Louise Sorel was born in Los Angeles, California. She received theatrical training at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York.
Her first daytime dramatic role was as eccentric, meddlesome Augusta Wainwright on the soap opera Santa Barbara. She also spent a year appearing as strong-willed but decent District Attorney Judith Russell Sanders on the soap opera One Life to Live. She played villainess Vivian Alamain on the soap opera Days of Our Lives from March 1992 until February 2000. Sorel's performance as Alamain garnered her five Soap Opera Digest Awards as "Outstanding Villainess" in 1994, "Outstanding Showstopper" in 1997 and again in 1999 as "Outstanding Scene Stealer".
In 2000, shortly after being let go from Days of Our Lives, Sorel briefly joined the cast of the Port Charles as fashion maven Donatella Stewart (a play on the names Donatella Versace and Martha Stewart). The role lasted for a month. In 2001, she had a brief role on another soap opera All My Children as Judge Kay Campobello. She made a brief appearance on Passions as cannery worker Dort in 2004. In December 2009, she was invited to reprise her villainous role on Days.