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Today, Soap Central celebrates General Hospital's Daytime Emmy-nominated actress Kathleen Gati!
Happy birthday, Kathleen Gati!
Born on August 13, Gati is perhaps best known for her portrayal of General Hospital’s Liesl Obrecht — a role which she originated in 2012 and has recently stepped back into.
Gati was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and moved to New York when she was 20, where she began acting in the theatre. Her career gained momentum in the early 80s when she started to get cast in various movies and TV shows. It wasn’t until 1989, however, that she first made her debut on Daytime Television with her portrayal of Taffy Winslow in four episodes of All My Children.
Not long after, she moved to Hungary (her parents’ homeland) after being offered the lead role in a film and continued to work in Hungarian TV and film for the following five years. During that time, she was honored with a Best Supporting Actress award from the Hungarian Film Critics Awards and, along with Gábor Dettre, a Best Documentary Award during Hungarian Film Week. After returning to Hollywood, she has gone on to act in such noteworthy movies and TV shows as Sunshine, Igby Goes Down, Meet the Fockers, NYPD Blue, ER, Bones, Desperate Housewives, NCIS, Arrow, 24, and more.
Dr. Liesl Obrecht
In 2012, she began her portrayal of Swiss-German doctor Liesl Obrecht on General Hospital — a role which was originally intended to last no more than a few days. But, after impressing her fellow actors, Frank Valentini (Executive Producer of General Hospital), and former head writer Ron Carlivati, Gati soon found her character sticking around Port Charles and being interwoven in major storylines.
The mercurial Dr. Obrecht was eventually revealed to be an on-again, off-again partner of the notorious Cesar Faison (Anders Hove) as well as mother to Dr. Britt Westbourne (Kelly Thiebaud) and Detective Nathan West (Ryan Paevy), all of whom she assumes to be deceased at this point. Amongst her numerous crimes, she has kidnapped, held people captive, hidden true identities, attempted murder, held people hostage, threatened with deadly weapons, poisoned, tampered with test results, assaulted, brainwashed, blackmailed, and stolen embryos.
Obrecht, herself, has been kidnapped, physically assaulted and threatened, drugged, kidnapped, held captive, threatened with deadly weapons, and mistakenly shot with a speargun in the stomach by her daughter. She is also known for being a brilliant doctor who even served as chief of staff for a time and for donating her bone marrow to save Willow.
The character of Liesl Obrecht is impossible to box in. She has biting wit and can be exceedingly cold, cruel, and calculating, yet caring and vulnerable. Currently, as she continues to grieve a life without Britt, she is desperate to form a connection with Rocco. With Rocco, she is quirky, kind, patient, and thoughtful. With Dante and Lulu, however, she is delusional, antagonistic, and cruelly unapologetic for the criminal things she has done to them. And, there is no telling what’s in store once she finds out her beloved Britta is actually alive!
Kathleen Gati is a powerhouse who relishes every nuance of her character. Whether she is playing the grieving 'mutter,' the doting oma to James and wanna-be grandmother to Rocco, an evil mastermind, a Nurse’s Ball chanteuse, a divine antagonist, or a quirky, inconvenient truth-teller, Gati’s performance is always pitch-perfect, the center of every scene she is in, and infinitely entertaining.
Soap Central would like to wish Alles Gute zum Geburtstag to the talented Kathleen Gati and sends its best wishes for the year to come!
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