This page uses content from the Rebecca Gayheart biography page on the English version of Wikipedia and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. This list of authors can be seen in the page history. Rotten Tomatoes disclaims any and all warranties as to the accuracy or reliability of the content.

Rebecca Gayheart (born August 12, 1971 in Hazard, Kentucky) is an American actress.

Personal life

Gayheart was raised in Pinetop, Kentucky by parents of Irish, Italian, German and Cherokee Indian heritage. Her father 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.

Career

Gayheart's break into the 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.

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 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 has a re-occurring 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.

Filmography

Gayheart 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).

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 about one-hundred-and sixty feet from the nearest crosswalk. While several cars stopped to let him go, Gayheart swerved around them and into a two-way left-turn lane, striking the boy.

He 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. Gayheart chose to pay 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 by Harland Braun, who also defended Robert Blake against murder charges during the same timeframe. She sparked further controversy later that year when she flipped a rental car into two parked cars.

External links

• Pleads Guilty to Vehicular Manslaughter in Death of 9 year-old Child
• Father Confirms 2nd Auto Accident

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