Susan Lucci Biography

Susan Victoria Lucci (born December 23, 1946) is an American actress, television host, author and entrepreneur, best known for portraying Erica Kane on the ABC daytime drama All My Children. The character is considered an icon, and Lucci has been called "Daytime's Leading Lady" by TV Guide, with New York Times and Los Angeles Times citing her as the highest-paid actor in daytime television. As early as 1991, her salary had been reported as over $1 million a year.

In 1996, TV Guide ranked Lucci number 37 on its 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time list. In 2005, she received a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was inducted into the Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2006. She was named one of VH1"s 200 Top Icons of All-Time and one of Barbara Walters"s Ten Most Fascinating People. She has also played roles in made-for-TV movies, hosted many shows and guest starred on television comedy series, including Saturday Night Live and Hot in Cleveland. She also has her own line of hair care products, perfumes, lingerie and skin care, called The Susan Lucci Collection. As of 2012 she hosted Deadly Affairs, and currently stars as Genevieve Delatour in the Lifetime television series Devious Maids.

Early life

Susan Lucci was born in Scarsdale, New York, to parents Jeanette and Victor Lucci. Her father is of Italian ancestry, and her mother is of French and Swedish descent. She attended Garden City High School in Garden City, New York, graduating in 1964. She then attended Marymount College and graduated with a BA degree in drama in 1968.

Career

All My Children

Lucci is best known for appearing as Erica Kane on the ABC television soap opera All My Children, from January 16, 1970 to September 23, 2011.

Lucci was nominated for the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series Emmy for her work on All My Children almost every year since 1978. When Lucci did not win the award after several consecutive nominations, her image in the media began to be lampooned, as she became notoriously synonymous with never winning an Emmy. NBC's Saturday Night Live exploited this by asking her to host an episode, where her monologue parodied the cast, crew, and even stagehands carrying Emmys of their own in her presence. In addition, she appeared in a 1989 television commercial for the sugar substitute Sweet One, intended to portray her as the opposite of her villainess character, yet throwing one of Erica Kane's characteristic tantrums, shouting "11 years without an Emmy! What does a person have to do around here to get an Emmy?"

After 18 failed nominations, she finally won in 1999. When presenter Shemar Moore announced Lucci's name, stating "the streak is over," the audience erupted in a standing ovation, lasting several minutes. As Lucci took to the stage, cameras caught All My Children co-stars Kelly Ripa and Marcy Walker weeping openly, along with long-time supporter, actress and television host Rosie O'Donnell. Actor Ingo Rademacher was seen bowing in the aisles and talk show host Oprah Winfrey rushing the stage cheering from the wings.

When ABC canceled All My Children on April 14, 2011, after 41 years on the air, Lucci said in an interview: "It's been a fantastic journey. I've loved playing Erica Kane and working with Agnes Nixon and all the incredible people involved with All My Children. I'm looking forward to all kinds of new and exciting opportunities." Lucci publicly criticized ABC Daytime president Brian Frons over the cancellation of All My Children in the epilogue of her upcoming book called All My Life.

Primetime television, stage, hosting and film

Lucci has appeared in a number of television shows and television movies. In 1982, she appeared in a cameo appearance in the comedy film Young Doctors in Love. In 1986, she played the role of Darya Romanoff in the Golden Globe- and Emmy Award-winning TV movie Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna. In 1990"1991, she began a series of guest spots on the nighttime soap opera Dallas. She hosted NBC's Saturday Night Live in October of that year; in one skit, she appeared as Erica Kane competing on a game show.

In 1995, Lucci appeared in the Lifetime television film Ebbie. This film was an updated version of A Christmas Carol. Lucci played a Scrooge-like department store owner visited by Marley and the three ghosts on Christmas. In 2004, she appeared as a guest star in two episodes of the ABC comedy series Hope & Faith.

In 1999, she played in the revival of Irving Berlin's musical Annie Get Your Gun. Michael Logan of TV Guide said, "Susan Lucci didn't just take Great White Way by storm: she took it by tornado, hurricane and tsunami, too."

Since the summer of 2010, Lucci has appeared as herself, the arch rival of Wendie Malick's character, Victoria Chase, in the TV Land sitcom Hot in Cleveland five times, including the February 1, 2012 episode entitled Life with Lucci.

She appeared in Gloria Estefan's music video "Hotel Nacional" in February 2012. She guest starred in multi-episodes of the sixth season of Lifetime drama series Army Wives.

Lucci hosted and narrated Deadly Affairs, a prime-time series airing on Investigation Discovery as of 2012. On November 15, 2012 Lucci appeared on The Colbert Report in a segment reflecting the soap-opera-like nature of the Petraeus scandal.

In 2013, Lucci began starring as Geneviève Delacourt in the Lifetime comedy-drama series Devious Maids created by Marc Cherry.

Dancing with the Stars

See Dancing with the Stars (U.S. season 7) for more information Lucci competed in Season 7 of Dancing with the Stars with dance partner Tony Dovolani. Lucci said that Dancing had asked her to appear before, but she had turned it down, in part, because of the travel it would have required of her (at the time Dancing taped in Los Angeles while All My Children taped in New York). Lucci later changed her mind, in part, because of the experience of fellow All My Children star Cameron Mathison, who finished fifth in season 5. She was voted off the show on November 5, 2008, finishing sixth in the competition.

