Eden Riegel, official website, bio, resume, imaginary bitches, Year One, all my children, American Pie

Bio:

Eden Riegel has been acting since age 7, when she made her Broadway debut in the musical Les Misérables.  Recently, she was seen on the big screen in the Judd Apatow-produced comedy Year One, opposite Jack Black.  She stars in the Emmy Award-nominated web series Imaginary Bitches, for which she received a 2009 Webby Award, beating out Isabella Rossellini and Rob Corddry, among others.  But she is perhaps best known for her Emmy Award-winning role as Bianca Montgomery on ABC’s All My Children.  Currently, she is an actress and singer living in Los Angeles.

Eden began her career as a child-actress, appearing at age 7 in the Broadway musical Les Misérables.  Her next Broadway gig was Will Rogers Follies, where cast member and World Champion Roper Vince Bruce taught her "the ropes" (that’s western trick roping) backstage.  She went on to play the part of "the Roper" in numerous productions of Will Rogers.  Other theater credits include Nine Armenians at the Manhattan Theater Club, the world premiere of Arthur Laurents’ My Good Name at the Bay Street Theater, and Agnes of God at Pasadena’s Boston Court Theater opposite Meredith Baxter and Jo Beth Williams.  In the summer Eden loves returning to her theater roots.  Recently she co-starred with Dee Hoty, Harry Groener, and Joel Higgins in Paul Rudnick’s Regrets Only at the historic Cape Playhouse.  Previously she played the title role in Thoroughly Modern Millie with the Reagle Players. 

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Eden on IMDB

Imaginary Bitches Website

Eden was just seen in Judd Apatow’s summer comedy Year One, directed by Harold Ramis.  It is a comedic biblical odyssey (emphasis on the odd!) starring Jack Black and Michael Cera.  She can also be seen in a small but memorable role in American Pie, and heard as the voice of Young Miriam in DreamWorks’ The Prince of Egypt, starring Val Kilmer and Ralph Fiennes.

Television roles include recurring roles on New York Undercover and As the World Turns, and guest appearances on Law and Order and American Dreams.  She spent much of her teenage years as a “Broadway Kid” recording four albums and touring nationally with the group.  She can also be heard on the soundtrack of Sean Penn’s The Crossing Guard, and on Michael Jackson’s HIStory.

Eden made a slight detour from acting to attend Harvard University, hoping to pursue a more reasonable career path.  During that period she also interned in the Clinton White House, but found that to be far less titillating than you might imagine.  It wasn’t long before the acting bug bit again.  Eden found herself sought after by the daytime drama All My Children, for a role that promised to be challenging and, ultimately, trailblazing.  It was an offer she couldn’t refuse.  On All My Children, Eden played Erica Kane’s (Susan Lucci) lesbian daughter.  Her sensitive portrayal of daytime’s first ever soap heroine to come out of the closet garnered her a 2005 Daytime Emmy Award, a 2002 and 2004 Soap Opera Digest Award,

and four Emmy nominations.  In addition, the groundbreaking hit story line earned All My Children four consecutive GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) awards for Outstanding Daytime Drama, and featured Daytime’s first lesbian kiss.  In 2004 Eden received GLAAD’s first ever “Favorite OUT Image of the Year” Award, beating out Rosie, Ellen and the Fab Five.  In 2008, Eden returned to All My Children to be a part of a story that meant a great deal to her: soap’s first same-sex wedding.  Bianca and her girlfriend (played by Tamara Braun) tied the knot on national TV on Valentine’s Day, 2009.

Currently, Eden lives in LA with her husband, writer and director Andrew Miller.  The couple collaborated on a web series called Imaginary Bitches that has become a web sensation, receiving numerous awards and critical acclaim.  TV Guide calls IB “the most shameless pleasure ever” and says it “isn’t just great, it’s Sex and the City great!”  The New York Observer says “Imaginary Bitches is a hilarious, better than Sex and the City, YouTube sensation.” The show was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award in the brand new “New Approaches” category, the first web series to receive such an honor.  It was an official selection at the Independent Television Festival, and won the festival awards for Best Writing.  For her work in the show, Eden received what the New York Times calls “the Oscar of the Internet,” a Webby Award for Outstanding Individual Performance.  The show was also named a Webby Official Honoree.  

Imaginary Bitches is about a single girl whose friends are all in serious relationships, so she creates imaginary friends to talk about single life with -- unfortunately, they turn out to be real bitches.  The show also stars Elizabeth Hendrickson (Young and the Restless), Brooke Nevin (Worst Week, The Comebacks), Connie Fletcher Staton (All My Children), Jessalyn Gilsig (Nip/Tuck, Glee, Heroes), Chandra West (John From Cincinati, NYPD Blue), Greg Rikaart (Young and the Restless), Aaron Staton (Mad Men), and Sam Page (Mad Men, Shark).  It has been seen more than 6 million times online, and is currently being developed as a feature film.  Making it was a labor of love for all involved, and an opportunity to work with friends and family.

Eden and Andrew also collaborated on a cooking show called Cooking to Get Lucky with their good friend (Bachelor) Bob Guiney.  The show is designed to help guys cook ridiculously easy but sexy meals that will “impress the pants off” of any lady.  Eden and Bob were named Webby Award Honorees for best hosts for their work in the show. 

Eden has been a very busy lady lately, and has been involved in a ton of new projects.  She recently starred in an independently-produced pilot for a new series called Monster In the House, about a group of spooky housemates (a vampire, a teenage warewolf, a reanimated man, a zombie, a mad-scientist, and his hunchbacked assistant) looking for a new roommate. Eden played Mona, a seemingly-normal, sweet girl who applies to be the new housemate, but is, in fact, the biggest monster of them all: turns out, she’s a cannibal!

Eden is also thrilled to be a character in a brand-new Disney

cartoon series, as she has always dreamed of being a Disney princess!  She plays Yuna, Stitch’s new best friend on the latest series based on the Lilo and Stich movies called, appropriately, Stitch!.  The series is not yet airing in the United States, but is expected to join the Disney Channel line-up sometime in 2010. 

Recently, Eden began production on yet another independent pilot called Trauma Team, about a group of maverick M.D.s operating under cover out of a taco truck in the inner city to provide medical care to uninsured patients who have fallen through the cracks of the American health care system.  She plays Taylor, a brilliant doctor who is completely clueless when it comes to matters of the heart. 

And, of course, her most recent and exciting news is her brand new gig on the number one daytime drama on TV, CBS’s The Young and the Restless.  Eden will be taking over the role of Heather Stevens, daughter of Paul Williams (played by soap opera legend Doug Davidson -- good thing she has so much experience working opposite soap legends!).  Eden begins taping on March 15th, 2010, and will start airing sometime in Mid-April as the bitchy, conniving Assistant District Attorney.

For more information on Eden’s work, please visit the Projects page.