right|thumb|270px|Wedding of Capwell and Castillo, 1988
Eden Capwell and Cruz Castillo are fictional characters and a supercouple from the American daytime drama Santa Barbara. Eden was portrayed by American actress Marcy Walker from September 28, 1984 to August 9, 1991, and Cruz was portrayed by actor A Martinez from August 13, 1984 to September 11, 1992. While producers were at first unsure about pairing the blonde, white Eden with a character of Mexican descent, the fans eagerly adopted the new couple, and they quickly became Santa Barbara's most popular couple.
Storyline
This couple's subsequent relationship was not apparent when their characters first appeared. (Eden, having been away from Santa Barbara for some time, made a dramatic entrance by parachuting onto the grounds of the Capwell estate.) As a matter of fact, Cruz and Eden did not seem to like each other very much in their early scenes from 1984. Not only were their differing ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds a strong factor in their initial dislike, but Eden and Cruz were attracted to other characters on the show. During this period, Cruz was pursuing his childhood friend, Santana Andrade, while Eden was showing interest in Lionel Lockridge.
However, Marcy Walker and A Martinez have been quoted as saying that they pushed the Eden and Cruz angle, as it was not part of the original writer's plans to pair the two. Eventually the actors won out and Santa Barbara's first supercouple was born. By mid-1985, only a year after the debut of the show, Eden and Cruz were fan favorites and a great deal of the viewers were rooting for this couple. The racial issues were touched upon very intelligently by the writers, acknowledged, yet not ridiculed.
As Cruz and Eden began dating during this period, their differing ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds, became major hurdles in their relationship. Both Eden's father, C.C. Capwell and Cruz's mother, Carmen, did not approve of the relationship for these reasons. Despite this, Cruz and Eden continued with their relationship and were soon engaged. However, as with any supercouple, more problems ensued that jeopardized the relationship. One involved the investigation into Channing's murder (Eden's older brother).
Cruz, who was a detective on the Santa Barbara Police Force at the time, re-opened the case when new evidence on other possible suspects appeared. This caused a great deal of tension in the relationship since Cruz often found himself struggling between his duty as a police officer and his loyalty to Eden. The loyalty was challenged when the murder investigation leads to Eden's mother, Sophia, as the prime suspect. However, Eden and Cruz were able to reconcile their differences and together, they worked to get Sophia (who killed Channing by accident) a lenient jail sentence.
Soon, Eden and Cruz became engaged and a wedding date was set. However, more events would postpone the wedding and damage the relationship. A fire at the Capwell Hotel stopped Cruz and Eden's first attempt at marriage in 1985. Later on in the year, Eden's father, C.C. suffered a stroke and slipped into a coma. Eden is thrust into the leadership position of the Capwell family (much to her older brother Mason's chagrin). The future wedding is postponed even further when an ambitious business man, by the name of Kirk Cranston, comes to town. He helped Eden run the family business, but had a strong romantic interest in Eden as well.