20 Things to Know About Cynthia Watros, GH’s New Nina Reeves

Credit: Image: Donato Sardella/Penske Media/Shu

Fun facts about the actress taking over the role of Nina Reeves on General Hospital.

With actress Cynthia Watros set to debut as Nina Reeves on General Hospital next week, Soaps.com decided to introduce the actress to our readers with some fun facts about her life and her previous television roles.

1.

She was born in Lake Orion, Michigan as Cynthia Michele Watros. She is of Polish, Italian, English and Welsh ancestry.

2.

In her early years Cynthia Watros grew up in a trailer park in Lake Orion, Michigan. Her father, Bruce, is an electrical engineer and mother, Nancy, a legal secretary. Her parents divorced when she was 7. She has an older brother, Steven, who is also an electrical engineer.

3.

When she was a teenager, Watros was diagnosed with immune thrombocytopenia, an autoimmune disease of the blood. For almost three years she battled the disease, which she overcame after undergoing a splenectomy and two years of chemotherapy.

4.

Watros holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Theatre from Boston University.

5.

Cynthia Watros is best known to soap opera fans for playing nurse Annie Dutton on Guiding Light from 1994 to 1998. The character started off as a good girl until her dark past involving drugs and alcohol was revealed and she descended into madness, becoming obsessed with Josh Lewis (Robert Newman).

6.

Cynthia Watros won a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in 1998 for her work on Guiding Light.

7.

Before landing the role on Guiding Light, Watros made her television debut in 1994 as a reporter on New York Undercover.

8.

Watros met her Guiding Light co-star Kim Zimmer (Reva) before appearing on the soap as they both were in the 1993 – 1994 off-Broadway production of Four Dogs and a Bone. The two were the opening-night understudies for the production, which also featured Debra Messing (Will and Grace).

9.

Cynthia Watros briefly played Victoria Hudson McKinnon on Another World in 1998 while Jensen Buchanan was on maternity leave.

10.

Watros has been married to Curtis Gilliland since 1996. He is a Los Angeles restaurateur who chooses to remain out of the Hollywood spotlight.

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11.

Watros and Gilliland have twin girls Emma Rose Marie and Sadie Anna Marie Gilliland, born on July 14, 2001 in L.A.

12.

While playing Erin Fitzpatrick in the sitcom Titus in 2000, Cynthia Watros was pregnant with her twins, though her character was not. To hide her pregnancy she was often placed standing behind objects and shown holding flowers, pillows, and wedding dresses in garment bags. She was filmed from the waist up, was put into dark clothes, and the show at one point introduced a story that put her character in a wheelchair.

13.

Cynthia Watros stared as Kellie Newmark on The Drew Carey Show from 2002 until 2004, and married Drew Carey’s character in the season finale, after giving birth to the character’s son.

14.

Watros may be known to many for appearing on the hit ABC series Lost from 2005 to 2006, playing psychologist Libby Smith. Libby was a member of the “Tailies,” a group of survivors of the plane crash who were in the tail section of the plane and discovered on the island after season one. Her character was shot and killed by Michael Dawson (Harold Perrineau).

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15.

Her work on Lost won her a Screen Actors Guild Award in 2006 for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.

16.

In 2008, Watros participated in a USO tour to Iraq, visiting several bases, including COP Callahan in Baghdad’s East Adamiyah area.

17.

In April 2010, Watros joined the cast of the TV medical drama House for seven episodes as Samantha Carr, one of Dr. James Wilson’s (Robert Sean Leonard) ex-wives.

18.

From 2013 until 2014 she played Kelly Andrews on The Young and the Restless, but the role was recast with Cady McClain when Watros booked the MTV show, Finding Carter.