Sonya Eddy, an actress best known for starring on the long-running soap opera General Hospital, has died. She was 55.
Eddy’s friend and actor Octavia Spencer announced Eddy’s passing on Instagram on Tuesday, writing, “My friend @sonyaeddy passed away last night. The world lost another creative angel. Her legions of @generalhospitalabc fans will miss her. My thoughts and prayers are with her loved ones, friends, and fans!”
General Hospital executive producer Frank Valentini also took to social media to pay tribute to Eddy.
“I am heartbroken about the loss of the incredible @TheRealSonyaEd. I truly loved her not only as actress, but as a friend. The lights in the hub of the nurse’s station will now be a little dimmer, but her spirit and light will live on in both the show and our set,” he wrote. “On behalf of the entire #GH cast and crew, we send our deepest sympathy to her family, friends, and fans. She will be very missed.”
A cause of death has not been revealed.
A native of Concord, Calif., Eddy began her her acting career in the West Coast premiere of Ruby Dee’s Zora, Is My Name! Additional stage credits include Comedy of Errors, as well as performances in productions of The Crucible, Pericles, Into The Woods and South Pacific, for which she won an Arty Award.
Eddy was best known for her role as Epiphany Johnson on General Hospital. She began starring on the long-running soap opera in March 2006 with her last episode as the nurse broadcast in November 2020. She also appeared in SOAPnet’s serialized 2007 drama General Hospital: Night Shift as the nurse.
With a career that spanned both film and television, Eddy’s TV credits include recurring roles on ER, Joan of Arcadia, The Drew Carey Show, Glee and Seinfeld. Other credits include In Case of Emergency, CSI, Everybody Hates Chris, Daybreak, Malcolm In the Middle, Fresh Off the Boat,The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey, Pen15, A Black Lady Sketch Show, Reba and more.
On the film side, among Eddy’s credits are Coach Carter, Bad News Bears, Barbershop, Daddy Daycare, Matchstick Men, Seven Pounds and Surviving Christmas. She appeared in the Hallmark film The Reading Room, opposite James Earl Jones.
Eddy also appeared in the 2005 production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof alongside John Goodman and Brenda Fricker at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles.
