General Hospital’s Dominic Zamprogna Discloses the Words of Encouragement He Shared With Kelly Monaco

Since General Hospital paired Sam and Dante, their portrayers had grown closer than ever before. “You become fast friends with people that you work with like that,” Dominic Zamprogna tells Soap Opera Digest. “You’re in the trenches of 14-, 15-hour days and shooting nights, and everyone in the crew becomes like family. You argue and love each other like family does, and the three and a half years that we were together on the show were a big, important time of my life and in my character’s life. 

“And I got to know Kelly in a way that I’d never known her before,” he adds. “She’s a remarkable person. She’s tough as nails and admirable in so many ways, and it’s been cool to become a friend of hers. And that won’t end. It’s just that there is still an ending because you’re not working with someone anymore.”

Along the way, Zamprogna discovered that there was more to Monaco than met the eye. She “is softer than her tough Philly exterior, and I never knew that side of her before working with her,” he says. “I’ve been with her in very emotional states myself, and we became very able to tell each other very personal things and kind of talk each other through moments that I never would have anticipated that I would have with her because she gives off such a ‘tough girl’ vibe and she’s extremely cool and confident. 

More: Kelly Monaco’s path to stardom [PHOTOS]

“But nobody is always cool and confident and tough, and that is what really endeared me to her,” he continues. “I just loved getting to know her, understanding who she really was, because she’s deep and complex.”

As Monaco’s time on Port Charles drew to a close, Zamprogna, who left the soap for years himself, offered her a unique perspective. “There are not a lot of shows that are on the air as long as General Hospital. There are not a lot of actors who can say they’ve been on a show for one year, let alone 21 years,” he says. “I think sometimes you don’t want to know what life will be like without it because you’re so used to something. But I’ve found the greatest things in my life have come when it feels like a door is closing. And I was really trying to emphasize that to her.”

Though Sam and Dante’s story may have ended, Monaco and Zamprogna’s has not. They remain friends, and as a matter of fact, “I still check in on her every week.” He hasn’t even given up hope that “Sante” may someday reunite. “It’s a soap. Who the heck knows what’s gonna happen?”