Dante Falconeri is a fictional character from General Hospital, an American soap opera on the ABC network, played by Dominic Zamprogna.

Under executive producer Jill Farren Phelps and head writer, Robert Guza, Dante is introduced to the series as an undercover cop investigating mob boss, Sonny Corinthos, who happens to be his father.

In addition to his initial investigation of Sonny, Dante's most significant stories include his romance with Lulu Spencer, his unintentionally landing his brother Michael in prison, his past relationships with Brook Lynn Ashton and Brenda Barrett, and his friendship with Ronnie Dimestico.

In 2011, Dante and Lulu are married and under executive producer Frank Valentini and head writer Ron Carlivati, the couple embarks on a journey to have a child.

Zamprogna's performance has been met with critical acclaim, having garnered him Daytime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2014, 2016 and 2019.

Dominic Pirelli arrives in town and immediately ingratiates himself to mob boss Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard) when he saves his life during an ambush and rescues his son Morgan (Aaron Refvem).

He also becomes smitten with Lulu Spencer (then Julie Marie Berman) much to the dismay of her brothers Lucky (Greg Vaughan) and Ethan (Nathan Parsons).

On Sonny's orders, Dante teams up with his mother's boyfriend, Johnny Zacchara (Brandon Barash) to destroy a drug shipment and ends up getting arrested.

Dante confesses his identity to Lulu when she gets trapped in the freezing water beneath the Zacchara mansion in an attempt to keep her alive.

On the night he is about to propose, Dante gets shot covering a shift for the drug addicted Lucky (Jonathan Jackson) making Lulu rethink marriage.

In early 2015, having been made aware of Luke's recent behavior thanks to Ned Ashton (Wally Kurth), Dillon Quartermaine (Robert Palmer Watkins) returns to Port Charles to check up on Tracy Quartermaine (Jane Elliot) and reluctantly gives his support to Tracy and Luke's most recent engagement.

In mid 2015, Dillon and Lulu also both travel to Canada to help her parents Luke and Laura (Anthony Geary and Genie Francis) and Holly Sutton (Emma Samms) rescue Lulu's brothers Lucky Spencer (Jonathan Jackson) and Ethan Lovett (Nathan Parsons), after they were both kidnapped by mobster and Luke's old enemy Frank Smith (Joseph Cortese).

In June 2018, Dante leaves Port Charles to join the WSB in finding Raj Patel, the man who attacked and attempted to kill Lulu two years prior.

When Dante returns home and reunites with his family, he begins showing signs of PTSD with nightmares and episodes, even going as far as attempting to pull a knife on Jason Morgan (Steve Burton) without realizing it.

At the end of the episode, a delirious Kate admits to Dr. Patrick Drake (Jason Thompson) that Dante is actually Sonny's son.

[6] Olivia gives birth to Dante in 1984[7] and swears Connie to secrecy while leading the entire neighborhood to believe that she is very promiscuous and has no idea who the child's father is.

[11] It was speculated that ABC's offer to an actor of Pelphrey's caliber for the role of Dante was allegedly in response to possible departure of longtime leading man, Steve Burton who portrayed Jason Morgan.

However, Pelphrey then issued a statement admitting that he was looking for work outside of daytime making Lago the lead candidate for the role of Dante.

[16] In May 2009 it was announced that Pelphrey would return to Guiding Light to help usher it off the air and it was rumored that the role was being held for him,[17] despite conflicting reports that the once suspended casting call had been reactivated.

[21] Zamprogna revealed in an interview that his manager told him about the role; he filmed the audition and sent to the casting director, Mark Teschner.

A week later, the producers had Zamprogna fly to Los Angeles to read with Maurice Benard, and they immediately offered him a contract.

In May 2020, Zamprogna disclosed to Soaps In Depth that he was "ready to come home," and had opened discussion to return to the role with executive producer Frank Valentini.

I think this is a new, fresh take on [tough guys]… According to the initial casting call, the character of Dante is "charming and flirtatious" with and abundantly arrogant, much like his father.

"[37] The character's onscreen introduction was very ambiguous due to the fact that he is introduced as Dominic, hired by Claudia Zacchara (Sarah Brown) to carry one of her ill-conceived schemes.

[20] It was also spoiled ahead of time that Zamprogna's character would share scenes opposite Sonny's daughter, Kristina Davis (Lexi Ainsworth) which leads to speculation that he could be a potential love interest.

[19] Zamprogna said he made a conscious effort to make sure that there wasn't a huge difference between Dante and his undercover persona, Dominic, besides the names.

According to Zamprogna, Dante understands he has a job to do but he wants to hold off the arrest to give Sonny and family time to share one more happy moment.

[36] Despite critics like Nelson Branco of TV Guide, and Sarah Brown who portrayed Claudia lobbying for Tom Pelphrey to get the job, Zamprogna won the role.

The article continued and commented that not only was Zamprogna "a man who resembled Benard in stature and mannerisms, but more importantly could act his sexy behind off!"

"[44] Daytime Confidential's Perkie said the scene in which Dante confronted Sonny gave them goose bumps and referred to Zamprogna's performance as "mesmerizing.