Bianca Montgomery
Age: 16
- Mother (Susan Lucci) will not accept her and thinks that with the right man, she Bianca will be straight; Father figure and Cousin are especially accepting
- Some teasing at school
- Offscreen girlfriend, love interest on show, physicality with boy as experimentation
First aired in 1970 on ABC, All My Children has portrayed nine gay characters in varying capacities. A typical daytime soap opera, AMC boasts outrageous storylines, rotating cast members who may be eliminated at any time for a newer model, and the matriarch of all daytime soaps: the perpetual Emmy-nominee: Susan Lucci as Erica Kane.
Bianca returned to Pine Valley as in the summer of 2000 after a long stay in a rehab center for her problem with anoerexia. Four months after her return to her mother, AMC's eternal leading-lady, Erica Kane (Susan Lucci), Bianca came out in a teary and built-up episode where she revealved that she had realized she was a lesbian though a relationship with a girl named Sarah in the rehab center.
Kane could not accept her daughter's homosexuality and dismissed it as a phase that she would not let tarnish her reputation in Pine Valley. Bianca tested this theory with an ill-fated encounter with a boy from her High School, but this only reaffirmed her realization.
When Bianca made friends with a young, rough lesbian, her mother quickly chased her away. And in true soap-opera fashion, an emotional love-affair between Bianca and a girl named Frankie ended in Frankie's death and Bianca being falsely accused of her murder. She has yet to have any physical onscreen relationship with a female.
Bianca is the first gay/lesbian character to be linked to a major cast member on a soap opera as well as the first long-term contracted teenaged homosexual character. The show received a GLADD award this year for its positive treatment of this subject.
Aimed at middle-aged housewives who are home to watch soap-operas, Bianca's characters is targeted towards a different audience than most gay teen characters. Her story is meant to open the eyes of middle America who could have her as their own child, and is therefore again unique.
On leave from Harvard, 21-year old Riegel was thrilled to have the opportunity to join the cast as AMC's sixth Bianca, especially in such an important role. This is the first homosexual role she has played, though she has appeared twice on the Broadway stage and had guest appearances on "Guiding Light," and "New York Undercover," among others. The furthest cry from her current role was a quick appearance in 1999's American Pie where she played a Sophomore girl who makes out with the resident ass-hole, Steve Stiffler. She and her sister, a lesbian, have been profiled in People Magazine as well as invited to speak on numerous gay-related panels. Her role on AMC has garnered her two Emmy nominations, including one this season.
