Anne Heche

Anne Heche

Heche in June 2007
Born Anne Celeste Heche
May 25, 1969 (1969-05-25) (age 41)
, U.S.
Occupation Actress
Years active 1987–present
Spouse Coleman Laffoon (2001–2009)
Partner Ellen DeGeneres (1997–2000)
James Tupper (2007–present)
Children Homer Heche Lafoon (2002)

Anne Celeste Heche (pronounced /ˈheɪʃ/ (haysh); born May 25, 1969) is an American actress, director, and screenwriter.

Contents

Early life

Heche was born in Aurora, Ohio, the daughter of Nancy and Donald Heche. Her father was an organist, church founder, Baptist minister, and choir director.[1] In her book, Call Me Crazy, she claimed that her father molested her during her childhood, giving her herpes simplex. Her father later disclosed his homosexuality to his family before dying of AIDS in 1983. In that same year, Heche's older brother Nate, who was also an actor, was killed in a car accident just a few months before his graduation from high school.[2] Heche was a noted actress even at the progressive Francis W. Parker School, in Chicago, and the soap opera As the World Turns offered her a contract in 1985, when she was 16. However, both she and her mother felt it best that she finish high school first.

Career

Immediately after her high school graduation, Heche landed her first major TV role, that of good and evil twins Vicky and Marley on the NBC soap opera Another World. Heche made quite an impression with the complicated dual role, earning Daytime Emmy and Soap Opera Digest Awards. Heche taped her final episode of Another World in 1991 and the following year made a significant TV film debut alongside Jessica Lange in the Golden Globe-nominated adaptation of Willa Cather’s O Pioneers. She made her feature debut as Mary Jane Wilks in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1993) and gradually landed larger roles in I'll Do Anything (1994) and TV movies Against the Wall (1994) and Kingfish: A Story of Huey Long (1995), playing Huey Long's mistress.

Her breakthrough role was that of a friend of Demi Moore who falls victim to a hit man in the thriller The Juror (1996). She appeared alongside Jada Pinkett Smith and Cher in the controversial abortion drama If These Walls Could Talk (1996). She went on to appear in the acclaimed indie Walking and Talking (1996) before appearing opposite Johnny Depp in Donnie Brasco (1997), as the wife of an FBI agent whose intensely guarded job as a mafia infiltrator threatens to destroy his own life and family. Heche then teamed with Tommy Lee Jones in the disaster flick Volcano (1997) and continued her rise with a well-reviewed turn as a presidential advisor in the political satire Wag the Dog (1997). She appeared in the horror film I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) and starred opposite Harrison Ford in the romantic adventure Six Days, Seven Nights (1998). In 1998, she starred as Marion Crane opposite Vince Vaughn in the poorly received remake of Psycho (1998). In 1999, she played the skeptical daughter of a woman proposed as a candidate for sainthood in The Third Miracle. Heche wrote and directed the Emmy-nominated HBO movie If These Walls Could Talk 2 (2000).

In 2001, Heche released the memoir Call Me Crazy. She had appeared in the Denzel Washington thriller John Q and also played Dr. Sterling in the long-delayed adaptation of Elizabeth Wurtzel's bestseller Prozac Nation (2001). She had a recurring role on the hit show Ally McBeal as the eccentric soulmate of John Cage during the 2000–01 season. Heche starred in the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Proof on Broadway. In 2004, Heche received an Emmy nomination for playing a drug-addicted mother who neglects her children in the Lifetime movie Gracie's Choice (2004). She starred alongside Nicole Kidman in the well-received independent film Birth and also appeared in a recurring role on the WB drama Everwood before returning to Broadway, where she was nominated for a Tony Award for a revival of Twentieth Century, starring opposite Alec Baldwin. She then took on a recurring role on Nip/Tuck in 2005 as an ex-mob wife and Witness Protection Program subject who requires plastic surgery. By the next fall, she was headlining her own primetime show, ABC’s dramedy Men in Trees where she starred as a transplanted New York author living in small town Alaska, which happens to be abundant with single men and few women. Men in Trees was canceled in May 2008, after a season shortened by the writer’s strike. Her most recent film is Spread, a sex comedy co-starring Ashton Kutcher released in 2009.

Heche currently stars in HBO's new series Hung, a dark comedy that centers on a well-endowed but struggling high school basketball coach. Thomas Jane plays the lead character, Ray. Heche plays Ray's ex-wife, who is remarried. The actress replaces Kristin Bauer, who played the role in the pilot.

