The actor from “All My Children” was 51

©ABC/Courtesy Everett Collection

Esta TerBlanche, best known for her role as Gillian Andrassy in “All My Children,” has died. She was 51 years old.

TerBlanche died Thursday at her home, according to the Los Angeles County coroner. Her cause of death is under investigation.

Her talent manager Annie Spolianky also confirmed the news to diversityand said that TerBlanche was a “wonderful, kind and loving person.”

TerBlanche played Gillian, a troubled Hungarian princess, on “All My Children” from 1997 to 2001. Her character was married to Ryan Lavery (Cameron Mathison), who was taken off life support after she was shot by an assassin due to mistaken identity. TerBlanche returned as Gillian’s ghost for one episode in 2011 when the soap opera ended its four-decade run on ABC.

“When I came back, it was very emotional for me and Cameron. When we saw each other, we both started crying,” TerBlanche said in an interview with Soap Opera Digest published on July 13. “At that point, we hadn’t seen each other for years, so it was a very touching moment for us.”

TerBlanche was born on January 7, 1973 in Rustenberg, a town in the North West province of South Africa. In 1991, she was crowned Miss Teen South Africa.

Early in her acting career, TerBlanche was cast in the role of Beatrice “Bienkie” Naudé Hartman in “Egoli: Place of Gold,” the first South African soap opera, where she appeared from 1992 to 1995. She eventually moved to the United States and worked on “All My Children” two years later.

After Gillian’s death on “All My Children” in 2001, TerBlanche returned to South Africa, where she opened a spa and worked on documentaries with filmmaker Michael Kastenbaum, Soap Opera Digest reported. At the time of TerBlanche’s death, she was living between South Africa and California.