Maybe you can take the actress out of the show, but you can’t take “General Hospital” out of Vanessa Marcil Giovinazzo.

That’s why, in and around her prime-time work in such series as “Beverly Hills, 90210” and “Las Vegas,” the 2003 Daytime Emmy winner has returned to the weekday ABC serial. She began reprising the role of impulsive, passionate Brenda Barrett again Wednesday.

“It’s kind of always been in the works,” the lively Giovinazzo reports of her latest “GH” stint. “It’s where I came from. They gave me my first job when I was a kid, and I’m still friends with all those guys I worked with. We went to high school together on the show. I supposedly lost my virginity with one of the cast members. ... All those things you remember for the rest of your life, I did on TV with these people.

“It really was the most lovely cast I ever worked with,” she adds, “and I always said I could spend the rest of my life on this show and be content. The people there work really hard and take acting really seriously, in a genre not necessarily known for that.”

To that end, ABC hired acting coach John Homa to work with the “General Hospital” cast.

“He’s there to this day,” Giovinazzo says. “He’s like an incredibly brilliant drill sergeant, and he settles for nothing but the best. It was really like being paid to go to acting class.

“Then there’s Maurice Benard (alias the show’s Sonny Corinthos), who is our king. Every piece of joy I have ever gotten from acting is because of him, because he truly is the one who broke down acting for me for the first time.”

A parent of a son with fellow “90210” alum Brian Austin Green, the actress married Carmine Giovinazzo – alias Danny Messer on CBS’ “CSI: NY” – in July.

“I feel incredibly lucky every day of my life, in all areas,” she says. “My becoming an actress happened accidentally, so if I hadn’t stumbled onto this (‘GH’) scenario with these people, I probably wouldn’t have stayed an actress. It seemed like a fun little pit stop for my going to law school.

“I still have those dreams, but my family says I am a lawyer within our family. Just without the salary.”