On General Hospital, Dr. Portia Robinson, played by Brook Kerr, has had a lot of drama and scandal in the six years that she has been in Port Charles. In 2020, Kerr began playing the mother and doctor with heart and warmth, earning her the loyalty of GH fans.
General Hospital, Brook Kerr’s sensational sixth anniversary
Kerr debuted on March 5, 2020. Her first scenes were of Portia comforting Trina (then Sydney Mikayla) in the wake of the tragic death of her father, Marcus Taggert (Réal Andrews), which would later be revealed to be faked.
On her Instagram account, Kerr shared a brief clip of herself on camera, presumably from one of her first days on set, with Donnell Turner, who plays Portia’s on-again, off-again mate Curtis Ashford. She posted the clip on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) and tagged GH makeup artist Stephanie Riley.
“Six years ago,” Kerr wrote, “I stepped into this role, not knowing how much it would change me. Thank you to the fans who show up every day with love and passion for the show and our storytelling. You make this experience so meaningful…. Grateful for every moment.”
Brook Kerr brings the drama on General Hospital
Several General Hospital costars weighed in on Instagram. “Yes babbyyy!!!” exclaimed Katelyln MacMullen (Willow), while adding fire, clapping, and heart emojis.
“That’s because you show up! Keep shining!” posted Tanisha Harper, who plays Jordan, Portia’s rival.
Sawandi Wilson, who plays Portia’s current lover, Dr. Isaiah Gannon, commented with clapping and star emojis.
“The best,” shared Cyrus Hobbi (Yuri).
Numerous other General Hospital stars liked the post, including Chris McKenna (Brennan), Parry Shen (Brad Cooper), Jacqueline Grace Lopez (ex-Blaze), Tabyana Ali (Trina), and Arlondriah Lenyéa (N’neka).
On Instagram, General Hospital fan divatree7 said, “Portia is never boring, and I love your portrayal for keeping her fresh and real. 🙂 congrats on your GH anniversary!”
Another fan, semajdebose, said, “Portia has always been my favorite female character on the show and love #BlackScrubs as a couple @sawandiwilson”
A relative of Kerr’s, Rhodes_5271, added, “I’m sooo proud of you cuz! The road to success was not easy. But you kept your head up and kept pushing forward. You did it with class and grace! You made all [of] us proud back home, Love you!”
On X, @Nanci_Grl praised her performance, saying, “What a kind, lovely post to share. WOW, time passes so fast. What you put into your work is so beautiful. You take the words on a page and bring them to life. Your character is so multi-dimensional. Flawed, beautiful, so loving, a mama bear. Makes mistakes. Fabulous actress.”
General Hospital fans love Portia’s mama bear nature
@MelissaRabb1 also gave high praise to Kerr’s ability to make Portia sympathetic even when she’s committing acts of questionable ethics, saying, “Happy Anniversary – congrats on your 6 years! 🎉You are really good at what you do. Because sometimes when I think I don’t agree with Portia, I listen and she changes my mind.”
Kerr was Whitney Russell on the NBC soap Passions from 1999 to 2007. She was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for her work on that show and was a Daytime Emmy nominee for Outstanding Supporting Actress in 2023 for playing Portia.
Several fans remembered her work on Passions when they commented on the posts.
“Okay, so you still look like the same as you did during Passions…. How?” queried leisakimone.
In between her soap tenures, Kerr appeared on several primetime series, including CSI: Miami, NCIS: Los Angeles, True Blood, and Westworld.
On General Hospital, Portia has had a lot of romantic tension in her marriage to Curtis and her current romance with Isaiah. She not only kept Trina’s existence from Curtis for many years, but she has had affairs while she was with both Curtis and Taggert.
In her role as Co-Chief of Staff at General Hospital, Portia has not been afraid to bend the rules to help the people she cares about, particularly her daughter, Trina. To protect Trina, she illegally drugged criminal Oz Haggerty (Max Faugno) to wake him up from a coma, and altered Heather Webber’s (Alley Mills) test results to keep her in jail and to protect Trina.
That deception put her in the crosshairs of Congressman Drew Cain (Cameron Mathison) and Brad Cooper (Parry Shen) and almost cost Portia her career.
Portia has been a good mother, guiding Trina through several traumatic situations, and has been a fierce mama bear to protect her daughter from threats by Esme Prince (Avery Pohl) and others.
Now she is pregnant with her second child on General Hospital and is trying to manage that situation. Even when Portia is showing questionable ethics, Kerr makes it easy for us to feel sympathy for her by portraying Dr. Robinson with warmth and heart.
