Rebecca Gayheart (born August 12, 1971) is an American television and film actress.Early life:
Gayheart was born in Hazard, Kentucky and raised in Pine Top, Kentucky, the daughter of Floneva (née Slone), who worked as a Mary Kay independent beauty consultant, and Curtis Gayheart, a miner and coal truck driver. She is of Irish, Italian, and German descent. She moved to New York City at the age of 15 where she completed her education at New York's Professional Children's School and the Lee Strasberg Institute.
Career:
In her first film role, Gayheart appeared in Brett Ratner's New York University (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.
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. (This was also referenced at the end of the film Urban Legend, when one of the new college students remarks, "And Brenda [Gayheart's character] was the Noxzema Girl.")
In 1992, Gayheart was cast in her first major role in 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 been a regular on the 1999 television series Wasteland, Dead Like Me, Vanished, and had a recurring role on Nip/Tuck. She 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 used.In 2007, Gayheart guest-starred on Ugly Betty as Jordan, an ex-girlfriend of Alexis Meade. The following year, Gayheart starred in the Broadway comedy, Boeing-Boeing opposite Christine Baranski, Mark Rylance, Greg Germann, Paige Davis and Missi Pyle.
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. Gayheart and Dane welcomed their first child, a daughter, Billie Beatrice, on March 3, 2010.
Dane told Flaunt Magazine about how they met:
“It’s probably one of the least interesting stories in the world. 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 jaywalked across a Los Angeles-area street. According to the police report, the child was walking home from school and ran across the street approximately 160 feet from a crosswalk. The vehicles in front of Gayheart stopped to permit Cruz to cross. Either unwilling to wait or in an effort to avoid hitting the stopped cars, Gayheart maneuvered her vehicle around the other cars, pulling into a two-way left-turn lane to pass them and struck the boy with her vehicle. "The parents' lawyer Steven Lerman alleges that Gayheart was talking on a cell phone; the actress's attorney Marty Singer adamantly denies that and says there is proof to the contrary."
Cruz died the next day at Los Angeles Children's Hospital. His parents, Jorge Cruz and Silvia Martinez, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against her on August 6, 2001, 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.
While awaiting that outcome of the vehicular manslaughter case, in October 2001, she was involved in another auto accident. She flipped her rental car into two parked vehicles. No one was injured and no charges were filed. Her father attributed the second accident in part to her anxiety over both the first accident and her resulting criminal case. He commented that he and his wife did not intend to allow their daughter to drive any longer.On November 27, 2001, Gayheart pleaded no contest to vehicular manslaughter in the death of Jorge Cruz, Jr. 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 regarding the danger of a driver not stopping when other vehicles in front of the driver have stopped.
