Sonny Corinthos was born in blue-collar Bensonhurst, New York, in Brooklyn. Sonny's biological father, Mike Corbin, is of Irish and Greek descent, had a gambling problem, and had abandoned the family. Sonny's mother, Adela Corinthos is of Cuban heritage, and Sonny occasionally speaks Spanish on the show. Sonny and his mother had been abused by his stepfather, Deke. It is also eventually revealed that Mike Sr. had a daughter, Courtney Matthews, with his ex-girlfriend Janine, and that Sonny's mother Adela had another son, Ric Lansing, with Trevor Lansing. After Adela fell down a flight of stairs, her relationship with Trevor fell apart as Adela refused to abandon her son in favor of staying with Trevor, ultimately leading to Adela abandoning her newborn child Ric to his father to raise.

Sonny first appeared on the show as a strip club owner and low-level mobster, that provided teenage stripper Karen Wexler with drugs and fueling her self-loathing regarding her childhood molestation at the hands of her father in order to keep Karen working for him. Originally conceived as a short-term foil in the romance of the front burner couple Karen Wexler and Jagger Cates, the character became popular with writers and fans, quickly going from a villainous foil to one of the main characters in the series, with actor Maurice Benard moved to contract status.

Originally conceived as a villain, Sonny's character was softened in in 1993, when he took in troubled teenager, Stone Cates, who became a good friend. When Stone died of AIDS in 1995, Sonny was devastated, and named his second son "Morgan Stone" after both Stone Cates and Jason Morgan. The rings which Sonny wears belonged to Stone and were given to him by Stone's girlfriend Robin Scorpio.

Sonny's estranged father Mike had a gambling problem, and Sonny often had to bail him out of financial trouble. Sonny is also a devoted Roman Catholic and his religious faith is emphasized by the soap opera as a means to contrasting against his more ruthless mobster dayjob. Because of his criminal career, members of his family are shadowed by bodyguards, live in homes with bulletproof windows and guards at the door, and travel in cars with bulletproof glass. His children have witnessed car bomb explosions and have been sent to Sonny's private island for safekeeping, causing them to miss school. All three of Sonny's children were kidnapped in 2005 by mobster Faith Rosco, who had been paid to do so by Michael's biological father, A.J. Quartermaine.

Sonny is bipolar, which combined with his career in organized crime, has caused Sonny to routinely break out in acts of senseless violence. The most imfamous example of Sonny's violent side was when Sonny, during one of his "manic" moods, shot his wife Carly in the skull while she was in the process of giving birth to his son. Sonny ultimately was forgiven by Carly (who along with her child survived Sonny's attempt on their lives), leading to him seeking help for his mental illness, going so far as to stop drinking and seeing a therapist on a regular basis.

RELATIONSHIPS

SONNY AND BRENDA: During the 1990s, General Hospital paired Sonny with Brenda Barrett (Vanessa Marcil) in a supercouple pairing, which proved incredibly popular with viewers. The couple faced numerous complications in their relationship: Sonny's mobster life style, Sonny being forced to marry Lily Rivera, and Brenda's relationship with corporate raider Jasper Jacks (Ingo Rademacher), which became one of the most popular love triangle in General Hospital history. Sonny, worried about Brenda's safety because of his lifestyle, decided to "stand her up" at the altar hoping this would make her hate him and forget him. The loss of Sonny coupled with career setbacks and loss of income caused Brenda to have a nervous breakdown. Brenda was presumed dead in 1998 when her car went into the ocean. She was later discovered to be alive in 2002, having faked her death. Brenda returned for a brief time and made peace with Sonny. Right about to marry Jax they kiss passionately and vow that they will always love each other.

SONNY AND CARLY: More contrvoersialy was Sonny's relationship with Carly Corinthos Jacks, with whome Sonny had two sons, Michael Corinthos III and Morgan Stone Corinthos. Originally enemies from the moment the two first met, Carly softened in her hate for Sonny upon finding out that Sonny suffered bi-polar disorder when she caught him while in the throes of a mini-nervous breakdown. They continued to have a contentious relationship because Sonny thought of Carly as not being good enough for his best friend and business partner, Jason Morgan. One night, Carly came upon Jason and Elizabeth Webber in a supposedly compromising position as they slow-danced at Kelly's. In reality, Jason was only attempting to comfort Elizabeth over the then-presumed death of her own beloved, Lucky Spencer, but Carly assumed otherwise. She stormed over to Sonny's penthouse, demanding answers about the questions she had regarding Elizabeth. Sonny fired back with taunts of his own. They began arguing; it escalated and ultimately culminated in the two of them having "hate-sex," which unfortunately for Carly, took place at the very same time Jason was involved in a shoot out. Jason returned to Sonny's penthouse, and had planned to tell Carly that he loved her; but his timing was off - he arrived just in time to see Carly come downstairs from Sonny's bedroom dressed in nothing but his shirt. Broken-hearted, Jason left town soon after. Soon after, Cary discovered she was pregnant. Sonny found out and confronted her, in front of the Quartermaine family where she was living with A.J. Quartermaine under the lie that the child's was A.J.'s. Carly had thought she was tricking A.J. into believing that the child was his, however A.J. believed that the child was Jason's and had been prepared to raise his brother's child as his own.

