Lois Cerullo (Rena Sofer)

Lois Cerullo (formerly Ashton) is a fictional character on the ABC daytime soap opera, General Hospital. Rena Sofer originated the role from 1993 to 1997 and Lesli Kay stepped into the role briefly on June 1, 2004 until March 2005.

Storylines Lois Cerullo first appeared on General Hospital in 1993 as a band manager. When she saw Eddie Mane perform at a New York concert, she was impressed with him and immediately hired the artist known as Eddie. What she didn't know was that "Eddie" was actually Ned Ashton. Lois believed that Eddie was a singer by night, and a traveling pharmaceutical salesman by day, and Ned let her, never once correcting her beliefs. Their relationship grew and soon they fell in love and got married. After their wedding, Ned and Lois moved to Ned's home town of Port Charles, New York. While there, Lois was re-introduced to her old friend from Bensonhurst, Sonny Corinthos. Through Sonny, she quickly became close friends with Sonny's girlfriend Brenda Barrett, and together the two opened their own recording company, called L&B Records, also known as Lois Cerullo and Brenda Barrett Records. More time passed and Lois was still in the dark about Ned's true identity. Meanwhile, Katherine Bell was blackmailing Ned's family, the Quartermaines and as a part of her blackmail, she was forcing Ned to marry her. Nevertheless, Ned still refused to tell Lois the truth because he didn't want to hurt her and he didn't want her to know that he had been lying to her all this time. Lois eventually found out about his true identity from the television. While watching TV, she discovered that Eddie Mane was actually Ned Ashton and that he was really married to Katherine. Furious, Lois decided to confront him and did so at Katherine's birthday party. During the party, she popped out of Katherine's cake, and said "Happy Birthday to Mrs. Ned Ashton, from the other Mrs. Ned Ashton!" Then she left Ned, effectively ending their relationship.

Lois was heartbroken, but Ned wasn't ready to give up on their relationship and pursued her hard to win back her heart. Eventually she gave him a chance and they reconciled. Ned later asked Lois to marry him and she accepted his proposal on the condition that there be no more lies in their relationship. He agreed to this condition and Ned and Lois were married for real. While wed, Ned and Lois went through some pretty tough times. The conflict began when Ned revealed to police commissioner Mac Scorpio, that Lois's friend Sonny was a mobster, after Lois had told him this in confidence. Lois was hurt that Ned betrayed her trust, but they were able to overcome this hurdle and the real threat to their relationship came in the form of Ned's family. Lois wanted Ned to distance himself from the dysfunction of the Quartermaines and Ned's mother Tracy Quartermaine-Spencer had hated Lois from the moment they met. After Tracy put the family's company, ELQ in financial jeopardy, she skipped town, and Ned was left to clean up the mess. Lois asked Ned to choose between his job or her and their unborn daughter and Ned chose ELQ. Deeply hurt, Lois left Ned and returned to her home town of Bensonhurst, where she later gave birth to a baby girl, whom she named Brook Lynn Ashton after her favorite city.

A year later, Lois began to feel guilty for keeping Ned away from Brook Lynn and she returned to Port Charles to allow Ned to have a relationship with his daughter. When she returned, she learned that Ned had an affair with his uncle's wife Monica Quartermaine. She also overheard Ned blackmailing his cousin Justus Ward, and not being able to handle all the drama and dysfunction, she left town again with Brook Lynn. She later returned briefly in 1997, to comfort her best friend Brenda, after Sonny left her at the altar during their wedding. Lois didn't return to Port Charles again until 2004, when her now teenage daughter Brook Lynn ran away. Lois came to Port Charles looking for Brook Lynn and after she and Ned were able to find their daughter in the city, Lois decided to stay in Port Charles. Soon after Lois' return, Ned's grandmother Lila Quartermaine died. Lois attended the funeral and comforted Ned over the loss, but they did not get back together and Lois began dating mobster Lorenzo Alcazar. Brook Lynn was upset at her mother's decision to date Lorenzo, but nevertheless decided to start a girl band at her mother's request. Brook Lynn, Sage Alcazar, Georgie Jones, and Maxie Jones were going to fake an audition for the band, but when Maxie was nowhere to be found, Ned's brother Dillon Quartermaine was forced to dress in drag and pose as a woman. The situation got even more out of control when Simon, the record producer started hitting on Dillon, thinking that he was a woman. However, their plan to start a band failed, and when Sage was murdered by Mary Bishop, plans for a girl band were dropped completely. Lois continued to date Lorenzo, but their relationship started to fail, when Lorenzo's feelings for his ex-wife Carly Corinthos started to return. Lois ended her relationship with Lorenzo and started to reconcile with Ned. Ned and Lois realized that a relationship between them would no longer work, but they agreed to stay friends. Ned, Lois and Brook Lynn then all left Port Charles together and moved to Manhattan to continue working in the music industry.

Lois was mentioned in 2008, when Sonny called her mother Gloria and asked her how to get a hold of Olivia Falconeri, another friend of theirs that had grown up with them in Bensonhurst. When in town, Olivia later mentioned Ned, Lois and Brook Lynn and told Sonny that the three of them were in Los Angeles, California - enjoying a very successful music career. She also told Sonny that she and their son, Dante Falconeri, always visit Gloria, Lois' mother, whenever they are in Bensonhurst. When Ned and Lois' daughter Brook Lynn returned to Port Charles in 2010, she mentioned that Lois now lives in London, England and manages several bands all over Europe.