Anne Heche

Anne Celeste Heche (born May 25, 1969) is an American actress. Her film credits include Six Days Seven Nights, Return to Paradise, I Know What You Did Last Summer, John Q and Volcano. She also starred in the television series Men in Trees, Hung, and most recently Save Me. Early life Anne Heche was born on May 25, 1969 in Aurora, Ohio, the youngest of five children of Nancy (née Prickett) and Donald Joseph Heche. Heche's family moved a total of eleven times during her childhood; at one point, they lived in an Amish community. When asked in a 2001 interview on Larry King Live what her father's source of income was, Heche replied "Well, he was a choir director. But I don't think he made much on that a week. He said that he was involved in a business of gas and oil. And he said that until the day he died. But he never was involved in the business of gas and oil ever." The family settled in Ocean City, New Jersey when Heche was twelve years old. Because of their desperate financial situation, Heche went to work at a dinner theater in Swainton. "At the time we’d been kicked out of our house and my family was holed up living in a bedroom in the home of a generous family from our church," she said. "I got $100 a week, which was more than anyone else in my family. We all pooled our money in an envelope in a drawer and saved up enough to move out after a year." On March 3, 1983, when Heche was thirteen, her 45-year-old father died of AIDS contracted from having sex with other men, although he never came out as a homosexual. "He was in complete denial until the day he died. We know he got it from his gay relationships. Absolutely. I don't think it was just one. He was a very promiscuous man, and we knew his lifestyle then," Heche said on Larry King Live. Despite her father's homosexuality, Heche has claimed that he repeatedly raped her from the time she was an infant until she was twelve, giving her genital herpes. When asked "But why would a gay man rape a girl?" in a 2001 interview with The Advocate, Heche replied "I don't think he was just a gay man. I think he was sexually deviant. My belief was that my father was gay and he had to cover that up. I think he was sexually abusive. The more he couldn't be who he was, the more that came out of him in ways that it did." Three months after her father's death, Heche's 18-year-old brother Nathan was killed in a car crash. The official determination was that he fell asleep at the wheel and struck a tree, though Heche claims he committed suicide. The remainder of Heche's family subsequently relocated to Chicago, Illinois, where Heche attended the progressive Francis W. Parker School. In 1985, when Heche was sixteen, an agent discovered her in a school play and secured her an audition for the daytime soap opera As the World Turns. Heche flew to New York City, auditioned, and was offered a job, but her mother insisted she finish high school first. Shortly before her high school graduation in 1987, Heche was offered a dual role on the daytime soap opera Another World. "Again I was told I couldn’t go. My mother was very religious and maybe she thought it was a sinner’s world," recalled Heche. "But I got on the phone and said, 'Send me the ticket. I’m getting on the plane.' I was like, 'Bye!' I did my time with my mom in a one-bedroom, skanky apartment and I was done." Career For her work on Another World, Heche received a Daytime Emmy Award in 1991 for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series. In November 1991, Heche made her primetime television debut in an episode of Murphy Brown. She made her TV-movie debut the following year with a brief appearance in the Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation of O Pioneers! (1992). In 1993, Heche made her feature film debut in Disney's The Adventures of Huck Finn with Elijah Wood. Over the next two years, she had small supporting roles in made-for-TV movies such as Girls in Prison (1994) and Kingfish: A Story of Huey P. Long (1995). She also appeared in the straight-to-video erotic thriller Wild Side (1995) as Joan Chen's lesbian lover. In 1996, Heche had her first substantial role as a college student contemplating an abortion in a segment of the made-for-cable anthology film If These Walls Could Talk. That same year, she appeared in the independent film Walking and Talking, and gained positive notice from film critic Alison Macor of Austin Chronicle, who wrote in her review: "Heche's acting suggests that she is destined for larger film roles". For her performance as Johnny Depp's wife in the 1997 film Donnie Brasco, critics such as Janet Maslin of New York Times wrote that Heche "does well with what could have been the thankless role" Media Throughout her career, she has appeared in several magazine covers including Entertainment Weekly, Mirabella and Observer Magazine. Heche was chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world in 1998. She became a significant subject of widespread media interest while dating comedian Ellen DeGeneres. Personal life Heche's relationship with comedienne Ellen DeGeneres and the events following their breakup became subjects of widespread media interest. The couple started dating in 1997, and at one point, said they would get a civil union if such became legal in Vermont. They broke up in August 2000. Heche has stated that all of her other romantic relationships have been with men. On September 1, 2001, Heche married Coleman "Coley" Laffoon, a cameraman whom she met the previous year on DeGeneres' stand-up comedy tour. They have a son, Homer, born on March 2, 2002. Laffoon filed for divorce on February 2, 2007, after five and a half years of marriage. In court papers filed on May 2, 2007, Laffoon requested primary custody of their son, claiming that Heche was an unfit parent and exhibited "bizarre and delusional behavior for which she refuses to seek professional help". Heche countered by accusing Laffoon of "resorting to lies with the court" because she "would not cave in to his astronomical money demands". Heche lost custody of their son on June 11, 2007. On May 14, 2008, following the cancellation of her TV series Men in Trees, she submitted a financial declaration showing that she had a grand total of less than $35,000 in her bank accounts and could no longer afford to pay child support. Heche and Laffoon's contentious divorce was finalized on March 4, 2009. A court order was issued which required them to hire a parenting coordinator to manage their relationships with son Homer; this arrangement remained in effect until May 1, 2011. Heche reportedly left her husband for Men in Trees co-star James Tupper. The couple moved in together in August 2007. On December 5, 2008, it was confirmed by Heche's representative that the actress was pregnant with Tupper's child. Their son, Atlas Heche Tupper, was born on March 7, 2009. This is the second child for Heche and the first for Tupper.