Anne Heche facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Anne Heche
Heche in 2014
Born	Anne Celeste Heche (1969-05-25)May 25, 1969 Aurora, Ohio, U.S.
Died	August 11, 2022(2022-08-11) (aged 53) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting place	Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Education	Francis W. Parker School
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1987–2022
Spouse(s)	Coleman "Coley" Laffoon ​ ​ (m. 2001; div. 2009)​
Partner(s)	Ellen DeGeneres (1997–2000) James Tupper (2007–2018)
Children	2
Parent(s)	Nancy Heche (mother)
Relatives	Susan Bergman (sister) Elliot Bergman (nephew) Natalie Bergman (niece)

Anne Celeste Heche ( haytch; May 25, 1969 – August 11, 2022) was an American actress, known for her roles in a variety of genres in film, television, and theater. She received numerous accolades, including a Daytime Emmy Award and a National Board of Review Award.

Early life

Anne Celeste Heche was born on May 25, 1969, in Aurora, Ohio, the youngest of five children of Donald "Don" Joe Heche and Nancy Heche (née Prickett). During her early childhood, the Heche family lived in various towns around Ohio, including suburbs of Cleveland and Akron. Heche's parents were fundamentalist Christians and the family was raised in a deeply religious environment, a situation that she later likened to being "raised in a cult". At the same time, her father Don led an unstable lifestyle, often changing professions and prone to frequent get-rich-quick schemes, though also with a real gift for music that led to jobs as a choir director in several churches. Heche noted in her memoir that her family changed denominations several times depending on which church her father found work in.

Because of Don Heche's often unstable lifestyle and financial situation, the family moved numerous times during her childhood. One of his financial schemes led the family to resettle in the Atlantic City, New Jersey, area in 1977, first in Ventnor City and later Ocean City. One of Anne's first jobs was at a boardwalk hamburger stand, where she would sing songs from Annie to attract customers.

The Heche family's precarious financial situation led to the foreclosure of a home her father owned and later their eviction from a rental home. They moved in with a family from their church who offered them a place to live as an act of charity. Anne's mother separated from her father and demanded he leave the household. Her mother and all of the children then took jobs to support the family and be able to live on their own. Anne found work at a dinner theater in Swainton, her first professional acting job, earning $100 a week (about $300 per week in 2022 dollars).

Don Heche moved to New York City, where Anne and her sisters would occasionally visit him, noticing his declining health. Don Heche died on March 3, 1983, aged 45.

Three months after her father's death, Anne's 18-year-old brother Nathan was killed in a car crash when his vehicle missed a curve and struck a tree. The remainder of her immediate family subsequently moved to Chicago to be closer to other family members. Anne, her mother, and her older sister Abigail, who had left college, were all living together in a one-bedroom apartment, which lacked privacy and which Heche would compare to living in a dorm room. Heche attended the progressive Francis W. Parker School, where she continued to be active in theater, performing in such plays as Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth and Irwin Shaw's Bury the Dead. When she was aged 16, a talent scout spotted her in a school play and invited her to audition for the daytime soap opera As the World Turns. Heche flew to New York City with her mother, auditioned, and was offered a part. She was not able to accept the offer, as it would have entailed moving with her family to New York in the middle of her school year, and having her mother leave a new job at a brokerage firm. In her memoir, Heche notes that she really wanted to move out on her own and "escape [her] mother's grasp", but this was not an option while she was still a minor.

In 1987, at the end of her senior year, Heche was offered another audition, this time for the soap opera Another World. She was offered a role after two auditions and accepted, in spite of her mother's opposition. She moved to New York City and started work on the series, in her debut television role, just days after her high school graduation.

Career

Heche's portrayal of the twins Vicky Hudson and Marley Love won her a Daytime Emmy Award in 1991. She made her film debut in a supporting role in O Pioneers!, a 1992 American made-for-television drama film based on the 1913 novel by Willa Cather. Heche's acting profile rose during the 1990s, gaining particular attention for her co-starring role in the independent film Walking and Talking (1996) and for her standout supporting role in the crime drama Donnie Brasco (1997). Further high-profile roles followed in 1997, including Volcano, I Know What You Did Last Summer and Wag the Dog. In 1998, Heche further rose to prominence with her leading role in the romantic comedy Six Days, Seven Nights opposite Harrison Ford. Also in 1998, she starred in Gus Van Sant's shot-for-shot remake of Psycho.

From 1999 to 2001, Heche took fewer acting roles and concentrated on directing projects, most notably a segment of the HBO anthology film If These Walls Could Talk 2 (2000). Her acting roles from the 2000s onward focused on independent films, television series and some stage roles. In 2004, she was nominated for a Tony Award for her role in the Broadway revival of the play Twentieth Century and a Primetime Emmy Award for the television film Gracie's Choice, also starring in an acclaimed supporting role in the supernatural drama Birth. Other film roles included Cedar Rapids (2011), Catfight (2016), and My Friend Dahmer (2017). Heche also starred in a number of dramatic television series, including Men in Trees (2006–2008) In 2020, she appeared as a contestant in the 29th season of Dancing with the Stars.

She was also the voice of Suyin Beifong in the Nickelodeon animated television series The Legend of Korra (2014).

Other media

In 2001, Heche published a memoir titled Call Me Crazy, which discussed her family and career background. In 2021, on her Better Together podcast, she said that she was working on a second memoir tentatively titled Call Me Sane. In September 2022, the second memoir, now titled Call Me Anne, was submitted in manuscript form shortly before her death and was announced for a January 2023 publication.

Heche has also narrated several audiobooks, notably, a self-narrated audiobook of Call Me Crazy, as well as narrating audiobook versions of Stephen King's The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (1999) and Tess Gerritsen's Vanish (2005; co-narrated by Ilyana Kadushin). In 2017, Heche hosted a weekly radio show on SiriusXM with Jason Ellis entitled Love and Heche. In late 2020, Heche and Heather Duffy Boylston launched a podcast titled Better Together.

Personal life

Relationships

Heche at the 49th Primetime Emmy Awards (September 1997)

Anne Heche's same-sex relationship with comedienne Ellen DeGeneres and the events following their breakup became subjects of widespread media interest. The couple started dating in 1997. At one point, they said they would get a civil union if it became legal in Vermont. They broke up in August 2000.

After the split, Heche began dating cameraman Coleman 'Coley' Laffoon. They married on September 1, 2001. Their son, Homer, was born on March 2, 2002. Laffoon filed for divorce on February 2, 2007. Heche lost custody of their son in June 2007.

Heche left her husband for Men in Trees co-star James Tupper. The couple reportedly 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 8, 2009.

Death

On August 5, 2022, Heche was critically injured when she crashed her car into a house at high speed. She died at a hospital in Los Angeles on August 11, 2022, at the age of 53.

Filmography

Film

Television

Direction

Awards and nominations

Books

• Heche, Anne (2001). Call Me Crazy: A Memoir.

Images for kids

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  Heche with James Tupper in November 2014

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  Heche with Ellen DeGeneres in September 1997

See also

In Spanish: Anne Heche para niños