Personal life

Relationships

Heche at the 1997 Emmy Awards

In the early 1990s, Heche dated both Another World costars Richard Burgi and David Forsyth.[3] She also dated musician Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac for a year in the early 1990s. Heche dated comedian Steve Martin, 24 years her senior, for two years. She is rumored to be the basis for Heather Graham's character in Bowfinger, although Martin denies it.[4]

Heche's same-sex relationship with comedian Ellen DeGeneres and the events following their breakup became subjects of widespread media interest. The couple started dating in 1997 shortly after the famous "Puppy Episode" of DeGeneres' sitcom Ellen. At one point, the two said they would get a civil union if such became legal in Vermont. They also worked on film and TV projects together. They broke up in August 2000.

Shortly after the split, Heche began dating cameraman Coley Laffoon, whom she met while Laffoon was filming a comedy special for DeGeneres. They were married on September 1, 2001. Their son, Homer, was born six months later, on March 2, 2002. The couple formally separated in late January 2007.[5] Laffoon filed for divorce on February 2, 2007.[6] After a long-running court battle over spousal and child support, Heche and Laffoon reached a divorce settlement on March 4, 2009.[3][7][8] In 2009 a court order was issued requiring Heche and Laffoon to hire a “parenting coordinator” to manage their relationships with son Homer. This arrangement will remain in effect until May 1, 2011.[9][10]

Sources say Heche left her husband for Men in Trees co-star James Tupper.[11] The couple reportedly moved in together in August, 2007.[12] Their son, Atlas Heche Tupper, was born over the weekend of March 7–8, 2009.[13]

Family

In 1994, Heche's sister, Susan Bergman, wrote a book about the family and their relationship with their father titled Anonymity. Heche and Bergman were reportedly estranged after the release of Bergman's book; Bergman died in January 2006.[14]

Psychological problems

On August 19, 2000, Heche knocked on the door of a home in Fresno, California. Dazed and scantily clad, Heche said her SUV had broken down, asked to take a shower, and then made herself at home. When the police arrived a short time later, Heche, who had publicly announced the end of her headline-grabbing three-year relationship with DeGeneres the day before, declared she was God and would take everyone back to heaven in her spaceship. Press reports at the time explained that her disorientation was the result of mental illness—fueled by the drug Ecstasy, according to Heche—stemming from childhood abuse by her father, which led her to create an alter ego named Celestia, who was "daughter of God, half-sibling of Christ, and that she was to spread a message of love to this stricken planet before ascending into Heaven."[15][16][17]

Filmography

Year Film Role Notes
1993 An Ambush of Ghosts Denise
The Adventures of Huck Finn Mary Jane Wilks
1994 I'll Do Anything Claire
Milk Money Betty
A Simple Twist of Fate Tanny's Playmate uncredited
1996 The Juror Juliet
Wild Side Alex Lee/Johanna
Pie in the Sky Amy
Walking and Talking Laura
1997 Donnie Brasco Maggie Pistone
Volcano Dr. Amy Barnes
I Know What You Did Last Summer Melissa 'Missy' Egan
Wag the Dog Winifred Ames
1998 Psycho Marion Crane
Return to Paradise Beth Eastern
Six Days Seven Nights Robin Monroe
1999 The Third Miracle Roxane
2000 Auggie Rose Lucy also known as Beyond Suspicion
2001 Prozac Nation Dr. Sterling
2002 John Q. Rebecca Payne
2004 Birth Clara
2005 Sexual Life Gwen
2007 What Love Is Laura
Suffering Man's Charity Helen
Superman: Doomsday Lois Lane voice
2008 Toxic Skies Dr. Tess Martin
2009 Spread Samantha Released on August 14 in select theaters
2010 The Other Guys Pamela Boardman uncredited[18]

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1987–1991 Another World Victoria 'Vicky' Hudson/Marley Love Hudson
1992 O Pioneers! Marie
1993 The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles Kate 1 episode
1994 The Investigator Lucinda
Girls in Prison Jennifer
Against the Wall Sharon
1995 Kingfish: A Story of Huey P. Long Aileen Dumont
1996 If These Walls Could Talk Christine Cullen segment "1996"
Subwaystories: Tales from the Underground Pregnant Girl segment "Manhattan Miracle"
1997–1998 Ellen Karen 2 episodes
2000 One Kill Captain Mary Jane O'Malley
2001 Ally McBeal Melanie West 7 episodes
2004 The Dead Will Tell Emily Parker
Gracie's Choice Rowena Lawson
2004–2005 Everwood Amanda Hayes 10 episodes
2005 True
Nip/Tuck Nicole Morretti 3 episodes
Silver Bells Catherine O'Mara
2005–2006 Higglytown Heroes Gloria the Waitress 3 episodes
2006 Fatal Desire Tanya Sullivan
2007 Masters of Science Fiction Martha Van Vogel 1 episode
2006–2008 Men in Trees Marin Frist 36 episodes
2009–2010 Hung Jessica Haxon 18 episodes
2011 Cedar Rapids Joan Ostrowski-Fox

