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Rebecca Gayheart (born August 12, 1971,
in Hazard, Kentucky) is an American actress.
Career: Gayheart's break into the television
industry was a series of television commercials for
Noxzema in the early 1990s, earning her the moniker
"The Noxzema Girl". The commercials began
airing in 1991 and brought her recognition.
Rebecca was born in Hazard, Kentucky and raised in
nearby Pinetop. She is a coal miner's daughter. She
moved to New York City at 15 where she completed her
education at New York's Professional Children's School
and the Lee Strasberg Institute and began a career
acting and modeling.
Rebecca became well known from her appearances in a
series of commercials for Noxzema skin cream beginning
in 1991. In 1992, she joined the cast of the soap opera
Loving. In 1995, she had a recurring role in the series
Beverly Hills, 90210. She has also been a regular on the
television series Earth 2 (1994), Wasteland (1999), and
Dead Like Me (2003) and has a re-occurring role on
Nip/Tuck (2004).
The milky-skinned, curly-haired Rebecca Gayheart won
attention as both the Noxzema Girl in a series of TV
commercials in the early 1990s, and as the bride of
Dylan (Luke Perry) on "Beverly Hills, 90210"
(Fox, 1995), whose death was used as the actor's out
from the series. Since then the attractive brunette with
striking blue eyes has begun racking up both TV and
feature film credits as a leading lady whose star is
rising.
Born into poverty as the daughter of a coal miner in
Kentucky, Gayheart, at age 15, won a modeling contest
that promised a career in NYC. With $300 in her pocket
(all her parents could afford) she took off for the big
city.
Within two years, Gayheart had won a contract with
Noxzema. While enrolled at the Lee Strasberg Institute,
she began to find bit roles and extra work on the soaps
"All My Children" and "One Life to
Live" and on the NBC sitcom "The Cosby
Show".
Her big break came in 1991 when she was cast as Hannah
Mayberry, a young woman who becomes psychotically
obsessed with her college professor, on the ABC daytime
drama "Loving". After nearly three years on
the show, she left in August 1993 to pursue other career
opportunities.
Heading to the West Coast, Gayheart soon landed the role
of Clair in several installments of the syndicated
TV-movies "Vanishing Son". She then was cast
as the wife of a cowardly government agent in the
short-lived sci-fi series "Earth 2" (NBC,
1994-95).
In 1997, Gayheart once again played Luke Perry's love
interest, this time in the NBC miniseries "Robin
Cook's 'Invasion'", although he was infected with
an extraterrestrial virus and it was up to her character
to save the earth.
Gayheart made her screen debut in the short film
"Whatever Happened to Mason Reese?" (1990).
She was featured in Martin Donovan's 1996 film
"Somebody is Waiting" as the girlfriend of a
sullen teenager. Gayheart followed with a supporting
turn in "Nothing to Lose" (1997), starring Tim
Robbins and Martin Lawrence.
Rebecca has appeared in several films, most often horror
films or comedies aimed at a teenage audience: Somebody
Is Waiting (1996), Nothing to Lose (1997), Scream 2
(1997), Hairshirt (1998), Urban Legend (1998),
Jawbreaker (1999), Puppet (1999), From Dusk Till Dawn 3:
The Hangman's Daughter (2000), Shadow Hours (2000),
Doppelganger (2001), Harvard Man (2001), and Pipe Dream
(2002). Rebecca was engaged to director Brett Ratner but
the couple separated. Rebecca married actor Eric Dane on
October 29, 2004.
For years recognizable solely for her work as "the
Noxzema Girl," Rebecca Gayheart has become one of
many models to attempt the transition to acting.
Gayheart, if not widely known, has certainly increased
her recognition with her work in films such as Urban
Legend and Jawbreaker.
Born August 12, 1972 in Hazard, KY, Gayheart moved to
New York at the age of 15 following a summer modeling
job in the city. She studied acting at the prestigious
Lee Strasberg Studio, and during her education there,
she landed her first role, on the NBC soap opera Loving.
Her stint on the show lasted from 1992 to 1993 and led
to further television work, most notably on Beverly
Hills 90210. During this time, she also acted in a
number of forgettable television shows, and it wasn't
until her part as a sorority girl in 1997's Scream 2
that she started to find film work.
Her first project after Scream 2 was in Nothing to Lose,
but her following film, 1998's Urban Legend, was
successful enough to earn her a place among Hollywood's
latest batch of up-and-coming starlets.
After Legend, Gayheart co-starred with fellow Scream-er
Neve Campbell in the obscure Canadian film Hair Shirt
(1998).
Her next project, the Heathers take-off Jawbreaker,
faltered both at the box office and with critics, but
did Gayheart the service of casting her in another
leading role, helping to increase her fresh-scrubbed
profile.
Personal life: Gayheart was born in Hazard,
Kentucky but raised in Pinetop, Kentucky, by parents of
Irish, Mexican, Italian, German and Cherokee Indian
heritage. Her father, Curtis, was a coal miner. She
moved to New York City at 15 where she completed her
education at New York's Professional Children's School
and the Lee Strasberg Institute. Gayheart was for a time
engaged to director Brett Ratner. She and actor Eric
Dane were married on October 29, 2004.
Manslaughter conviction: On 13 June 2001,
Gayheart struck nine-year-old Jorge Cruz Jr. as he
crossed a Los Angeles-area street. According to the
police report, the child was walking home from school
and crossed the street. While several cars stopped to
let him go, Gayheart swerved around them and into a
two-way left-turn lane, striking the boy. The boy was
illegally jaywalking across the road alone. Her
attorney, Steven Lerman, subsequently admitted Gayheart
had been using a cell phone during impact.
Cruz died the next day at Los Angeles Children's
Hospital. His parents, Jorge Cruz and Silvia Martinez,
filed a wrongful-death lawsuit on 6 August 2001 against
her and Gayheart eventually paid for Cruz's hospital and
funeral expenses. On November 27 2001, she pleaded no
contest to vehicular manslaughter. She was sentenced to
three years probation, a one-year suspension of her
license, a $2,800 fine, and 750 hours of community
service. She was also ordered to make a public-service
announcement.
Gayheart was represented in the criminal proceeding by
Harland Braun, who also defended Robert Blake against
murder charges during the same timeframe and is
defending Prison Break actor Lane Garrison against
vehicular homicide charges as of 2007.
She sparked further controversy later that year when she
flipped a rental car into two parked cars with her
father commenting that, "I've told my wife not to
let her drive any more."
Television roles:
- In 1992, Gayheart landed her first major role when
she joined the cast of the soap opera Loving as
Hannah Mayberry.
- In 1993 and 1994, Gayheart had a recurring role in
the Vanishing Son action pack series.
- In 1995, she had a recurring role as Antonia
Marchette in the series Beverly Hills, 90210.
- She has also been a regular on the television
series Earth 2 (1994), Wasteland (1999), and Dead
Like Me as Betty (2003) and had a recurring role on
Nip/Tuck (2004).
- Gayheart was initially hired to play the part of
Inara Serra on Firefly (2002), but dropped out after
only one day of filming. Morena Baccarin took over
the role, and none of Rebecca's scenes were ever
used.
Gayheart's role as Judy Nash in the 2006 Fox series
Vanished ended with its cancellation. |
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