Colleen Zenk
Colleen Zenk Pinter | |
|---|---|
| File:Cz pinter 2008.jpg Colleen Zenk Pinter in a promo shot for As The World Turns | |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Spouse(s) | Mark Pinter (1992 - present; 2 children) Michael Crouch (1981 - 1989; 1 child together) |
Colleen Zenk Pinter (born January 20 1953, New York City, New York) is an American actress.
Daytime career
She is best known for her role as the fashionista turned criminal, Barbara Ryan, on As the World Turns, a role she began playing on the show in September 1978.
For much of Zenk Pinter's run on the show, her character Barbara was tormented by her criminal ex-husband, James Stenbeck (played by Anthony Herrera). For a brief period in the mid-1980s, the character of Barbara was taken in a different direction by then-head writer, Douglas Marland, and became a romantic vixen. But for the most part, Barbara was a beleaguered heroine who faced one trial and tribulation after another.
In 2001, then-head writer Hogan Sheffer took the character in a drastically different direction after the character suffered burns in a fire (as well as deceit by then-husband Craig Montgomery). As a result, the character became a villainess.
Sheffer was quoted in an August 2006 interview in industry magazine Soap Opera Digest that he wanted to give Zenk, who he felt was a capable actress, more to do than just pour coffee. Viewers were impressed that Pinter, who so consistently played the heroine, was so believable as a villainess, and so were critics; she was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award in 2002.
As a long-running player on the show, Pinter was prominently featured during the show's 50th anniversary episode in April 2006.
Theatrical roles
In July 2005, Zenk Pinter and husband Mark Pinter starred as Dolly and Horace in a production of Hello Dolly! at the Academy Theater in Meadville, Pennsylvania. Zenk Pinter also played Dolly for a November 2005 run at the Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope, Pennsylvania.
Personal life
She studied drama at The Catholic University of America and performed there in 2006 to raise funds for drama scholarships.
She is married to fellow soap actor Mark Pinter, whom she met onset at ATWT. The Pinters have been married since 1987 and have six children total. They live in Fairfield County, Connecticut with the two children from their union. Their daughter Siri is engaged to Carson Daly and expecting a child in 2009; it will be Pinter's first grandchild.[1]
Cancer diagnosis
In 2007 Zenk Pinter was diagnosed with oral cancer. Through a series of four surgeries and brachytherapy radiation, Zenk Pinter's Stage II cancer was treated, and for the time being, she is in compete remission and is cancer free. In October 2007 Zenk Pinter appeared on CBS's 'The Early Show' to publicize the risk factors of oral cancer and to stress early screening. Colleen has partnered with The Oral Cancer Foundation (http://www.oralcancerfoundation.org) to do additional interviews in print and TV media as well as produce a public service TV announcements (PSA) on the importance of early detection. In January 2008 Zenk Pinter's oral cancer was integrated into As the World Turns story line, with her character Barbara Ryan receiving the same diagnosis. This happened as the Oral Cancer Foundation was looking for low cost ways to inform the American Public about the risks from oral cancers. While a difficult role to play having just come out of treatment for the disease herself, she and the producers of ATWT agreed to the story line. In Spring 2008, CBS, the station that her show has appeared on for decades, donated the minutes for her Public Service Announcements on the disease to play, to the tune of about $500,000 in air time nationally on their affiliates.
References
- ^ Mark Pinter Excited for Grandchild's Birth Celebrity Baby Blog, January 13, 2009