Did anyone
ask for a pathologist ?
Victoria Rowell was born on May 10th 1960 in Portland, Maine. Her
birth mother was Dorothy Rowell, her foster parents names were Robert
and Agatha Armstrong.
As a foster child Victoria Rowell grew up in several foster homes until
she was adopted by the Armstrongs who had a farm in Lebanon. In her
early childhood Victoria started to become interested in ballett and
had professional lessons at the age of eight. She loved
to dance:“It taught us to love all music and poetry. Above all, it
taught
us a fundamental principle: iron discipline. I can’t imagine where I
would
be without those lessons. It gave me the fortitude to carve out a
successful life for myself.”
The determined woman was successful, indeed. When she was 8, she got
a scholarship for the “Cambridge School of Ballett” under the auspices
of “The Ford Foundation” and “The National Endowment of Arts”. After 8
years
of hard education there she further scholarships for the famous “School
of American Ballett”, the “Harlem Dance Theatre” and the also
widely-known
“American Ballett Theatre”.
For a while she word as a professional dancer and had appearreances
with the “American Ballett Theatre II Company” and the “Ballett
Hispanico of
New York” which are only two of many many more. As a black woman things
in the buisness weren’t easy for Victoria. For example she was forced
to
keep her weight low even stricter than white dancers. Because she was a
foster child she had reached adulthood at the age of 18 which wasn’t
necessarily
an advantage für her: “I war really out there on my own.”
To try something new Victoria started modelling and soon was on the
pages of some magazines like “Seventeen” and “Mademoiselle”, before she
decided to start acting.
Her first role was a guest starring in “The Cosby Show”, where she
performed the part of the ex-wife of one of the series-husbands. Bill
Cosby was so fascinated by the young actress’ talent himself that he
offered her a recurring character in the show and also brought her on
camera for her movie debut
in “Leonard VI”.
At this time Victoria moved to Los Angeles to start off as on a actress
and really succeeded. She had several guest appeareances in shows like
“The Fresh Prince of Bel Air” and also played in some TV movies.
In 1990 she got the part of Drucilla Barber Winters in the Soap Opera
“The Young And The Restless”, which was something like her
break-through. The programme had already been on on CBS since 1976 and
is still one of the most famous daily soaps in the USA. Because Ducilla
was a quite mean character at the beginning some of the black people in
America were quite upset about this role being played by a black woman
as they thought it should show that all Afro-Americans were like that.
But but the character of Victoria’s role kinda has developed and has a
also a ‘good’ character a firm place in this soap opera today.
However, in 1998 the actress stopped filming for the show and made a
break. One reason for that decision were her children she wanted to
spend
more time with. “I have prioritized my life – myself, my children,”,
she
says.
In 2002 she returned to the crew of “The Young And The Restless” and
says: “It’s great being back!” She especially likes the familarity on
the
set. For her performance in the Soap Opera Victoria already got several
prizes. Among those were 7 NAACP Image Awards as “Outstanding Actress
in
a Soap Opera”, one Soap Opera Digest Award also in the category
“Outstading
Actress”. Addingly she was also nominated for an Emmy two times.
Victoria Rowell also played in some movies like “Dumb And Dumber” and
“Secret Sins Of The Father”.
In her spare time the actress gives dancing lessons, exercises three
times a week and also started to write her autobiography. “I’ve been
approached by Viacom to have my story made into a made-for-television
movie but I
felt prudent that a the story about me should be written by me. It’s my
story and I feel a need to tell it.”
Nevertheless, Victoria, who is described by everybody as a huge
philanthropist, has still got another job which she takes very serious.
In the year of
1990 she set up the RFCPP, the Rowell Foster Children's Positiv Plan.
That
charity gives foster children the opportunity to begin art or music
studies
at College. In the middle of the 90’s she also founded another charity,
The Rowell Foster Children’s Fine Arts Scholarship Fund. That
organisation
offeres 8 to 13 year old foster girls to attend ballett lessons.
Rowell also supports lots of othet social projects, the School of
American Ballett, the Alliance for Children’s Rights and the National
Endowment
For The Arts are only few of these. Particularly the arts have a
special meaning to her and it’s important to her that everybody, at
least
every child no matter of what birth, gets in touch with them. “The arts
saved my life and now I’m using it to the arts to help save other
people’s
life. I’ve been very fortunate and I’ve always known that, if I was
able,
I would help other foster children.”
Finally the men start fading!