Performances:

Week #	Dance/Song	Judges' score			Result
		Inaba	Goodman	Tonioli
1A	Cha-Cha-Cha/ "I Heard It Through the Grapevine"	5	5	5	Safe
1B	Quickstep/ "Bei Mir Bist Du Schon"	7	7	8	Safe
2	Rumba/ "Waiting on the World to Change"	7	7	7	Safe
3	Jive/ "Why Do Fools Fall In Love"	7	7	7	Safe
4	Tango/ "La Bohemia"	8	8	8	Safe
5	Hustle/ "Upside Down"	7	7	8	Bottom 2
6	Mambo/ "Si Señor!..."	8	8	7	Bottom 2
7	Paso Doble/"The Ride"	8	8	8	Eliminated
7	Cha Cha/ "Mercy"	6	7	7	Eliminated

Personal life

Lucci's father, Victor, was a first-generation American.

Family

Lucci has been married since September 13, 1969 to Austrian businessman Helmut Huber. They are the parents of soap opera actress Liza Huber (b. February 22, 1975) and Andreas Huber, an aspiring professional golfer. She became a grandmother when her daughter, Liza, gave birth on December 23, 2006 - Lucci's 60th birthday. The baby was named Royce Alexander. Liza gave birth to Lucci's second grandchild, Brendan, on August 16, 2008; her third grandchild, Hayden Victoria on March 23, 2011; and her fourth grandchild, Mason Alexander on February 6, 2013.

Autobiography

On July 28, 2010 HarperCollins announced that they would be publishing Lucci's autobiography in April 2011. The book was acquired by Lisa Sharkey, Director of Creative Development at HarperCollins.

Filmography

Film and Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1969	Goodbye, Columbus	Wedding Guest	Uncredited
1969	Love Is a Many Splendored Thing	Bit role	Uncredited
1969	Me, Natalie	Cheerleader
1970-2011	All My Children	Erica Kane Jane Campbell	Lead role
1982	The Love Boat	Paula Hastings	1 episode
	Young Doctors in Love	Cameo	Goes With Doctor Hall. Who Got Two Twins
1983	Fantasy Island	Gina Edwards	1 episode
1984	Invitation to Hell	Jessica Jones
1984	The Fall Guy	Veronica Remy
1986	Mafia Princess	Antoinette Giancana
1986	Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna	Darya Romanoff
1987	Haunted by Her Past	Karen Beckett	aka Secret Passions
1988	Lady Mobster	Laurel Castle
1990	The Bride in Black	Rose D'Amore-Malloy
1990	Saturday Night Live	Herself - Host/Various
1990-91	Dallas	Hillary Taylor/Faux Sheila Foley	6 episodes
1991	The Woman Who Sinned	Victoria Robeson
1992	Double Edge	Maggie Dutton/Carmen Moore
1993	Between Love and Hate	Vivian Conrad
1994	French Silk	Claire Laurent
1995	Ebbie	Elizabeth 'Ebbie' Scrooge
1995	Seduced and Betrayed	Victoria Landers
1998	Blood on Her Hands	Isabelle Collins
2003	Intimate Portrait: Susan Lucci	Herself	Documentary
2004	Hope & Faith	Jacqueline Karr	2 episodes
2005	That's So Raven	Miss Charlotte Romano	1 episode
2010-12	Hot in Cleveland	Susan Lucci	4 episodes
2011	The Oprah Winfrey Show	Herself
2012	Army Wives	Audrey Whitaker	3 episodes
2012-present	Deadly Affairs	Herself - Host	Documentary series
2013-present	Devious Maids	Genevieve Delatour	Series regular
2013	Katie	Herself

Awards, honors and nominations

Daytime Emmy Awards
Year	Category	Work	Result	Ref
1978	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series	All My Children
1981	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
1982	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
1983	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
1984	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
1985	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
1986	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
1987	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
1988	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
1989	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
1990	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
1991	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
1992	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
1993	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
1995	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
1996	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
1997	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
1998	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
1999	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
2001	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
2002	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series

Gracie Allen Awards
Year	Category	Work	Result	Ref
2005	Outstanding Female Lead in a Daytime Drama	All My Children

Hollywood Walk of Fame
Year	Award	Work	Result	Ref
2005	Star on the Walk of Fame, Television	"

Made in New York Awards
Year	Category	Work	Result	Ref
2005	MINY	All My Children

New York Women in Film & Television
Year	Category	Work	Result	Ref
2004	Muse Award	"

People's Choice Awards
Year	Category	Work	Result	Ref
1992	Favorite Female Performer in a Daytime Serial	All My Children

Soap Opera Digest Awards
Year	Category	Work	Result	Ref
1986	Outstanding Contribution by an Actor/Actress to the Form of Continuing Drama who is currently on a Daytime Serial	All My Children
1988	Editor's Choice - Daytime
1989	Favorite Super Couple: Daytime (shared with Larkin Malloy)
1992	Best Love Story: Daytime or Prime Time (shared with Walt Willey)
1993	Outstanding Lead Actress
2003	Soapnet Diamond Award
2005	Favorite Couple (shared with Walt Willey)

Women in Film
Year	Category	Work	Result	Ref
1994	[[Women in Film Crystal + Lucy Awards#THE LUCY AWARD|Lucy Award]]	"