After breaking hearts on Ed, Rena Sofer tries a new beat as a tabloid reporter on Sci Fi’s The Chronicle
Name: Rena Sofer
Born: December 2, 1968
Lives: In Los Angeles with 4-year-old daughter Rosabel, by ex-husband (and General Hospital star) Wallace Kurth.
Backstory: Sofer was born in Arcadia, California, but she and her big brother David, moved to Ambridge, Pennsylvania, with their father Martin (an Orthodox Jewish rabbi), after their parents divorced in the ’70s and her mother, Susan, left home to pursue a college degree. After years apart, Sofer says she now has a “close” relationship with her mom, who is a psychology professor.
Close encounters of the paparazzi kind: In the Sci Fi Channel’s new series The Chronicle (premieres July 14, 9 P.M./ET), Sofer spaces out as an alien abductee-cum-reporter for an Enquirer-style rag . But don’t ask her about the wackiest tabloid tale ever spun about her. “I’m not going there,” she says. “It’s better not to remind everybody of what I did or didn’t do.”
Ricky business: And she’s done a lot. As General Hospital’s music mogul Lois, Sofer signed Ricky Martin (who played heartthrob Miguel) to a record deal. “You know what really sucks?” jokes Sofer who won a Daytime Emmy for her role. “I made that man what he is, and I’m not making a dime off him, dammit!”
Carol Vessey, watch out: Since leaving GH in ’96, Sofer has snagged parts on Melrose Place (she was homicidal songstress Eve), in “Traffic” and in “Keeping the Faith.” Earlier this year, she even managed to make Ed Stevens forget about Carol Vessey for six episodes of NBC’s Ed. And, as her reappearance in the show’s season finale suggests, Sofer will be back in the fall. “Tom Cavanagh [who plays Ed] actually called me and said, ‘Come back! I wanna kiss you some more!'”
Plotting her next move: Sofer’s dying to appear on Alan Ball’s new HBO drama, Six Feet Under. “I called him,” she recounts. “And [Ball] said, ‘Well, there is a part coming up. It’s a woman who gets decapitated and has to have her face rebuilt [before her funeral].’ I was, like, ‘I want to be around a while, and that’s not so easy if you’ve lost your head.”
Road rules: Speaking of heads, whenever Sofer needs to clear hers she grabs her car keys. “Road trips are the best,” she says. “I’ll drive anywhere. All I need are some Stephen King books on tape and lots of junk food, and I’m set.”
Shawna Malcom
July 7, 2001
TV Guide