Marnie Schulenburg, known for her roles in soap operas As the World Turns and One Life to Live, died on Tuesday in New York due to a complication from breast cancer, a representative confirmed to Variety. She was 37.
Schulenburg’s husband Zack Robidas, an actor known for his roles in Sorry for Your Loss and Succession, also confirmed the news via a Facebook post, in which he thanked her fans for their support after Schulenburg’s diagnosis.
“Please don’t say Marnie lost her battle to cancer. It’s simply not true. I watched her kick cancer’s ass everyday since diagnosis,” the post reads.
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“She is incredible. We chose to attack her diagnosis with blind optimism. We only talked about the future and continued moving forward. I don’t know if this was right but it’s all we knew how to do.”
Schulenburg was born in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and studied theatre at DeSales University. After college, she began her career in theatre, performing at Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival and for the Dramatists Guild of America in New York City.
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Schulenburg’s first television credit was as Alison Stewart, her character in As the World Turns. She was the second actor to portray the character, after Jessica Dunphy left the show in 2005.
She made her first appearance as Alison in 2007, during a crossover between As the World Turns and The Young and the Restless. Schulenburg then joined the main cast of As the World Turns and appeared for over 300 episodes until the show was cancelled in 2010.
During her tenure on the show, Schulenburg’s most frequent scene partner was Billy Magnussen, who played her love interest, Casey Hughes.
Their character’s romance was a central part of the show’s later years, and the show ended with them getting engaged and planning to move away. Schulenburg received a Daytime Emmy Nomination for her performance in the final year of the show.
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Three years later, Schulenburg starred in a short-lived revival of the ABC soap opera One Life to Live, portraying the character of Jo Sullivan. From 2014 to 2017, she starred in the meta soap opera Tainted Dreams, which followed the backstage drama of a soap opera cast.
Aside from her soap roles, she also had recurring and guest appearances in shows such as Fringe, Army Wives, Blue Bloods, Manhattan Love Story, Elementary, The Good Fight and Divorce.
In addition, she had a recurring role in the upcoming third season of Showtime drama City on the Hill, starring Kevin Bacon and Aldis Hodge. The season will premiere this July.
Schulenburg is survived by Robidas and their daughter.
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