Biography
Nancy Sorel is an award-winning American and Canadian actor and voice artist recognized for her roles in Less Than Kind (2008), Heaven Is for Real (2014), Breakthrough (2019), How It Ends (2018), The Grudge (2019), Once Upon a Christmas Miracle (2018), The Man in the High Castle (2015), and Barbie: Fairytopia (2005).
Born on May 14 in Fall River, Massachusetts, USA, she is the third child of Diane Sorel Weglowski, an R.N., and Alphonse J. Weglowski, a toolmaker. She graduated from B.M.C. Durfee High School in Fall River and earned a degree in Theatre and Film from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. While at UMass Amherst, she landed her first professional acting role at the University Playwrights Festival alongside guest artist Bill Pullman, who inspired her to pursue acting professionally in New York City. After graduating, she moved to New York, where she performed Off Broadway at the Ernie Martin and Intar Theaters. During this period, she also worked in commercials and print, and within months, secured the role of Coco on ABC's daytime drama One Life to Live. She later moved to Los Angeles to star in NBC's daytime series Generations (1989) and guest-starred in various prime-time shows, Movies of the Week, and pilots, including Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990), Doogie Howser, M.D. (1989), Murder, She Wrote (1984), Empty Nest (1988), The X-Files (1993), and The Outer Limits (1995). She also played Sammy on Fox's sitcom Down the Shore (1992).
After working extensively between Los Angeles and Vancouver in her early 20s, Nancy eventually settled in Canada. There, she continued her television career with appearances in Hope Island (1999), Beggars and Choosers (1999), Seven Days (1998), First Wave (1998), The Twilight Zone (2002), Stargate SG-1 (1997), Tru Calling (2003), The 4400 (2004), and numerous made-for-TV movies.
In Canada, Nancy met and married manufacturer and actor Paul Magel. They have two children. She is best known for recent work, notably as Clara Fine in the critically acclaimed and multi-award-winning HBO series Less Than Kind, earning two Canadian Comedy Awards (2009 and 2010), an ACTRA Award (2014), and a Canadian Screen Award nomination in 2014. The following year, she received two ACTRA Award nominations for her roles as Dr. Charlotte Slater in the Sony feature film Heaven Is for Real, alongside Greg Kinnear, and as Marm McGoldrick, an 1860s New York City mob boss, in the series The Pinkertons.
Whether portraying a Hallmark mom (Kathy Krueger in Once Upon a Christmas Miracle, 2018), an FBI agent (Agent Cole in The Grudge, 2019), a recently widowed schoolteacher facing her faith (Mrs. Abbott in Fox’s Breakthrough, 2019), or a 1960s Third Reich socialite (Mary Dawson in The Man in the High Castle, seasons 2 and 3, 2017-2018), Nancy has established herself as a respected and sought-after veteran in both the American and Canadian film and television industries.
