For many years, Susan Lucci electrified daytime tv as Erica Kane, All My Youngsters’s wickedly scheming fashion-model-turned-cosmetics-mogul. However for all of her character’s over-the-top storylines—faking amnesia, capturing her husband, kidnapping a child—Lucci’s real-life internet value is maybe essentially the most jaw-dropping reveal of all.
“Erica Kane was a spectacular function for any actress to play, and I felt so fortunate to be the one who acquired to do it,” Lucci as soon as mentioned of her luck. She originated the function in 1970 when she was 22 and recent out of school (Erica, in the meantime, was launched as a tempestuous 15-year-old), and performed the character till ABC canceled this system in 2011.
When the collection got here to an finish, Lucci was hardly left with out an earnings. By then, she’d already established herself as a well-recognized face on home-shopping tv, launching jewellery, perfume, magnificence and later health merchandise. In 2011, she additionally revealed a memoir—All My Life—earlier than appearing in different TV collection and films. (Her second memoir, La Lucci, comes out Tuesday, February 3, 2026 and might pre-ordered on Amazon now.)
Preserve studying to study extra about Lucci’s internet value and profession—together with how she was forged to play Erica Kane—a lady TV Information as soon as known as “unequivocally essentially the most well-known cleaning soap opera character within the historical past of daytime TV.”
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What’s Susan Lucci’s backstory?
Born in 1946 in Scarsdale, New York, Lucci grew up in Backyard Metropolis together with her older brother, Jim, and their mother and father: Victor, a contractor, and Jeanette, a nurse.
In her 2011 memoir, All My Life, Lucci described herself as a “painfully shy” youngster, however one who opened up when she was taking part in make-believe. “I used to be a very completely different child after I would carry out,” she wrote. “The stage was the place I wished to be, and once you’re a little bit woman with a vivid and energetic creativeness, all the world is a stage.” At 11, she was forged to play the lead in her Lady Scout chapter’s manufacturing of Cindy Ellen, a retelling of Cinderella (“I used to be completely thrilled as a result of this was going to be my first professional stage look,” she wrote.) By highschool, she was repeatedly reserving scholar exhibits.
After graduating, Lucci studied drama at Marymount Faculty in Tarrytown, New York, however moved to Manhattan in 1968 in an effort to pursue appearing full-time. Like many aspiring stars, she supported herself with day jobs, together with a stint working within the workplace of a grout firm—regardless of having no concept what grout even was. “Folks would name asking questions and I’d all the time should ask the individual to carry on whereas I went and came upon as a result of I knew nothing!” she advised Backstage Journal. However the gig allowed her to find time for auditions, and that’s all that mattered.
The hustle led to small movie roles in Me, Natalie and Goodbye, Columbus, however her massive break got here in 1969, when she was forged as troubled teenager Erica Kane on the brand new daytime drama All My Youngsters.
Associated: Susan Lucci Marks 56th Anniversary of ‘All My Youngsters’ Premiere with Star-Studded Set Photographs
What was Susan Lucci’s first function?
Lucci’s first on-screen function was a small half within the 1969 movie Me, Natalie, starring Patty Duke.
She adopted that with one other minor movie look in Goodbye, Columbus the identical 12 months, however her first main and career-defining function got here shortly afterward—when she was forged as Erica Kane on All My Youngsters, which premiered in January 1970.
What’s Susan Lucci’s internet value in 2026?
As of 2026, Lucci’s internet value is estimated round $80 million. She earned her fortune primarily from portraying Erica Kane on All My Youngsters for 40+ years, at instances making over $1 million yearly. However she additionally appeared in TV films, visitor roles (Scorching in Cleveland, Military Wives) and collection like Devious Maids. She additionally made a reasonably penny by means of endorsements and QVC product strains. In line with a 1993 article in The New York Occasions, one in all Lucci’s QVC haircare strains raked in over $1 million in a single day. And that was over 30 years in the past!
Photograph by Matthew Peyton on Getty Pictures
How a lot cash did Susan Lucci make on All My Youngsters?
It’s unknown precisely how a lot Lucci made on All My Youngsters, however by 1991 (20-plus years after she first booked the present), she was reportedly incomes $1 million a 12 months to play Erica Kane, making her the highest-paid actor on daytime tv. Assuming she saved that wage for all however the final 12 months of the present (extra on that in a second), she made about $20 million for simply half her tenure on All My Youngsters.
