Rebecca Gayheart Bio

Rebecca Gayheart Biography

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This Rebecca Gayheart biography contains information believed to be accurate as extracted from sources around the internet including Wikipedia. If you believe there are errors or omissions in this Rebecca Gayheart bio, please let us know so that we can correct any inaccuracies.

Rebecca Gayheart Pictures

Rebecca Gayheart (born August 12, 1971) is an American television and film actress.

Rebecca Gayheart: Biography

Rebecca Gayheart - Early life

Gayheart was born in Hazard, Kentucky and raised in Pinetop, Kentucky, the daughter of Floneva (née Slone), who worked in cosmetic sales for Mary Kay, and Curtis Gayheart, a miner and coal truck driver. She has Irish, Italian, German, Mexican and Cherokee Indian ancestry. 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.

Rebecca Gayheart - Career

In her first film role, Gayheart appeared in Brett Ratner's NYU short film Whatever Happened to Mason Reese? (1990) starring Mason Reese. She also appeared in the Ratner-directed music video "Nuttin' But Love" performed by Heavy D and the Boyz.

But 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.

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, she had a recurring role in the Vanishing Son action pack series. In 1994 and 1995, Gayheart played Bess Martin in the science fiction series Earth 2. In 1995, she had a recurring role as Antonia Marchette in the series Beverly Hills, 90210 as Luke Perry's love interest.

Gayheart has also been a regular on the 1999 television series Wasteland, Dead Like Me, Vanished, and had a recurring role on Nip/Tuck. Gayheart was initially hired to play the part of Inara Serra in the 2002 series Firefly, but was dropped after only one day of filming. Morena Baccarin took over the role, and none of Rebecca's scenes were ever used.

In 2007, Gayheart guest-starred on Ugly Betty as Jordan, an ex-girlfriend of Alexis Meade.

Rebecca Gayheart - Personal life

For a time, Gayheart was engaged to director Brett Ratner and has dated Michael Weatherly. She and actor Eric Dane were married on October 29, 2004. Dane told Flaunt Magazine about how they met:

"It's probably one of the least interesting stories in the world," Dane said. "It went basically like this: "'You wanna go out?' "'Yeah, sure.' Ten months later, we were married."

Vehicular manslaughter

On June 13, 2001, Gayheart struck and fatally injured 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. 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 August 6, 2001, against her, seeking coverage of medical and funeral expenses, and compensation for loss of future earnings. The lawsuit was settled out of court, and settlement terms were not disclosed. 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.

Later that year, 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".

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