Liza Colby is a fictional character on the American
soap opera
A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...
, ''
All My Children
''All My Children'' (often shortened to ''AMC'') is an American television soap opera that aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from January 5, 1970, to September 23, 2011, and on The Online Network (TOLN) from April 29 to September 2, 20 ...
'', portrayed by actress
Jamie Luner
Jamie Michelle Luner (born May 12, 1971) is an American actress who first came to prominence as Cindy Lubbock on the ABC sitcom ''Just the Ten of Us'', but is perhaps better known as Peyton Richards on ''Savannah'', Lexi Sterling on ''Melrose Plac ...
from April 2009 until September 2011. She was previously played by actress
Marcy Walker
Marcy Lynn Walker (born November 26, 1961), also known as Marcy Smith, is an American youth minister and former actress known for her television appearances on daytime soap operas. Her most famous roles are those of Liza Colby on ''All My Chi ...
from 1981–1984, and then again from 1995–2005, although the role was also briefly portrayed by
Alice Haining
Alice Haining (born October 8, 1957) is an American actress.
Early years
Born in Jackson, Mississippi, Haining is the daughter of Dr. Joe L. Haining and Jean Haining. Her father was a research chemist, and her mother was a teacher. Haining was va ...
from September 1984 to 1985. Liza is a resident of the
fictional town
A fictional city refers to a town, city or village that is invented for fictional stories and does not exist in real life, or which people believe to exist without definitive proof, such as Plato's account of Atlantis.
Cultures have always had l ...
of
Pine Valley, Pennsylvania.
Storylines
Liza made her first appearance in 1981 as a snobbish upper-class teenager from one of Pine Valley's wealthiest families, with a crush on upper-class classmate
Greg Nelson. However, Greg's heart belonged to
Jenny Gardner
Greg Nelson and Jenny Gardner are fictional characters and a supercouple from the American soap opera '' All My Children''.
Greg was portrayed by Laurence Lau, and Jenny was portrayed by actress Kim Delaney.
They were best friends to fellow su ...
, a warm-hearted working-class girl. Liza engaged in numerous schemes to steal Greg from Jenny. Her two most heinous acts as a teenager occurred at about the same time. Liza blackmailed Jenny, threatening to reveal to Greg that Jenny's father, Ray Gardner was a convict who had raped Ruth Martin years earlier. After Jenny's best friend
Jesse Hubbard
Jesse Hubbard (born September 18, 1975) is a former professional lacrosse player who played professional box lacrosse in the National Lacrosse League (NLL) and professional field lacrosse in the Major League Lacrosse (MLL).
Background
Hubbard st ...
confronted her, Liza falsely accused him of attempted rape, subtly using old stereotypes about black men and White women as a means of making her story seem credible. With Jenny humiliated and Jesse eager to avoid arrest, the two fled to the
Hell's Kitchen
Hell's Kitchen, also known as Clinton, is a neighborhood on the West Side of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is considered to be bordered by 34th Street (or 41st Street) to the south, 59th Street to the north, Eighth Avenue to the eas ...
section of
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, where they remained for weeks until Liza's accusations against Jesse were discredited.
After Liza failed in her schemes to win Greg and she realized that he would never love her (He was already turned off by her
narcissistic
Narcissism is a self-centered personality style characterized as having an excessive interest in one's physical appearance or image and an excessive preoccupation with one's own needs, often at the expense of others.
Narcissism exists on a co ...
and snobby personality from the get go.), she started a relationship with Ruth's adopted son
Tad Martin
Tad Martin is a fictional character from the American daytime drama, ''All My Children''. Tad was played by three actors, according to the age of the character: Matthew Anton, John E. Dunn, and Michael E. Knight. Knight has portrayed the role on a ...
(Jenny's biological brother). However, Liza was crushed when she discovered Tad was also having an affair with her mother, Marian Chandler. Later, partly as a result of her "easy" reputation, Liza was raped. Initially, no one believed her due to her past history as a lying
blackmailer
Blackmail is an act of coercion using the threat of revealing or publicizing either substantially true or false information about a person or people unless certain demands are met. It is often damaging information, and it may be revealed to fam ...
except Dr.
