's first mate. Alexis tries desperately to get her to with-tract her statement and not implicate herself anymore than she already has however Maxie is set in her ways that she wants to go to prison, because she feels that she is responsible for the presumed death of her cousin Robin.