Andrea Evans, known for playing Tina Lord on One Life to Live and Rebecca Hotchkiss on Passions, has passed away at age 66. After battling with cancer, Evans died in her Pasadena home on Sunday. Her death was announced by casting director Don Carroll. Evans’ death comes the same year as that of Ben Masters, who played Julian Crane on Passions. Along with Passions and One Life to Live, Evans had roles on The Bold and the Beautiful, The Young and the Restless, and the Amazon Prime series The Bay. The web series was her final acting role.
The Career of ‘One Life to Live’ and ‘Passions’ Actress Andrea Evans
Andrea Evans was born on June 18, 1957, in Aurora, Illinois. In 1978, while she was attending the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Evans was hired as an extra in Brian De Palma’s The Fury. That same year Andrea appeared in the miniseries The Awakening Land and scored the role of Tina on One Life to Live. She left the soap in 1981 and went on to portray Patty Williams on The Young and the Restless from 1983 to 1984. Evans returned to the role of Tina in 1985 and remained on the show until 1990.
During that time, the character grew to immense popularity. However, Evans later revealed that a stalker forced her to quit the show. The stalker had sent her repeated death threats, some written in blood, and even broke into ABC studios at one point.
After leaving One Life to Live, Andrea Evans largely disappeared from the public for almost a decade, only making small appearances in two feature films. In 1999, she took the role of Tawny on The Bold and the Beautiful, where she worked until 2000. That year, Andrea joined Passions as Rebecca Hotchkiss and stayed there until the show’s end in 2008. Immediately afterward, she shortly reprised Tina on One Life to Live. She returned to the show one more time in 2011, and the show ended two months later.
Andrea Evans’ work as a soap actress earned her numerous Daytime Emmy nominations. She earned an Indie Series Award for her role on the web series DeVanity. She is survived by her husband, Steve, and their daughter, Kylie.