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(SoapOperaNetwork.com) – Finola Hughes, who has portrayed Anna Devane on “All My Children,” “General Hospital” and its spin-off “General Hospital: Night Shift” over the course of nearly thirty years, has been bumped to contract status at “GH” according to executive producer Frank Valentini, who made the announcement via Twitter.

“I am so excited to announce the lovely @finolahughes is now on contract!” Valentini said. Hughes followed up the producers tweet shortly afterward when she said “@valentinifrank And I am so happy to be there xxxx.”

Hughes returned to the ABC daytime soap in early 2012 and has appeared in numerous television programs in between her appearances as Ms. Devane including roles on such series as NBC’s “Blossom,” FOX’ “Pacific Palisades,” The WB‘s “Charmed,” and NBC daytime’s “Sunset Beach.” In addition to television, Hughes has provided voice talents to the films “Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World” and “Scooby-Doo! Legend of the Phantosaur.”

In 1991, Hughes appeared in a faux Daytime Emmy reel for the fictionalized soap opera “All My Trials” as part of the film “Soapdish” starring Sally Field as Celeste Talbert – a spoof character of Susan Lucci‘s Erica Kane from “All My Children.” From 1999-2003, Hughes transplanted Anna Devane and her twin sister Alex Devane Marick to “All My Children” in one of ABC’s first attempts to provide cross-over character appeal to its daytime soaps.

In 1984, the legendary star received two Razzie Awards nominations for her role in “Staying Alive, the sequel to John Travolta‘s “Saturday Night Fever.” She won for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series at “The 18th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards” for her role on “GH.”

Jill Johnson/JPI

(SoapOperaNetwork.com) — Former “As The World Turns” bad boy Shawn Christian joins the cast of “Days of our Lives” as Salem University Hospital’s newest hot doctor.

Beginning Tuesday, March 4, Christian begins airing on the NBC soap as Dr. Daniel Jonas. The character is first introduced to Chelsea Brady (Rachel Melvin) by Victor Kiriakis (John Aniston). Dr. Jonas is said to be heavily involved in the upcoming Bo Brady storyline.

Christian made his television debut on CBS’s “As The World Turns” in 1994 as the original Mike Kasnoff. He has also appeared in such primetime series as “Pacific Palisades,” “Beverly Hills, 90210″ and more recently as Johnny Durant on The WB’s “Summerland.” The series aired for two seasons on the network and co-starred Lori Loughlin (“Full House“) and singer-actor Jesse McCartney (“All My Children“).

Shawn can next be seen on the big screen in “Starship Dave” with Eddie Murphy, “Small Town Saturday Night” with Chris Pine (“American Dreams“) and “Killer Moves,” which are all due out for release later this year.

According to Soap Opera Digest, Christian began taping on Monday, February 11.