Victoria was only 16 days old when she and her sisters Sheree and Lori
were given away by their white birth mother. She never got to know her
father and met her birth mother, who died in 1986, only three times.
But she knew that she still had three brothers, Keith, Norman and
David. She spend plenty of effort and time in finding her family or at
least parts of it. After some yearsit finally worked out. Today the
siblings are reunited and Victoria says that all the work was very well
worth that.
After an odyssey from foster home to foster home the three Rowell girls
were finally adopted by the Armstrongs, who had a farm in Lebanon.
There Victoria spent her time feeding the animals until she started
dancing. She loved her foster-parents very much and is grateful that
those supported her love for the arts. “Inside all of you is
creativity!”, Victoria once told a group of foster-children. “It just
needs to be tapped. It needs to be nutured and inspired. That’s what my
foster mother did for me.” When Agatha Armsrong died at the age
of 79, Victoria was very sad.
Certainly all the support she had got from her foster family were one
reason for her wish to make arts and music studies possible for every
foster child which was also cause of the foundation of the RFCPP.
Nevertheless Victoria had also made bad experiences with the system
herself when she had reached adulthood at the age of 18 and barely knew
what she was supposed to do.
“Eighteen is a marvelous age where a youg person is just beginning,
where
you’re beginning your adulthood. You’re just beginning to discover who
you
are and what you want to do in life. A young person should be
concentrating on that, not ‘Where can I get dental care’ or ‘Where can
I get a checkup’ or ‘Where am I going to live?’”
Therefore the RFCPP offers support for foster children until their
havereached the age of 21.
Victoria also has got tow own children, Maya and Jasper. She lives in
divorce with Maya’s dad, Tim Farley, and now has a long-distance
relationship with the jazz musician Wynton Marsalis, Jasper’s father.
She has also thought about adopting a child on her own. “I’ve thought
about it numerous times. Having come from foster care, I don’t think I
can be a foster parent. A foster parent is a very special person. A
foster parent has to have patience and a very strong condition. There’s
no way you can
give part-time love to your children. A foster parent has to be willing
to
give everything they have.”
And so the young mother and actress cares lovingly for her own children
and her projects.
In her free time she likes to read and dance.
 
That’s the
proof:
Scrubs make one look sexy!
In “Diagnosis: Murder” Victoria Rowell plays the part of Dr. Amanda
Bentley, which had been played by Cynthia Gibney in the first three
movies. But from the first season Victoria was performing that role
while also starring in “The Young And The Restless” at the same time.
That is more than anything else the merit of Bill Bell, executive
producer and creator of “Y&R”. “He really is responsible, not only
for me getting a start in Los Angeles, but he also provided me the
opportunity to work with Dick van Dyke and Diagnosis Murder. If Bill
said: ‘You can’t do the other show while you’re doing my show I would
have been moot. But he did work
with the producers at Viacom and that was extraordinary!”
Victoria’s son Jasper plays Amanda’s son CJ on Diagnosis: Murder.
Dr Amanda Bentley works as a pathologist and coroner at Community
General Hospital. She became a pathologist because she likes being
alone with the secrets under the microscope rather than treating
patients, but she also does a good job at that when her advice or
helping hans are needed in the ER. However, she really loves her job
and often helps Steve in investigations, eben though the Lieutenant
sometimes doesn’t have a clue what those medical facts, which he gets
from Amanda, mean.
In that case there is Mark, the translator, who has been friends with
Amanda for ages a welcome support. She loves him about as much as her
dad and Mark Sloan is amazed by the young woman’s way with people, her
sense of humor and
her empathy. Amanda really is an attentive listener and with her female
intuition
she sometimes is a step ahead compared with the men.
But some
people even look good in those suits...
She was married to the airforce pilot Lieutenant
Commander Colin Livingston, at leats that was what she always
believes...until
the reverent, who held the wedding ceremony, turned out to be a
defrauder
and the wedding had to be repeated by radio contact to Bosnien, where
Colin
was stationed. Later she got divorced from Colin. Several years after
that
her ex-husband died in a plane crash. From Colin Amanda has got one
son,
Colin Jesse, normally just CJ. The boy has got his second name from Dr
Jesse
Travis who was, event though more or less voluntarily, the delivering
doctor
when CJ was born. By now Jesse is something like a second dad to CJ,
while
Mark is the boy’s godfather.