Director

Year Film Notes
2000 If These Walls Could Talk 2 segment "2000
2001 Ellen De Generes: American Summer Documentary
On the Edge segment Reaching Normal

References

  1. ↑ "Anne Heche Biography (1969–)". Filmreference.com. http://www.filmreference.com/film/65/Anne-Heche.html. Retrieved 2008-11-01. 
  2. ↑ "Anne Heche Biography". Yahoo! Movies. http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hc&id=1800018958&cf=biog&intl=us. Retrieved 2008-11-01. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Anne Heche – Biography". Imdb.com. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000162/bio. Retrieved 2008-11-01. 
  4. ↑ "Bowfinger Page 7". redknotstudio.com. http://www.redknotstudio.com/compleatsteve/actor/bowfinger_7.htm. Retrieved 2009-04-23. 
  5. ↑ "Anne Heche, Husband Split". People. 2007-01-24. http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20009600,00.html. Retrieved 2008-11-01. 
  6. ↑ "Anne Heche's Husband Files for Divorce". Peoplecom. 2007-02-02. http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20010830,00.html. Retrieved 2008-11-01. 
  7. ↑ "Heche Battles Estranged Husband Over Furniture". Imdb.com. 2007-07-10. http://www.imdb.com/news/ni0060068/. Retrieved 2008-11-01. 
  8. ↑ "Anne Heche: I Can't Afford Child Support". Imdb.com. http://www.imdb.com/news/ni0181562/. Retrieved 2008-11-01. 
  9. ↑ "Anne Heche and ex hire $375/hour “parenting coordinator”". http://www.celebitchy.com/70775/anne_heche_and_ex_hire_375hour_parenting_coordinator_/. 
  10. ↑ "Anne Heche & Ex Hire 'Parenting Plan Coordinator'". http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/16/anne-heche-ex-hire-parent_n_288318.html. 
  11. ↑ "Anne Heche's New Romance". ET Online. http://www.etonline.com/tv/spotlight/2007/01/38525/. Retrieved 2007-10-12. 
  12. ↑ "Heche Moves In with Tupper". Imdb.com. 2007-08-22. http://www.imdb.com/news/ni0067175/. Retrieved 2008-11-01. 
  13. ↑ "It's a Baby Boy for Anne Heche!". People. 2009-03-11. http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20264792,00.html. Retrieved 2009-07-16. 
  14. ↑ AEGIS-Chicago Tribune: Susan Bergman 1957–2006
  15. ↑ Slotek, Jim (September 18, 2001). "Heaven and Heche: Actor Has Had a Strange Couple of Years...", The Toronto Sun, p. 54.
  16. ↑ McClurg, Jocelyn (September 4, 2001). "'Elated' Anne Heche weds, closes the door on her past", USA Today , P. 2d.
  17. ↑ MacDonald, Marianne (March 13, 2004). "Back to Earth?: Once one half of the world's most famous lesbian couple, Anne Heche's 'spaceship' breakdown captivated America. Today, she says, her feet are resolutely on terra firma", National Post (Canada), p. SP08.
  18. ↑ Dimako, Peter. "Anne Heche joins Cedar Rapids and The Other Guys", MovieJungle.com, October 29, 2009, sourced from subscription-only Variety article "Anne Heche picks up gigs", October 28, 2009

Further reading

External links

Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series

Cady McClain, All My Children (1990) · Anne Heche, Another World (1991) · Tricia Cast, The Young and the Restless (1992) · Heather Tom, The Young and the Restless (1993) · Melissa Hayden, Guiding Light (1994) · Sarah Michelle Gellar, All My Children (1995) · Kimberly McCullough, General Hospital (1996) · Sarah Brown, General Hospital (1997) · Sarah Brown, General Hospital (1998) · Heather Tom, The Young and the Restless (1999)

(1985-1989) · (1990-1999) ·  ·