Bianca Montgomery

Bianca Christine Montgomery is a fictional character from the American daytime drama All My Children. Until Eden Riegel assumed the role, portraying the character from July 2000 to January 2010, the character was portrayed solely by child actresses; Lacey Chabert, Nathalie Paulding, Gina Gallagher, Caroline Wilde and Jessica Leigh Falborn. When Riegel decided to permanently exit the role, plans to recast were confirmed; in June 2010, Christina Bennett Lind replaced Riegel, and remained on the series through the original television finale episode, which aired September 23, 2011. In February 2013, it was announced that Riegel would be reprising her role as Bianca in a guest-arc on Prospect Park's continuation of All My Children.

Bianca is scripted as the daughter of Erica Kane and the late Travis Montgomery, born onscreen on February 8, 1988. Her birthday was revised to February 9, 1984 on January 31, 2002 by the show's producers, and her age was stated as 16 in 2000. The middle name given to the character is Christine, after her paternal aunt, Christine Montgomery, and she is portrayed as sweet-natured and well-loved in the fictional community of Pine Valley. Shown to suffer from Reye's syndrome in infancy, as well as anorexia nervosa later in life, she overcomes both with the significant aid of her family.

Lena Kundera and Bianca Montgomery

Lena Kundera and Bianca Montgomery are fictional characters from the American daytime drama All My Children. Commonly referred to by the portmanteau "Lianca" (for Lena and Bianca), they were the first lesbian couple on an American soap opera.Lena was portrayed by Olga Sosnovska, and Bianca was portrayed by Eden Riegel. Lena and Bianca's romance "quickly became a hit with viewers" and regularly surpassed older more established heterosexual couples for the #1 spot on Internet and soap opera magazine readers' polls. The characters are the first to share a same-sex kiss in American soap opera history.

Background

Writing and portrayals

The writers characterized resident lesbian and good girl Bianca Montgomery's romantic life as tortured; she consistently fell for heterosexual or unavailable women. When the series showcased her having fallen in love with best friend and confidante Maggie Stone (Elizabeth Hendrickson), this theme was continued. Maggie declared herself heterosexual and told Bianca she was only romantically interested in men. To show Bianca moving on, and to add conflict to Bianca and Maggie's relationship, the writers introduced Lena Kundera in December 2002. Lena, a "sassy" bisexual from Poland, was characterized as a temptress "in the mold of Juliette Binoche". Bianca instantly found Lena attractive and competed for her attention with friend Boyd Larraby (Marc Menard), as they bet on which one of them could date Lena first. Viewers watched as Lena began spending time with Bianca as part of an "evil plan" to take over Bianca's mother's company, but also as she found herself falling in love with Bianca. In an interview reported by the New York Post, Brian Frons, head of ABC Daytime, stated that he considered the Lena and Bianca pairing "much bolder" than romantically pairing Bianca with "longtime" galpal Maggie.