Eden Riegel

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Eden Riegel

Born Eden Sonja Jane Riegel
January 1, 1981 (1981-01-01) (age 27)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Spouse(s) Andrew Miller
(2007–present)

Eden Sonja Jane Riegel (born January 1, 1981) is an American actress. Nominated previously on multiple occasions, she received a Daytime Emmy Award in 2005 for her portrayal of Bianca Montgomery on the daytime drama All My Children.[1]

Contents

[edit] Early life

Born to Kurt and Lenore Riegel in Washington, D.C., 1981, Riegel was raised in a Virginia suburb and became interested in acting while watching her brother, Sam, perform dinner theater, which she later joined in for $10 a week.[2] Her big break came when she won the role of Cosette in Les Misérables, leading to other roles on and off-Broadway. She graduated from the Professional Children's School and attended Harvard University, with ambitions to become a lawyer, but later left the institution.[2] In 2000, she served as an intern at the White House for the summer.[1][3]

[edit] Career

[edit] All My Children

From July 2000 to February 2005, Riegel portrayed the role of Bianca Montgomery on the soap opera All My Children. In December 2000, Riegel's character "came out" to her mother, Erica Kane (Susan Lucci), becoming the only lesbian on a daytime soap opera at that time.[4] In 2003, Bianca and character Lena Kundera (Olga Sosnovska) made history when they shared the first lesbian kiss on American daytime television.[5][6] In 2004, with Lena out of the picture, Bianca shared a kiss with close friend and confidante Maggie Stone (Elizabeth Hendrickson), making TV Guide's list of best same-sex kisses on television.[7][8] Riegel's character was awarded the first Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation award for "Favorite OUT Image of the Year" in 2004.[9] During the baby switch storyline of 2004-2005, when Bianca's daughter was kidnapped and switched with the son of Babe Carey Chandler (Alexa Havins), Riegel also portrayed Bianca on fellow ABC soap opera One Life to Live.

She was nominated for three Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series (2001, 2002, 2004) before finally winning the award in 2005.[1] She won two Soap Opera Digest Awards in 2001 for Outstanding Female Newcomer, and in 2005 for Outstanding Younger Lead Actress.[1]

Later that year, Riegel, along with best friend and co-star Elizabeth Hendrickson, exited All My Children, with their last show airing on February 24, 2005. Riegel then moved to Los Angeles, California to pursue other acting ventures. She made a brief return to the soap opera when her television mother (Erica) was married in May 2005, and returned for an extended stay from December 16, 2005 to January 10, 2006. Her daughter, Miranda, was aged accordingly. Riegel returned to the role of Bianca Montgomery during a short visit from May 24, 2006 until mid-June, in a storyline connected with her sister Kendall's (Alicia Minshew) pregnancy and coma. In August 2006, it was announced Riegel would return to All My Children as a contract player. The actress taped her first scenes on September 12, which first aired on October 11. Riegel commuted back and forth between her home and family in Los Angeles and New York, where All My Children tapes. In 2007, she parted ways with the show once again. However, Riegel appeared once more in the episode dated August 14, 2007, when Bianca phoned in to check on Kendall from Paris, and in December for a Christmas visit.

[edit] Other projects

Prior to joining All My Children, she had a small role on the daytime drama As the World Turns as an AIDS patient, appeared in Law & Order[3] and portrayed a minor character in the feature film American Pie.[3][1] She sang and did voice acting work in the film The Prince of Egypt. While portraying Bianca, she remained active in other acting avenues, doing a small guest role on American Dreams and appearing in the New York play The Sex Lives of Superheroes.

It was announced that Riegel will join the cast of The Year One, a Harold Ramis film that stars Jack Black and Michael Cera. The film is a comedy about two men wandering through civilization during Biblical times, and is scheduled for a Summer 2009 release.[10]

She is currently starring in the web series Imaginary Bitches, playing the role of "Eden", a single girl who deals with the lonely reality that her best friends are all in serious relationships by creating some imaginary friends...who turn out to be total bitches. It was created by Andrew Miller.[11]

[edit] Personal life

Riegel has an older brother, Sam, and a half-sister, Tatiana (known as "Tanya" to her family and friends). Tatiana is, like Bianca Montgomery, a lesbian. Riegel discussed the portrayal of Bianca with Tatiana and with the producers of All My Children in order to ensure that the character was not a stereotype.[12]

In March 2007, Riegel became engaged to her boyfriend, Andrew Miller (mentioned above), who was a high school classmate of Cameron Mathison's (Ryan Lavery of All My Children).[13] They were married on September 30, 2007.

Riegel is a huge fan of the NHL team the Toronto Maple Leafs.

She is good friends with actresses Rebecca Budig and Elizabeth Hendrickson.

[edit] Awards and nominations

Awards won
Year Award
2005 Daytime Emmy Award Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series for All My Children[1]
2005 Soap Opera Digest Award Outstanding Younger Lead Actress for All My Children[1]
2004 GLAAD Media Award Favorite OUT Image of the Year Award for All My Children[9]
2001 Soap Opera Digest Award Outstanding Female Newcomer for All My Children[1]
Nominated
Year Award
2004 Daytime Emmy Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series for All My Children[1]
2002 Daytime Emmy Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series for All My Children[1]
2001 Daytime Emmy Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series for All My Children[1]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "About the Actors: Eden Riegel". soapcentral.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-24.
  2. ^ a b "Here with Eden". theatermania.com. Retrieved on 2007-07-05.
  3. ^ a b c "Eden Riegel. Bianca Montgomery on All My Children". wchstv.com. Retrieved on 2007-07-05.
  4. ^ C. Lee Harrington (2003). Homosexuality on All My Children: transforming the daytime landscape. Blackwell Publishing. ISBN. 
  5. ^ Warn, Sarah. "All My Children: A Lesbian Kiss to Build a Dream On?", AfterEllen.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-24. 
  6. ^ "Soap Opera to Showcase First Lesbian Kiss", firstcoastnews.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-24. 
  7. ^ "TV's 20 Best Same-Sex Kisses", TV Guide (2005-02-14). Retrieved on 2007-12-04. 
  8. ^ TV.com originally reported the wrong kiss. Bianca and Maggie's second kiss made TV Guide's list, not their first. "Making History: Bianca and Maggie's first kiss on "AMC" is Number Four on TV Guide's list of the best same-sex kisses on TV!", TV Guide (2005-02-14). Retrieved on 2007-08-02. 
  9. ^ a b "GLAAD Award", glaad.org. Retrieved on 2007-07-02. 
  10. ^ movieweb.com
  11. ^ "Catching up with Andrew Miller, Creator of Hit-Series ‘Imaginary Bitches’", Tubefilter News (2008-07-31). Retrieved on 2007-07-31. 
  12. ^ Behrens, Web (2002-01-22). "Sister act: All My Children's Eden Riegel got expert advice on playing a lesbian—from her out sister, Tatiana - Television - Brief Article", The Advocate. Retrieved on 2007-07-14. 
  13. ^ Eden Riegel Engaged

[edit] External links

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Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eden_Riegel"
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