Maurice Benard has played the role of the manic depressive mob kingpin, living in Port Charles, since the character's storyline originated on August 13, 1993.

Trevor is very understanding of the single mother, allowing Sonny to come to work with Adela, and even taking them on vacations to Martha's Vineyard.

Adela gives up rights to her son shortly after birth and when Sonny is seven years old, she marries New York Police officer Deke Woods.

[10] Scully sends Sonny to Atlantic City to run a strip club called The Sea Breeze when his son, Joe Jr. proves to be incompetent.

The producers offered him two separate roles, that of mobster Damian Smith, with a two-year contract, and that of Sonny.

At one point he had stopped coming in to work but expressed his gratitude to the network for keeping faith in him instead of firing him immediately.

[18] His willingness to integrate his real life medical condition into Sonny's storylines have raised visibility of the disease, leading to Benard appearing on shows such as The Oprah Winfrey Show to discuss the disease as well as being the spokesman for the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance.

He also befriends Stone Cates, Robin Scorpio and Frank's longtime employee, Luke Spencer.

While Brenda and Miguel bond, Sonny opens up to her about his abusive childhood at the hands of his step-father, Deke.

Sonny learned that Frank's son, Damian, is working with Joe Scully to sabotage shipments from Deception cosmetics.

Lily learns that Brenda is planning to record Sonny discussing his mob business and hand it over to the police.

Sonny refuses to leave Lily because he fears reprisals from Rivera, though he finds it hard to deny his feelings for Brenda.

Sonny is devastated to learn that his new love is actually an undercover FBI agent and he feeds her false information before breaking up with her.

After Carly miscarries their child, she and Sonny bond and marry; they renew their vows after realizing how much they love one another.

Attorney Ric Lansing comes to town, and reveals that he is Sonny's half-brother who was given up by their mother Adela.

When Sonny comes to rescue Carly, he accidentally shoots her and she falls into a coma shortly after giving birth to Morgan Corinthos.

When Carly witnesses Sonny shooting Lorenzo, he convinces her to marry him so she can't testify against him.

Diego Alcazar targeted the women in Sonny and Jason's life, wanting revenge for the death of his father, Lorenzo.

Michael wakes up after surgery, and moves in with Sonny and Claudia temporarily, to keep Carly from stressing out during her high risk pregnancy.

Sonny, Carly and Jason are devastated when Michael admits to Claudia's murder, and he is sentenced to five years in prison.

Anthony escapes, but his tires are shot out, and he causes an accident that kills Cole Thornhart and Hope Manning-Thornhart.

Starr Manning, Cole's girlfriend and Hope's mother, is furious over Sonny's acquittal, and tries to kill him.

Todd Manning, Starr's father, tells Sonny that Kate is responsible for killing Cole and Hope because she's suffering from split personality.

On their wedding day, Sonny is shot while trying to rescue T.J. Ashford under Jerry Jacks' orders while his longtime best friend Robin was being held captive against her will.

When Julian marries Alexis, Sonny reveals his condition when he stands up to defend Kristina from a gunman that took her hostage.

Carly almost leaves him for his deception, but they stay together and unite when Morgan is diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and has to be committed to a mental facility.

He tracks down Julian's hit man, Carlos Rivera, and brings him back to Port Charles to face charges.

Duke's son, Griffin Munro, manages to convince Sonny to not kill Julian after he gained Helena's stepson and Spencer's great uncle Valentin Cassadine as his new enemy.

Formidable and flawed, the smooth criminal is a mass of contradictions that somehow add up to a character that’s as dangerous as he is appealing.

"[25] In 2024, Mason also placed Sonny 12th on his ranked list of Soaps' 40 Most Iconic Characters of All Time, writing, "Little did Maurice Benard know in 1993 that the six-month role he'd signed on for would catch fire in such a way that the Teflon don would still be setting hearts aflame today".