98 Facts About Anne Heche

Anne Celeste Heche was an American actress, known for her roles across a variety of genres in film, television, and theater.

Anne Heche was the recipient of Daytime Emmy, National Board of Review, and GLAAD Media Awards, in addition to nominations for a Tony Award and a Primetime Emmy.

Anne Heche made her film debut in 1993 with a small role in The Adventures of Huck Finn.

Anne Heche's profile rose in 1997 with appearances in Donnie Brasco, Volcano, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and Wag the Dog.

From 1999 to 2001, Anne Heche focused on directing, most notably a segment of the HBO television film If These Walls Could Talk 2.

Anne Heche was nominated for a Tony Award for her starring role in the 2004 Broadway revival of Twentieth Century, as well as a Primetime Emmy Award that same year for her appearance in the television film Gracie's Choice.

Anne Heche starred on a number of television series, such as The WB's Everwood, ABC's Men in Trees, and NBC's The Brave.

Anne Heche was in a high-profile relationship with comedian Ellen DeGeneres between 1997 and 2000, with the pair being described by The Advocate as "the first gay supercouple".

Anne Heche died from the injuries five days later at a Los Angeles hospital at the age of 53.

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.

Anne 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".

Anne Heche noted in her memoir that her family changed denominations several times depending on which church her father found work in.

Anne Heche's mother separated from her father and demanded he leave the household.

Anne Heche found work at a dinner theater in Swainton, her first professional acting job, earning $100 a week.

Anne Heche claimed it was cancer, when in fact he had developed late-stage AIDS.

Anne Heche flew to New York with her mother, auditioned, and was offered a part.

Anne Heche 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 1987, at the end of her senior year, Anne Heche was offered another audition, this time for the soap opera Another World.

Anne Heche was offered a role after two auditions and accepted, in spite of her mother's opposition.

Anne Heche moved to New York City and started work on the series, in her debut television role, just days after her high school graduation.

Anne Heche performed on Another World in the dual role of twins Vicky Hudson and Marley Love.

Anne Heche continued on the series for nearly four years, from 1987 to 1991.

Anne Heche received several awards for her work on Another World, including a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series in 1991.

Anne Heche was unsure about her future as an actress after leaving Another World, having not performed in any other onscreen roles during her time on the soap opera and not having any acting jobs in place at the time she decided to leave.

Anne Heche knew that she did not want to continue in soap operas, something that was considered fairly insignificant in the larger world of professional acting.

Anne Heche decided to take that offer rather than attend design school and to continue with her career as an actress.

In early 1993, Anne Heche made her theatrical film debut in the little-seen independent film An Ambush of Ghosts, directed by Everett Lewis.

Anne Heche appeared in her first lead role in Donald Cammell's straight-to-video erotic thriller Wild Side, alongside Christopher Walken and Joan Chen.

In 1996, Anne Heche had the starring role as a college student contemplating an abortion in a segment of the HBO anthology film If These Walls Could Talk, co-starring Jada Pinkett Smith and Cher.

Anne Heche gained positive notice from film critic Alison Macor of The Austin Chronicle, who wrote in her review that she "is destined for larger film roles".

In 1997, Anne Heche starred in what has been described as her breakthrough role in the hit crime drama Donnie Brasco as the wife of the main character, an FBI undercover agent played by Johnny Depp.

Anne Heche portrayed the minor role of a backwoods loner in the slasher thriller sleeper hit I Know What You Did Last Summer, starring Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, and Freddie Prinze Jr.

Anne Heche obtained the part of a presidential advisor opposite Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman in the political satire Wag the Dog, a role that was originally written for a man.

Anne Heche received the National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1997 for her roles in Donnie Brasco and Wag the Dog.

Anne Heche had been cast in the film one day before her same-sex relationship with Ellen DeGeneres went public.

Anne Heche starred in Gus Van Sant's Psycho, a remake of the 1960 film directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

Anne Heche starred opposite Ed Harris in the 1999 film, The Third Miracle, directed by Agnieszka Holland.

Anne Heche spent much of the 1998 to 2001 working on film directing projects, often writing her own screenplays.

