[2] Nancy Lee Grahn, known for her Emmy winning portrayal of Julia Wainwright on Santa Barbara, made her first appearance as Alexis on September 26, 1996,[3][4] on a recurring basis.

[10] Alexis is the daughter of Mikkos Cassadine, a Greco-Russian prince, and his mistress Kristin Bergman, a Swedish opera singer.

Mikkos' wife Helena Cassadine slit Kristin's throat[11] in front of young Alexis, who then developed partial amnesia and forgot her true identity.

Alexis was taken into Mikkos' house to be raised as a poor relative with the last name Davidovitch, while her infant sister Kristina disappeared.

While attending Briarton Griggs Academy,[12] a boarding school in New Hampshire,[13] Alexis at 16 sees an opportunity to reinvent herself.

In 1996, Stefan, who has instructed Alexis to change her last name to Davis, brings her to town for legal aid.

Alexis is protective of Stefan, and tries to make him believe his lover Katherine Bell is his half-sister Natasha.

In an attempt to avenge her mother's death, she teams up with Luke to kill Helena, and mistakenly pushes Katherine off a parapet instead.

Katherine is presumed dead and Stefan is put on trial; Alexis defends him and gets the charges dropped.

In 2003, she fakes dissociative identity disorder to avoid jail time, while Ned is given custody of Kristina and brings her to live with the Quartermaine family.

Alexis disguises herself as a man named Dobson and begins working at the Quartermaine mansion to be closer to her daughter.

With the help of psychiatrist Cameron Lewis, Alexis eventually regains full custody of Kristina.

When Kristina is diagnosed with aplastic anemia and needs bone marrow, Alexis is forced to tell Sonny the truth.

Alexis comes close to death giving birth to Molly during a train wreck caused by Manny Ruiz, a dangerous criminal.

Knowing Alexis used medical marijuana to counter her chemotherapy, Ric gets full custody of Molly.

Alexis has to deal with the resulting fallout from the scandal, as well as a teenage Kristina, rebellious and headstrong.

She is faced with the reality of Kristina's situation when Alexis' car is proven to have run Claudia Zacchara off the road, leading to the death of her unborn child.

With the help of her nephew, Nikolas Cassadine, and Diane, Alexis gets a light sentence, though she's forced to resign as the District Attorney.

He continually tries to get Alexis prosecuted, and when his attempts fail, he becomes deranged and opens fire inside General Hospital.

She becomes an attorney in Diane's firm, and is involved in various cases during this time, including the custody battle of Josslyn Jacks, and Maxie Jones' trial for the murder of Lisa Niles.

He later reveals that he was actually inoculating her against a pathogen that he put in the Port Charles water supply, infecting the whole town.

When Danny is diagnosed with leukemia and needs a bone marrow transplant, Sam asks Alexis about her biological father when no one proves to be a match.

When Julian leaves the mob to protect his family, Alexis decides to give him a chance, and they start dating.

However, Julian's past comes back to haunt him when his hit man, Carlos Rivera, is arrested for killing Duke Lavery.

While Julian is awaiting trial, Alexis' law license is suspended for a year because of her breach of ethics for defending Carlos.

This, combined with Julian getting acquitted of the murder charges, pushes Alexis over the edge, and she turns to alcohol.

Alexis finds out that her AA sponsor, "Liv Lowry," is actually Olivia St. John, Julian's older sister who was presumed dead is alive and identifies her as Morgan's killer and as Robin's abductor with the help of Curtis, Jason, Sam, and Jordan.

[16][17] In 2023, Charlie Mason from Soaps She Knows placed Alexis 13th on his ranked list of General Hospital's 40+ Greatest Characters of All Time, commenting that "Bundles of neuroses don't come any more compelling than this alcoholic ex-attorney, the brilliant matriarch of the Davis girls and the most engaging disaster you're ever likely to watch — preferably from a safe distance.