Susan Victoria Lucci (born December 23, 1946) is a
Daytime Emmy Award-winning
American actress. 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. Her salary is reportedly over $1 million a year.
Early life
Susan Lucci was born to Jeanette and Victor Lucci on December 23, 1946. She attended
Garden City High School in
Garden City, New York, graduating in 1964. She then attended
Marymount College at
Fordham University, and graduated from Marymount in 1968.
Career
Daytime television
Lucci is best known for playing the larger-than-life diva
Erica Kane on the
ABC television soap opera All My Children, on which she has appeared since the show's inception on
January 5,
1970. She and
Ray MacDonnell, who plays her former father-in-law,
Dr. Joe Martin, are the show's only original stars left on the show today. Lucci's long tenure on the show has made her an iconic presence on daytime; she is closely identified with both the role of Erica and with daytime television itself.
