Eden Riegel

Infobox actor


imagesize = 150px
birthname = Eden Sonja Jane Riegel
birthdate = Birth date and age|1981|1|1|mf=y
birthplace = Washington, D.C., U.S.
spouse= Andrew Miller
(2007–present)
homepage =
emmyawards = Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series
2005 "All My Children"

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".cite web|title=About the Actors: Eden Riegel|publisher=soapcentral.com|accessdate=2007-11-24|url=http://www.soapcentral.com/amc/theactors/riegel.php]

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.cite web| title=Here with Eden| publisher=theatermania.com
accessdate=2007-07-05 | url=http://www.theatermania.com/peterfilichia/index.cfm?mode=viewEntry&id=4B0A15AB-A02B-7BC1-F786407A9A685AB4] 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. In 2000, she served as an intern at the White House for the summer.cite web | title=Eden Riegel. Bianca Montgomery on All My Children | publisher=wchstv.com | accessdate=2007-07-05| url=http://www.wchstv.com/abc/allmychildren/edenriegel.shtml]

Career

"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.cite book | author = C. Lee Harrington | title = [http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/summary_0199-3090675_ITM Homosexuality on All My Children: transforming the daytime landscape] | id = ISBN | publisher = Blackwell Publishing | year = 2003] In 2003, Bianca and character Lena Kundera (Olga Sosnovska) made history when they shared the first lesbian kiss on American daytime television.cite news|first=Sarah|last=Warn|title=All My Children: A Lesbian Kiss to Build a Dream On?|accessdate=2007-11-24|publisher=AfterEllen.com |url=http://www.afterellen.com/archive/ellen/TV/amc-kiss.html] cite news|title=Soap Opera to Showcase First Lesbian Kiss|publisher=firstcoastnews.com |accessdate=2007-11-24|url=http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/news-article.aspx?storyid=2998] 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.cite news|title=TV's 20 Best Same-Sex Kisses|publisher="TV Guide"|date=2005-02-14|accessdate=2007-12-04] TV.com originally reported the wrong kiss. Bianca and Maggie's second kiss made "TV Guide's" list, not their first. cite news |title=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! |publisher="TV Guide"|date=2005-02-14|accessdate=2007-08-02|url=http://www.tv.com/all-my-children/show/62/news.html&sort=&pg_updates=2] Riegel's character was awarded the first Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation award for "Favorite OUT Image of the Year" in 2004.cite news|title=GLAAD Award|publisher=glaad.org |accessdate=2007-07-02 |url=http://www.glaad.org/media/release_detail.php?id=3652] 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. She won two Soap Opera Digest Awards in 2001 for Outstanding Female Newcomer, and in 2005 for Outstanding Younger Lead Actress.

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 again for 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, Riegel's to "All My Children" as a contract player was announced. 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, but reappeared in the episode dated August 14 2007, when Bianca phoned in to check on Kendall from Paris, and in December for a Christmas visit.

Riegel has recently agreed to return to the series with "All My Children" newcomer Tamara Braun. Braun will portray Reese Williams, Bianca's new lover/girlfriend. Bianca first airs on October 17 2008. Reese will follow on October 30 2008. According to published reports, Riegel will be a contract player.cite news| first=Jesse | last= Murray|title="All My Children" Welcomes Bianca and Tamara Braun!
publisher=SOAPnet.com|date=2008-09-18|accessdate=2008-09-19|url=http://www.soapnet.go.com/soapnet/article/path-articleNum_12979/category_shows]

Other projects

Prior to joining "All My Children", Riegel had a small role on the daytime drama "As the World Turns" as an AIDS patient, appeared in "Law & Order" and portrayed a minor character in the feature film "American Pie". 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. [ [http://www.movieweb.com/news/56/26256.php movieweb.com] ]

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. The show is edited by Riegel's half-sister Tatiana S. Riegel, writen by brother Sam Riegel, and was created by Andrew Miller.cite news| url=http://news.tubefilter.tv/2008/07/31/catching-up-with-andrew-miller-creator-of-hit-series-imaginary-bitches/ |title=Catching up with Andrew Miller, Creator of Hit-Series ‘Imaginary Bitches’ |publisher="Tubefilter News"|date=2008-07-31 |accessdate=2007-07-31]

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.cite news| url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1589/is_2002_Jan_22/ai_81790809 |first=Web|last=Behrens |title=Sister act: All My Children's Eden Riegel got expert advice on playing a lesbian—from her out sister, Tatiana - Television - Brief Article |publisher="The Advocate"|date=2002-01-22 |accessdate=2007-07-14]

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"). [ [http://www.soaps.com/allmychildren/news/716/Eden_Riegel_Engaged Eden Riegel Engaged] ] 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.

Awards and nominations

ee also

*Bianca Montgomery and Maggie Stone
*Supercouple

References

External links

*imdb name|0726180
* [http://www.edenriegel.net/ Eden Riegel's official website]
* [http://www.riegelrebels.org/ Riegel Rebels] - Eden Riegel's official fan club
* [http://www.soapcentral.com/amc/news/2006/0410-riegel.php/ - Soap Opera Central's article about Eden Riegel's return to All My Children in May]