That mentioned, in response to a New York Occasions article from March 2011, Lucci accepted a pay reduce on the time in an effort to keep away from seeing “lots of people out of labor—a number of actually good folks—which was the best way it was offered to me.” That turned out to be her remaining contract for the present: A month later, ABC introduced its cancellation.
How did Susan Lucci get the function of Erica Kane?
Lucci landed the function of Erica Kane by means of a simple audition. “I simply thought, ‘Whoever wrote that is good,’” she recalled of the script in an interview with the Archive of American Tv. “‘That is actual, that is how actual moms and daughters after they’re 15 discuss to one another.’”
She caught the attention of casting director Joan D’Incecco, who then introduced Lucci to creator Agnes Nixon’s consideration—and that was it. “She had an innocence however with a little bit little bit of vixen. And he or she understood Erica’s vulnerability,” Nixon advised The New York Occasionsin 1993. “By the years, Susan has created Erica as a lot because the writers. If she left the present, we’d by no means recast the half. It might be unattainable.”
Associated: Susan Lucci: ‘I Do not Really feel My Age’
Who was the longest working actor on All My Youngsters?
That may be Susan Lucci. She performed Erica Kane from the beginning of the present in 1970 till its cancellation in 2011. And if the followers had it their method, she’d have performed the character for even longer.
“When All My Youngsters went off the air, I used to be advised by many individuals, together with Agnes, the followers blew up and shut down the pc strains at ABC,” Lucci mentioned on an episode of Soapy Hosted by Rebecca Budig and Greg Vaughan. “She mentioned there was one quantity that you may name, and so I did. I known as it simply to see if it was actually true, as a result of that’s form of unbelievable to crash the strains at an organization. I wished to see myself, and truly the recording mentioned, ‘To state your displeasure or your upset at All My Youngsters being canceled, press one … for all different ABC enterprise press two.’ So it was true.”
Associated: ‘All My Youngsters’ Alum Susan Lucci, 78, Shares ‘Flashback’ Photographs with ‘Beloved’ Solid Mates
Did Susan Lucci ever win an Emmy?
Lucci famously acquired 18 nominations and not using a win earlier than lastly taking residence a Daytime Emmy Award in 1999.
For years, her shutout was a sore topic (she reportedly misplaced her mood greater than as soon as when she didn’t win within the early ‘80s). However finally, she leaned into the snub, poking enjoyable at her Emmy drought in a memorable Saturday Evening Reside sketch and a Candy One business that forged her as a mock-diva who had every little thing she may ever need—apart from one factor.
When she lastly did hear her identify known as on the Emmys, she accepted the award tearfully. “I actually by no means believed that this is able to occur,” she mentioned to the laughter of her friends.
What has Susan Lucci been in apart from All My Youngsters?
After All My Youngsters ended, Lucci starred or guest-starred in quite a lot of initiatives, together with Devious Maids, Lethal Affairs (as host), Scorching in Cleveland, Military Wives and the Jennifer Lawrence film Pleasure.
What’s Susan Lucci doing now?
At 79 years outdated, Lucci is as busy as ever. She has her activewear line on QVC, model partnerships with the likes of Pilates Professional Chair and Tiary, and her second memoir—La Lucci—comes out Feb. 3. (The e book is predicted to deal with the previous 15 years of Lucci’s life, tapping into themes of affection, loss—together with the 2022 dying of her husband of 53 years, Helmut Huber—in addition to reinvention and resilience.)
She’s additionally teased greater than as soon as the potential of an All My Youngsters reboot. “It has been effervescent for a number of years,” she advised CBS’s Soapy podcast. “After which simply after I assume that it most likely is not effervescent anymore, it is effervescent. It is effervescent as we converse.”
In line with Lucci’s IMDB profile, she has a “rumored” collection known as Pine Valley (the fictional setting of All My Youngsters) in pre-production.
“Nonetheless to at the present time, folks will ask me, ‘Do you miss it?’” she advised Soapy. “Yeah, I miss the character, in fact. And I miss being a part of that implausible staff.”
Subsequent: Cleaning soap Queen Susan Lucci Makes Surprising Remark About Standing of ‘All My Youngsters’ Return
