It might have disappointed some fans of “The Young and the Restless” when actress Victoria Rowell’s character fell off a cliff last year, but it left Rowell free to focus on her writing career.
Rowell, also a dancer and advocate, visited Turnrow Book Co. on Wednesday to read from and sign copies of her book “The Women Who Raised Me: A Memoir.”
Rowell first came to Greenwood last year when the book was published, and she was back this week to mark the book’s recent release in paperback.
“The Women Who Raised Me” recounts Rowell’s experiences in foster care. Growing up as an orphan on a farm in rural Maine might seem an unlikely childhood for a classical ballet dancer and soap opera star, but that was how Rowell got her start.
During her appearance at Turnrow, Rowell, who now resides in Los Angeles, spoke mainly about her foster mother, Agatha Armstead, whom she described as “a real renaissance woman — she could do anything.”
“She believed if you had the passion, anything was possible,” Rowell said.
Armstead passed on this trait to Rowell, who taught herself ballet out of a book and later earned the Ford Foundation scholarship to the Cambridge School of Ballet in Massachusetts.
Her career as a professional dancer led to modeling, and modeling led to acting.
In addition to her role on “The Young and the Restless,” Rowell also appeared on “Diagnosis Murder” with Dick Van Dyke and in many films including “The Distinguished Gentleman” with Eddie Murphy and “Dumb and Dumber” with Jim Carrey.
Rowell founded the Rowell Foster Children’s Positive Plan in 1990, which enriches the lives of foster children through arts and athletics, and she serves as a national spokeswoman for Casey Family Services, which is part of the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
She credits her success not only to the discipline she gained through years of farming and practicing ballet, but also to everything she learned from the women she encountered while growing up.
“I believe that we all teach where we sit and stand,” Rowell said. “You don’t need a special degree.”
Rowell is close to completing her next book, “Secrets of a Soap Opera Diva.” Also, given that the body of her soap-opera character, Drucilla Winters, was never actually found, she said a return to the show is always a possibility.
