Biography of Emma Samms (a.k.a.: Emma Samuelson)

Emma Samms (born Emma Samuelson on August 28, 1960) is a British television actress.

Emma Samuelson trained as a ballet dancer at the Royal Ballet School but had to stop dancing at 15 after an injury to her hip. She then decided to train as an actress, changing her name to Emma Samms as there was already an Emma Samuelson registered at actors union Equity.

Samms has played Holly Sutton Scorpio on the daytime soap opera General Hospital in three stints: 1982 to 1985; 1992 to 1993; 2006. During her early 90's tenure with the show, she also played the role of Holly's lookalike half-sister, Paloma, who was a heroic revolutionary. Paired with Tristan Rogers, she became one half of one of General Hospital's most popular and successful couples—Robert and Holly Scorpio.

Samms moved onto prime-time drama in 1985, replacing Pamela Sue Martin in the role of Fallon Carrington Colby in Dynasty. Although a talented actress, the recast proved to be controversial and viewers found it difficult to accept her in the role. She was introduced to viewers in episodes of Dynasty before becoming one of the main stars of the spin-off series The Colbys. When The Colbys was axed after two seasons, Samms returned to Dynasty for its last two seasons and later the mini-series Dynasty: The Reunion. In 1995, she appeared in the prime time soap, Models Inc. as the villainous Grayson Louder.

As a result of her return to the UK, in 2003 she appeared in four episodes of the BBC series Holby City and in 2005 had a small run on the BBC daytime series Doctors.

In February 2006, Samms made a seven-episode return to General Hospital, in which long time fans were dismayed by the very out of character writing that was provided for Holly. But despite that, the chemistry between Emma and Tristan Rogers was still very evident. Samms returned to do a three-week stint on GH in May 2006; her first appearance aired on 1 May, in which Holly was the object of a renewed rivalry between Luke and Robert in an adventure-type "on the run" storyline. Holly's character was somewhat softened from the previous appearance but still not in line with what long time viewers would prefer. However, fans were still treated to some nice Robert and Holly moments. On 30 June she made a cameo appearance to usher Luke off canvas for Anthony Geary's annual vacation. Samms also appeared as a presenter (alongside Tristan Rogers) at the 2006 Daytime Emmy Awards in Hollywood on 28 April. Emma was a hairdresser on the BBC Children in Need reality series Celebrity Scissorhands that aired from 3 November to 17 November.