Eden Riegel (born January 1, 1981 in Washington,
D.C.) is an American actress.
From 2000 to 2005, she played the role of Bianca
Montgomery on the soap opera All My Children.
Riegel's character became the only lesbian that
was currently on a daytime soap when she came out to her mother,
Erica Kane (Susan Lucci), on the program in 2000. Riegel
is the fourth actress to portray Bianca, and is
widely considered to be the most popular.
In 2003 the character of Bianca
and the character of Lena Kundera (Olga Sosnovska) were scheduled
to share the first lesbian kiss on American daytime television.
In 2004, with Lena out of the picture, Bianca
shared a kiss with close friend and confidante Maggie Stone (Elizabeth
Hendrickson). Riegel was awarded the first Gay
and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation award for 'Favorite OUT
Image of the Year' in 2004.
During the 'babyswitch' storyline of 2004-2005,
when Bianca's daughter was kidnapped and switched
with the son of Babe Chandler (Alexa Havins), Riegel
played Bianca on the soap One Life to
Live.
Before Riegel joined All
My Children, she appeared in Les Misérables
on Broadway, and attended Harvard University. While attending
Harvard, she worked as a Congressional intern. She also had a small
role on the soap opera As The World Turns as an
AIDS patient and played a minor character in the feature film
American Pie. She also did voice acting work in Steven
Spielberg's film "The Prince of Egypt".
While playing Bianca she remained
active in other acting work, doing a small guest role on American
Dreams and appearing in the New York play The
Sex Lives of Superheros.
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 also won two Soap Opera Digest Awards -- in 2001 for
'Outstanding Female Newcomer' and in 2005 for 'Outstanding Younger
Lead Actress'.
Both Eden Riegel and co-star
Elizabeth Hendrickson exited All My Children,
airing for the last time on February 24, 2005. Riegel
then moved to Los Angeles to pursue other acting ventures. She
made a brief return to the soap when her TV mother, Erica Kane,
was married in May of 2005 and is slated to return for an extended
stay beginning December 16th, 2005 through January 10th of 2006.
Rumor has it that her daughter, Miranda will be aged as well.
Awards (Won)
Daytime Emmy Awards
(2005) Daytime Emmy Outstanding Younger Actress
in a Drama Series for All My Children
GLAAD Media Awards
(2004) Favorite OUT Image of the Year Award for
All My Children
Soap Opera Digest Awards
(2005) Soap Opera Digest Award Outstanding Younger
Lead Actress for All My Children
(2001) Soap Opera Digest Award Outstanding Female Newcomer for
All My Children
Awards (Nominated)
Daytime Emmy
Awards
(2004) Daytime Emmy Outstanding Younger Actress
in a Drama Series for All My Children
(2002) Daytime Emmy Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series
for All My Children
(2001) Daytime Emmy Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series
for All My Children
