Anne Heche biography
Date of birth : 1969-05-25
Date of death : -
Birthplace : Aurora, Ohio, U.S.
Nationality : American
Category : Arts and Entertainment
Last modified : 2011-06-22
Credited as : Actress, director and screenwriter, Gracie's Choice
1 votes so far
Born on May 25, 1969, in Aurora, Ohio. Anne Heche has become as famous for her personal life as her numerous acting roles. Raised in a conservative religious household, she was the daughter of a Baptist choir director and a homemaker. Heche’s father died of AIDS when she was only 12 years old, leaving the family in a difficult financial situation. To help out her family, Heche started her acting career at a dinner theater in New Jersey. The family later moved to the Chicago area.
While in high school, Heche had her first big break when a talent scout spotted her in a school production. After graduation, she moved to New York City to work on the daytime drama Another World. On the show, she played twins Marley and Vicky Hudson who had very different personalities—one was gentle and sweet while the other was a bit wicked and rough around the edges. Heche won a Daytime Emmy Award in 1991 for her work on the show.
Moving to the big screen, Heche made her feature film debut in 1993’s An Ambush of Ghosts. The next year she appeared in A Simple Twist of Fate with Steve Martin, which resulted in the two developing an off-camera relationship for some time. But it was Heche’s role as the wife of an undercover FBI agent in Donnie Brasco (1997) that brought her to the attention of the American public. Playing opposite Johnny Depp, she garnered critical acclaim for her portrayal of a wife and mother whose marriage is strained by her husband’s work.
Around that time, Heche appeared to be on the fast track to film success, with roles in the action drama Volcano opposite Tommy Lee Jones and the political satire Wag the Dog with Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro. In 1997, Heche also made news for her romantic life. She became involved with Ellen DeGeneres, the comedienne and sitcom star. Some wondered whether the relationship would have a negative impact on Heche’s career. Others were skeptical of her ability to convince audiences that she could play as a heterosexual romantic lead. Despite any concerns, Heche starred opposite Harrison Ford in Six Days Seven Nights. In the film, she played as an editor who eventually falls for Ford’s character, a pilot, after the two survive an airplane crash together.
While some speculating about the end of her career, Heche continued to flourish. She starred as a lawyer in Return to Paradise with Vince Vaughn. The pair worked together again on Gus Van Zant’s remake of the Alfred Hitchcock classic Psycho. But not long after Heche and DeGeneres ended their relationship in 2000, Heche hit some emotional turbulence. She was hospitalized briefly after being found wandering around near Fresno, California.
Heche wrote candidly about her difficult childhood and other personal challenges in her 2001’s memoir, Call Me Crazy. That same year, she also got married to videographer Coley Laffoon. The couple welcomed a son named Homer in 2002. Soon after, Heche made her Broadway debut in the drama Proof and received warm reviews. Her next Broadway appearance in 2004’s revival of the comedy Twentieth Century earned her a Tony Award nomination.
Switching to the small screen, Heche received her first primetime Emmy Award nomination for her work on the television film, Gracie’s Choice, in 2004. She also landed a recurring role on the family drama Everwood before getting her own series in 2006. Men in Trees debuted in the fall of 2006 with Heche starring as Marin Frist, a relationship expert who escapes to a small town in Alaska after her own romance falls apart.
In 2007, Heche’s life began to mirror her own character. She separated from her husband and the two have been engaged in a public divorce battle over custody of their son. Heche is currently romantically linked to her television co-star, James Tupper.
