Rena Sofer Nearly Left Soap Operas Because Most of the Actors Are ‘At the Mercy of These Writers’
Rena Sofer is most well-known as a “soap opera actor.” Her first soap role was from 1988-1991 as Rocky McKenzie on Loving. She then played Lois Cerullo on General Hospital and won an Emmy for the role. Most recently, she starred as Quinn Fuller on The Bold and the Beautiful.
Sofer sat down with her former General Hospital co-star, Maurice Benard, on his State of Mind podcast. Benard plays Sonny Corinthos on the soap, and his character and Sofer were close and had many scenes together. The two spoke on a wide range of topics during the interview, including working on daytime soaps.
Rena Sofer considered leaving soaps
After Loving, Sofer had dinner with Mark Teschner, who is the casting director for GH, as well as other daytime dramas. When he told her about a role in General Hospital, she said, “I don’t want to do another soap.” When Benard asked why, she explained;
“Because they’re so heartbreaking. If you’re not that lead person, you just sit there and sit there and sit there, and you’re at the mercy of these writers. And that is true. It’s always been true. Even The Bold and the Beautiful. It’s still true.”
And then he told her that he thought she would really like this role. She looked at the role and saw the character was from Brooklyn. Teschner asked if she could do an accent. Then she went into her very Brooklyn accent.
He convinced her to audition, and she ultimately got the part. She even called her character “the best person I’ve ever known.”
Rena Sofer took a road trip to save her life
Sofer also told Benard a story about a transformative road trip. When she moved back to Los Angeles, she was “miserable.” She told Benard, “I had no friends, I lived in a terrible place, I didn’t know what I was doing, and I needed a new agent.”
She continued with her story about getting in her car one day and driving east for about three months to her dad in New Jersey. She stopped at sights on the way, such as the Grand Canyon. She said she “needed to save her life.”
When she came back, she found a new agent who she had worked with for 15-20 years. And that was when she got the role of Lois Cerullo.
What’s next for Rena Sofer?
Sofer left her role as Quinn Fuller on The Bold and the Beautiful in August 2022. In an interview with Soap Opera Digest, she shared that her official contract with the network had expired in May 2022. But show executives did not contact Sofer until her last week of shooting ahead of the July hiatus.
When they did reach out, they asked her to stay on a recurring basis until they could figure out which direction her character would be going. Sofer then decided it was the right time to leave the show.
She now wants to take some time to devote to her pottery business, Rena Sofer Ceramics. Of course, GH fans are hoping she will make a return as Lois Cerullo.