Carly ended up living in Sonny's penthouse and in spite of themselves, they began to get along and even like and find understanding with one another. They began sharing many tender and funny moments as the pregnancy progressed, even making love one night. Unfortunately, while Carly was visiting Lila Quartermaine, she and A.J. met at the top of the stairs and got into an argument. Carly accidentally fell down the stairs and lost the baby. Sonny arranged for Carly to his island home to recover from her miscarriage, at which point their relationship officially turned to love. However, in a ill attempt to help Sonny's father with his debts, Carly became a witness to an exchange between Sonny and his rival mob boss. Carly would be forced to testify against Sonny if they didn't marry. To keep Carly from testifying, Sonny convinced Carly to go through with their planned wedding though Carly was quite open with her suspicions that Sonny only sought to go through with the wedding to ensure her inability to testify due to spousal privilage.

Sadly before their wedding, Sonny was gunned down in front of the PCPD. Carly stayed by her fiance's side until Sonny awoke from a lengthy coma. Sonny attempted to dump Carly, citing the fact that his mob ties would inevitably put her in danger but finally went through with the wedding. In time, however, the incident and her growing disdain for Sonny's mobster life led to her going behind her husband's back to try and broker a deal with the FBI to get Sonny to turn against his fellow criminals and go into the witness protection program. Sonny would promptly divorce Carly when he found out about the deal she was brokering behind her husband's back for him.

When the European arms-dealer Luis Ramon Alcazar came to town, Sonny, Carly and the couple's mutual friend Jason were forced to fake Sonny's death, leading to Carly being confronted by Brenda Barrett, and Luis Alcazar. After a lengthy struggle between the various parties, Luis was killed by Alexis while Brenda and Sonny reconciled due to Brenda realizing that she could have been the one Sonny shot in the skull had the two been married. Sonny and Carly took solace in the lull that followed as Carly became pregnant again. But when Sonny's new lawyer Ric Lansing began to become obsessed with Sonny, he drugged Carly in order to create doubt towards Sonny being her unborn child's father by making it appear that the two had slept together. Though Ric's scheme was exposed via amniocentesis, Sonny was shocked to learn that Ric was his long-lost maternal half-brother, who blamed Sonny for pushing his mother down the stairs and poisoning their mother's mind so as to make her abandon Ric and his father. After Luis died, his identical brother Lorenzo Alcazar from Venezuela came to town, and after a number of incidents, Carly and Lorenzo were drawn to each other. Sonny and Carly's marriage went downhill as Sonny spiraled further into a manic-depressed state and culminated when Sonny accidentally shot Carly who was delivering their son, Morgan Stone Corinthos. Sonny, who may have believed that Lorenzo was hurting Carly (as she was screaming in agony) shot at Lorenzo and shot Carly in the head while she gave birth to their son. Carly would survive, but Sonny would soon divorce Carly in favor of Sam McCall and refuse Carly any visitation with her children. Lorenzo was at Carly side's as she fought for her children as Sonny threatened to kill her if she tried to take them away from him.

SONNY AND ALEXIS: Sonny has a daughter, Kristina Davis, with his former attorney, Alexis Davis. Alexis kept the paternity of her daughter secret for years to protect her from Sonny. She was forced to tell Sonny the truth when Kristina developed leukemia and needed a bone marrow transplant.As Alexis Davis was battling lung cancer, asked Sonny to let Ric raise Kristina in the event of her death. In order to get Alexis to consider chemotherapy as treatment for her cancer, Sonny threatened to gain custody of his daughter. Since Alexis' separation from Ric Lansing, Sonny and Alexis have rekindled their friendship. His lawyer, Diane, is working on Alexis' custody case with Ric and has provided a strong shoulder for her to lean on as she is dealing with the effects of chemotherapy and battling with lung cancer.

SONNY AND SAM: Sonny also had a stillborn daughter with Samantha "Sam" McCall. Sam later turned out to be the daughter Alexis gave up for adoption as a teenager. Sonny was dismayed when he learned he had slept with (and impregnated) a mother and daughter. Sonny was deveasted that his daughter was stillborn in 2004. He allowed the baby's stem cells to save her sister/aunt, Kristina, was dying. Sonny and Sam have not be able to get along with since Sonny learned that Sam didn't help during Jake Morgan's kidnapping.

SONNY AND REESE: coming soon...

SONNY AND EMILY: Sonny was most recently involved with Emily Bowen-Quartermaine, the adoptive sister of his right hand man, Jason Morgan. Emily persuaded him to get treatment for his bipolar disorder. Jason turned on Sonny and slowly took over Sonny's business as a way to break up them up. Sonny ended the relationship out of fear that his lifestyle would hurt Emily. Sonny's half-brother, Ric Lansing, hoped to use Sonny's bipolar disorder to gain advantage over Sonny, but his plot was foiled. As a result, Ric schemed with Lorenzo Alcazar to kill Sonny and his right-hand man Jason Morgan.

*summaries from SONNY CORINTHOS