By the time when Amanda was pregnant, putting up with her wasn’t always
very
easy for the three men...but there where always pickled cucumbers in
the
refrigerator of the pathology lab (behind the lymph-nodes). Also when
li’l
CJ hadn’t had enough sleep at night, Mark, Steve and Jesse sometimes
wanted
to be invisible rather than meet Amanda accidently. You see, the
normally
good-humored pathologist can as everyone else be cranky from time to
time.
Later Amanda adopts a second boy, Dion, a foster child, who was abused
by
his former foster family. Amanda has fought very hard for him and has
succeeded
at the end. Also Amanda once was a foster child and was really lucky
with
her foster parents and now she wants to be a good and caring mother for
both
of her sons just as her foster mom was for her. She really cares
for
her kids self-immolatingly and works hard at the same time.
Before her marriage she was kind of involved with the intern Jack
Steward,
who later moved to Colorado. After her divorce she only had a longer
realtionship
with the FBI Agent Ron Wagner, who works in London by now.
Amanda once got the MESI, the award of the official coroner of the
year.
She has a soft spot for daily soaps and country music, even though she
doesn’t
like to admitt the last-mentioned.
Here the Must-See episodes for the true Victoria/Amanda Fans among us:
Season 1
(A new Amanda
Bentley...and not at all a bad
one!)
Reunion
With Murder
Season 2 ( If there’s still something to happen
between
Amanda and Jack?...)
Death
In The Daytime
Season 3
(No...but:
new season, new luck!)
35
Millimeter Murder
It’s simply great how Amanda first unnervs Mark and Jesse and the end
is
just so cute!
Mind
Over Murder
The generally asked question: What’s up with hair?!
Season 4
(By now we’d
even have us treated by a pathologist...)
Murder
Can Be Contagious
Extremly heart-melting and rather exciting how Amanda and Steve hurry
and
hurry again to save the lives of Mark and Jesse.
Murder
On Thin Ice
One pair of figure ice-skates for Jesse, please! Lovely idea, Amanda!
X
Marks Murder 1+2
Exciting eppi and the murder is really hard to figure out. And by the
way,
Steve owes Amanda a door now.
Murder
Two 1+2
Packing Matlock’s suitcase and cuddeling Jesse...that woman just has it!
Murder
In The Air
My fave Amanda quote is from that episode:“I like it to rush into the
plane
after the expiring of boarding time. That makes one so interesting!”
Season 5
(Now men
don’t just start crying when they cut
their fingers, now they claim themselves to be dead!)
Malibu
Fire
Peter Graves, Whitney Houston and Michael J. Fox are
investigating...errr,
what?!
Fatal
Impact 1+2
Ron and Amanda are soo cute together...not only when they fight...
Rain
Of Terror
Creepy eppi *shudder* Simply good...
Baby
Boom
Well, Steve looks really good in that EMT’s shirt, but somehow I can
understand
why Amanda looks at him like that when he enters.
Food
Fight
Any guys in here who wanna have some little starters?
Obsession
1+2
Again with Ron, Amanda’s and mine personally favorite FBI Agent.
Season 6
(We are
really grateful that once on TV women
are allowed to be not only pretty but also smart!)
Write,
She Murdered
Here we get to know Victoria Rowell from a different side. Sexy,
overexcited,
crazy...simply nice!
Rear
Windows ’98
A wonderful eppi with the greatest computer freaks ever!
Murder,
My Suite
That doesn’t sem to be Amanda’s day. I almost faided of shock when she
suddenly
faided into Mark’s arms.
Season 7
(In that
season Amanda is even better than good.
Strong, cool, lovely and with endless energy!)
Bringing
Up Barbie
Little Jasper is really lovely as CJ...no surprise with that mother!
Gangland
1+2
It’s so great how Amanda fight for Dion. Unfortunately, Mark always
gets
kidnapped or knocked out when he’s needed.
Frontier
Dad
This eppi is also partly about the horrible fate of lots of foster
children.
Besides good humor that episode is really heart-melting.
Too
Many Cooks
Any men in here who wanna attend a cooking course now?
Season 8
(There has to
be an end...but not NOW!! *cry*)
Confession
One holiday at monastery, please! But this is not gonna be a chill-out
for
Amanda...
Being
Of Sound Mind
The good old inheritance story...but this time “really” good!!
The
Red’s Shoes
Even something for usual non-ballett fans. “Honey, I changed my mind,
I’m
gonna join you to the ballett performance!”... ;-)
Still one thing: The episode “The Red’s Shoes” is not only because of
the
choreography worth a watch, but because she was written by Victoria
Rowell
and is definitly a well-done job!
And here are all of Victoria’s movies and
guest appeareances at one sight:
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