Cliff Warner
Clifford "Cliff" Warner and Nina Cortlandt are fictional characters and a supercouple from the 1980s Cliff and Nina storyline on the American daytime drama '' All My Children''. Cliff was portrayed by Peter Bergman, and Nina was portrayed by Ta ...
. However, she mistook his compassion for romantic interest and attempted to steal him from his wife
Nina Nina may refer to:
* Nina (name), a feminine given name and surname
Acronyms
*National Iraqi News Agency, a news service in Iraq
* Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, on the campus of Norwegian University of Science and Technology
*No income, ...
. Liza left town a few months later to give herself a fresh start in a new city.
Liza made a triumphant return to Pine Valley in September 1995. Now a strong career woman, Liza got revenge on Tad by seducing him into bed, breaking up his marriage to
Dixie Cooney
Dixie Cooney is a fictional character from ''All My Children'', an American soap opera on the ABC network. The character was initially portrayed by actress Kari Gibson from her debut in July 1988 until October of that year when she was replaced b ...
. Liza then moved on to
Jake Martin, Tad's adopted brother. Liza then found herself in a strange predicament when she got pregnant with what she thought was Jake's baby. It turned out to be
Adam Chandler
Adam Chandler is a fictional character from the ABC and The Online Network daytime drama ''All My Children'', portrayed by David Canary from the autumn of 1983 through his departure on April 23, 2010, and briefly reprising the role for the series ...
's child, for he had switched Jake's sperm at the sperm bank with his. In May 1999, Liza gave birth to her daughter,
Colby Marian Chandler, and eventually fell for Adam and married him. However, Adam's controlling nature and penchant for lying led to their divorce, remarrying and divorce.
Liza got the shock of her life in 2001, when Mia Saunders revealed herself to be her half-sister. Eventually, Liza and Mia formed a sisterly bond and Liza even financed the money to upstart Fusion, the new cosmetics company that Mia co-founded in late 2002 with
Greenlee Smythe
Greenlee Smythe is a fictional character from the American daytime drama, '' All My Children''. She was originally portrayed by actress Rebecca Budig from August 11, 1999 to November 30, 2005, and was portrayed by actress Sabine Singh from April ...
,
Kendall Hart
Kendall Hart is a fictional character from ''All My Children'', an American soap opera on the ABC network. The character was portrayed by Sarah Michelle Gellar from February 24, 1993, to July 3, 1995, and by Alicia Minshew from January 2002 unt ...
, and
Simone Torres
Simone Torres is a fictional character from the long-running American soap opera '' All My Children''. The character was originated by actress Terri Ivens, from October 2001 to December 2006, and guest starred on June 8, 2007, June 20, 2007, a ...
. In late 2004, Liza, with Tad's help, went on the run with Colby in tow. Her last appearance was in early 2005. However, Colby eventually returned (
rapidly aged to her teenaged years) to Pine Valley to live with Adam. Initially, she has exhibited all of Liza's worst character traits from the '80s, including consistent spoiled behavior, and a false
statutory rape
In common law jurisdictions, statutory rape is nonforcible sexual activity in which one of the individuals is below the age of consent (the age required to legally consent to the behavior). Although it usually refers to adults engaging in sexual ...
allegation against
Erica Kane
Erica Kane is a fictional character from the American ABC Daytime soap opera ''All My Children''. The character was portrayed by actress Susan Lucci from her debut on January 16, 1970, until the last broadcast television episode on September 23, 2 ...
's son
Josh Madden
Joshua "Josh" Madden is a fictional character from the American daytime drama, '' All My Children''. He first came to Pine Valley on June 17, 2005, and was originally portrayed by actor Scott Kinworthy until September 15, 2005. Following Kinworthy ...
. However, Colby has put most of such behavior behind her, and has recently emerged as a more sympathetic character.
