Created by Thom Racina and Leah Laiman, he is most notably played by Daytime Emmy Award-winning actor Steve Burton, who joined the cast in 1991 and vacated the role in 2012.

Jason was born offscreen in September 1981 and the character made his onscreen debut weeks later but was seen portrayed by a child actor in November 1981 as the son of Dr. Alan Quartermaine (Stuart Damon) and his mistress, Susan Moore (Gail Ramsey), later adopted by Alan's wife Dr. Monica Quartermaine (Leslie Charleson).

[9] In January 2001, Burton announced that his return was only temporary due to his commitment to film a pilot for his DreamWorks Television development deal.

[14][15] On August 23, 2012, Jamey Giddens of the website Daytime Confidential reported that contract negotiations were not going well and Burton was close to walking away from the series.

[16] On August 28, 2012, Burton confirmed in an interview with TV Guide's Michael Logan that he would exit the series and agreed to stay long enough for the producers to write his character out properly.

[24] On September 2, 2014, executive producer Frank Valentini announced on Twitter that former All My Children and The Young and the Restless actor Billy Miller would join the cast as Jason.

[30] On January 4, 2024, during the final moments of the primetime special General Hospital: 60 Years of Stars and Storytelling, it was announced Burton would reprise the role.

Steve Burton's early years on the soap as the "rich, wholesome preppy" Jason Quartermaine would come to a shocking, and dramatic end in 1995 after a car accident caused by his brother, A. J. leaves the character as a brain-damaged amnesiac.

[35] Within the mob and despite constant conflicts with law enforcement, Jason operated as a vigilante often taking down criminals who targeted the Corinthos family and tried to bring illegal substances and weapons into Port Charles, New York.

The death of his father Alan and a shooting that left Michael in a year-long coma opened his eyes to what the Quartermaines experienced after his own accident.

For that point on, Jason was shown to be more open to a relationship with his mother Monica, and eventually his grandfather Edward Quartermaine (John Ingle).

Jason was conceived out of his father, Alan Quartermaine's (Stuart Damon), affair with Susan Moore (Gail Ramsey).

Jason has relationships with Karen Wexler (Cari Shayne), Brenda Barrett (Vanessa Marcil), Robin Scorpio (Kimberly McCullough) and Keesha Ward (Senait Ashenafi).

Jason supports Monica through her health crisis with breast cancer and adores his adoptive sister, Emily Quartermaine (then Amber Tamblyn).

Robin leaves for college at Yale University, and Jason asks her friend Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard) for a job.

Jason comforts Elizabeth Webber (Rebecca Herbst) over the supposed death of her boyfriend, Lucky Spencer (Jonathan Jackson).

Carly misunderstands their relationship, and sleeps with Sonny while Jason is shot during a confrontation with Anthony Moreno (Steve Inwood) and Joseph Sorel (Joe Marinelli).

Elizabeth finds an unconscious Jason in the snow, and enlists the help of Bobbie Spencer (Jacklyn Zeman) and Sonny, before sneaking him into her studio.

When Michael and Kristina Davis (Lexi Ainsworth) run away to Mexico, Sam and Jason track the siblings, but encounter Jerry Jacks (Sebastian Roché).

Michael ends up finding them before Jason and Sam can, and kills Claudia to protect Carly and his baby sister, Josslyn Jacks.

Unknown to either, Sam's son was actually switched by Heather Webber (Robin Mattson) and Todd Manning (Roger Howarth) with the stillborn Victor Lord III.

While dealing with Jake's anger over his father leaving, Jason grows closer to Sam, and the two slowly start to rebuild their relationship.

He teams up with Curtis Ashford (Donnell Turner), and they figure out the culprit was Olivia St. John (Tonja Walker), who was trying to kill Julian Jerome (William deVry).

The morning of their wedding, Carly runs off to the building site that used to be the Floating rib, and even earlier than that, Jakes, where she met Jason in 1996.

He heads to Crete with Britt to find her missing mother and his presumed dead twin, Drew Cain (Cameron Mathison).

In November 2021, during the mission in Crete, he engages in a shootout with Peter August (Wes Ramsey), the man who was responsible for his five-year disappearance.

Jason explains to Michael that after the tunnel caved in, the escape path was blocked, so he made it to the beach, only to be captured by two men and put in a room with no windows.

Jason is devastated when he learns from Anna that Britt was murdered back in 2022, but reveals the terms of the deal he made with the FBI and as part of his arrangement with Jagger, he's been working deep undercover to infiltrate a company called Pikeman to take them down, since Pikeman has been selling illegal weapons to rogue states flagged by the NSA.

Burton's portrayal of Jason Morgan earned him two Soap Opera Digest Awards for Outstanding Younger Lead Actor in 1997 and 1998.

"[27] In 2023, Charlie Mason from Soaps She Knows placed Jason eighth on his ranked list of General Hospital's 40+ Greatest Characters of All Time, commenting that "All it took was a big car wreck and a little brain damage, and Steve Burton's squeaky-clean future doctor was reborn as a Mob enforcer whose love of tight black T-shirts was rivaled only by his love of Sam.