General Hospital's Sofia Mattsson temporarily replaced by sister Helena Mattsson

General Hospital has cast actress Helena Mattsson to play Sasha Gilmore while original portrayer Sofia Mattsson takes a brief hiatus.

General Hospital's Sasha Gilmore will have a new face for a handful of episodes, beginning Thursday, February 17. Portrayer Sofia Mattsson was unavailable for scenes, so the ABC soap cast the actress' older sister, actress Helena Mattsson, in the role.

Helena tells Soap Opera Digest that it was Sofia's idea to keep Sasha within the family, and she was super surprised by her sibling's suggestion that she take over. "I thought she was joking at first. But of course I said yes!" the actress enthuses.

Though she has primetime credits like The Rookie and Mistresses to her name, Helena says she was grateful for the support of Sasha's love interest, Johnny Wactor (Brando Corbin) -- especially because she only had one day to prepare for her daytime debut!

"He's such a sweet guy. And very talented," Helena shares. "He definitely put me at ease."

Helena Mattsson has a long list of credits that includes shows such as Desperate Housewives, Nikita, 666 Park Avenue, Mistresses, American Horror Story, and Paper Empire. In earlier interviews, Sofia has admitted that she was inspired by her older sister to leave the siblings' hometown of Stockholm, Sweden, and pursue an acting career in Los Angeles.

This GH swaperoo isn't the first time that Helena and Sofia are sharing a work experience. Together, the sisters own a vegan leather handbag company called Ava Carrington, which Sofia told Soap Central is one of her proudest accomplishments.

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At this time, it's unclear why Sofia had to step away from GH. Her most recent social media post was sharing the news that she had officially become a citizen of the United States.

What do you think about GH recasting Sofia Mattsson with the actress' sister, Helena Mattsson? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.

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