Liza, now being played by Jamie Luner, returned to Pine Valley in April 2009. She has "reinvented herself" as an attorney and comes back to reclaim daughter Colby. She has made a deal with Jake Martin to adopt
Amanda Dillon
Amanda Dillon is a fictional character from the American daytime television soap opera '' All My Children''. She is the daughter of police officer/detective Trevor Dillon and longtime series villain Janet Marlowe aka "Janet from Another Planet"; ...
's son as her own, naming him Stuart after her late step-father. Strangely enough, Liza's history as the financial founder of Fusion or any of her other ties to the company have not been mentioned since Jamie Luner assumed the role.
During the week of Stuart's murder mystery (May 2009), it is revealed that Liza is six months pregnant. Liza admits to
Zach Slater
Zach Slater is a fictional character from the American drama, ''All My Children''. He was portrayed by actor Thorsten Kaye from May 20, 2004 to November 19, 2010; Thorsten returned to the role on August 5, 2011 to September 23, 2011. In 2006, the ...
that she is not pregnant, but that she is expecting a child through a surrogate. She does not want anyone to know that she is not really pregnant, and asks Zach to keep her secret. While talking to Amanda and she seems she plans on adopting Amanda's baby boy and not tell anyone about it with the help of Jake Martin. Jake plans to help Liza, because she wants to adopt Amanda's baby boy and not tell anyone about it. In the week of June 29, Jake helped Liza "pretend" to give birth to a healthy baby boy with the help of Tad Martin. The viewers think that Liza has the baby. Then they find out that Jake didn't really give Liza Amanda's baby. Liza names her son after her step-father. He gives her a baby which is put for adoption. Placing Amanda's baby to be given to a family in the country. Until Taylor takes care of him, under the alias Tracy.
Her daughter Colby found out from eavesdropping that Jake Martin was supposed to be her father, but Adam switched the sperm with his. After Trevor went missing, Jake and Amanda can not go to the police because faking the baby's death. Tad followed
David
David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
and reveal to Liza that she is not raising Amanda's son. Tad and Liza hitched a plan to follow David, and Liza forms a relationship with him. David thinks that Liza's son is his. David learns the truth about the baby being alive. He became extremely furious that this secret was kept from him. He held Liza to gunpoint because he wanted to know where his baby was.
While Liza bonds her "son", the birth mother comes to Pine Valley in search of her baby. Liza initially lies to Bailey and tells her that the baby is better off in his new home. She then is persuaded by Tad to tell the truth about her child being Bailey's son. Rather than Bailey and Liza going to court in a paternity case, Liza invites Bailey to move in with her while she decides if she wants to keep her baby. Stuart's biological father tracks down Bailey in Pine Valley and offers Liza a bribe to keep her baby in exchange for money. She refuses and tells him to leave. Bailey and
Damon decide to keep Stuart as their own and move out of Liza's apartment.
In January 2010, Bailey contacts Liza in order to bail Damon out of jail.
On July 6, Damon hugs Liza then ends up kissing her. Right after that Tad Martin, Damon's father walks in with three cans of soda.
Later, on the week of November 29, 2010, David Hayward is shot and critically wounded by Erica; though he survives, he is left comatose. Liza charges Erica with
attempted murder
Attempted murder is a crime of attempt in various jurisdictions.
Canada
Section 239 of the ''Criminal Code'' makes attempted murder punishable by a maximum of life imprisonment. If a gun is used, the minimum sentence is four, five or seven ye ...
, disregarding the fact that Erica only did it to save
Ryan
Ryan may refer to:
People and fictional characters
*Ryan (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name)
*Ryan (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name)
Places Australia
* Division of Ryan, an elector ...
's life. Erica subsequently confronts Liza and assures her that, unlike Greenlee, she will not go down without a fight, later becoming convinced that Liza is merely pushing the charges out of jealousy and spite.
On December 17, 2010, Liza became the advocate for David Hayward (who is still in a coma). Slowly realizing that her taking Erica to court is unjustified, Liza finally drops the charges after a discussion with Tad.
References
External links
Liza Colbyfro
soapcentral.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Colby, Liza
Colby, Liza
Fictional lawyers
Television characters introduced in 1981
Female characters in television