Rena Sofer on AllMovie

Possessing a dark but earthy beauty and a natural, winning smile, actress Rena Sofer has found notable small-screen success in such series as Melrose Place, Just Shoot Me, and Coupling after spending the majority of the 1990s in an Emmy-winning role on the daytime soap opera General Hospital. As the millennium turned, so did Sofer's cinematic aspirations, with keen-eyed movie lovers spotting her in such feature efforts as Traffic (2000) and March (2001). An Arcadia, CA, native, Sofer relocated to Pittsburgh when her Orthodox Jewish rabbi father and psychology teacher mother divorced. Spotted by a New York talent agent at the age of 15, it wasn't long before Sofer was appearing on the daytime drama Loving and landing roles on such small-screen efforts as Herman's Head and Saved by the Bell: Hawaiian Style. In 1992, she made her big-screen debut with a small role in Sidney Lumet's A Stranger Among Us with Melanie Griffith. Beginning a four-year run on General Hospital in 1993, Sofer would simultaneously appear in numerous made-for-television features before beginning her year-long run on Melrose Place in 1998. She made a notable leap back to the big screen with a small role in the 2000 comedy Keeping the Faith, and after following up with Traffic, Sofer settled back into sitcom life with a high-profile guest-starring role on Ed. In the 2002 made-for television remake of Carrie, her part as a sympathetic high school teacher proved a highlight of the otherwise forgettable effort, and in 2003, she headed the cast of Coupling, the highly anticipated American remake of the popular U.K. sitcom.