Anne Heche pulled back from acting roles during this period and had relatively few acting appearances from 1999 to 2001.

Anne Heche's first effort at writing and directing was a 1998 short film titled Stripping for Jesus, which was about an evangelical Christian stripper who writes Bible verses on her body so as to reach clients "in a language that they understand".

The first of these came in 2000, when Anne Heche directed a segment of If These Walls Could Talk 2 for HBO.

In 2001, Anne Heche directed another anthology film segment, this time part of On the Edge, a Showtime anthology of science fiction stories directed by different actresses.

Anne Heche directed a documentary that was to be released in 2001, Ellen DeGeneres: American Summer, about DeGeneres' 2000 stand-up comedy tour.

In 2001, Anne Heche obtained a recurring role in the fourth season of the television series Ally McBeal.

In 2002, Anne Heche made her Broadway debut in a production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Proof, in the role of a young woman who has inherited her father's mathematical genius and mental illness.

In 2004, Anne Heche received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the Lifetime movie Gracie's Choice, as well as a Saturn Award nomination for Best Actress for her performance in the CBS television film The Dead Will Tell.

Also in 2004, Anne Heche appeared alongside Nicole Kidman and Cameron Bright in the well-received independent drama Birth.

Anne Heche continued her television work with Hallmark Hall of Fame Christmas film Silver Bells and in the Lifetime television film Fatal Desire, about an ex-cop, played by Eric Roberts, who meets a woman on an online dating site who attempts to get him to kill her husband.

David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter remarked in his review for the film, "while Anne Heche shines brightest in more brittle mode, as in HBO's Hung, she strikes a sweet balance between Joan's mischievous and maternal sides".

Anne Heche starred in Lifetime film Girl Fight, alongside Jodelle Ferland and James Tupper.

Anne Heche then had the leading role in the comedy That's What She Said, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, followed by the role of the girlfriend of a former pro golfer in Arthur Newman.

Anne Heche starred with James Tupper, Jennifer Stone, and Rebekah Brandes in the supernatural horror film Nothing Left to Fear, about a family's life in a new town being interrupted by an unstable man of the cloth.

Also in 2013, Heche headlined the short-lived NBC sitcom Save Me, in which she starred as a Midwestern housewife who believes that she is channeling God.

Anne Heche played the waitress friend of a recovering gambling addict in the action thriller Wild Card.

USA Network's action-adventure drama series, Dig, had Anne Heche portray the head of the FBI field office in Jerusalem whose agents uncover a 2,000-year-old conspiracy while investigating an archaeologist's murder.

Anne Heche played Karen Copeland, a United States Air Force pilot who must navigate Armageddon, with her university-professor husband Josh and their three nearly adult children.

Anne Heche filmed the supporting part as the lead singer for a Broadway musical in Opening Night with Topher Grace.

In 2017, Anne Heche played a supporting role in My Friend Dahmer as Joyce, the mentally ill mother of the teenaged Jeffrey Dahmer.

Anne Heche received positive reviews for her performance, with The Hollywood Reporter calling her "nerve-jangling perfection" and Empire calling her "entertainingly off-kilter".

In late 2020, Anne Heche competed as one of the celebrities in the 29th season of Dancing with the Stars, but was eliminated from the contest after the fourth week.

At the time of her death in August 2022, Anne Heche had completed filming several films that were still in post-production and where she would appear posthumously.

Wildfire: The Legend of the Cherokee Ghost Horse is slated to be the final screen performance for Anne Heche, which is a family-appeal film based on the song "Wildfire" by Michael Martin Murphey.

Anne Heche appeared with Alec Baldwin in the disaster action film Supercell, released on March 17,2023.

In September 2022, the second memoir, now titled Call Me Anne Heche, was submitted in manuscript form shortly before her death and was announced for a January 2023 publication.

Anne Heche 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 and Tess Gerritsen's Vanish.

In 2017, Anne Heche hosted a weekly radio show on SiriusXM with Jason Ellis entitled Love and Anne Heche.

Anne Heche had four older siblings, three of whom predeceased her.

Anne Heche said his death was a suicide, though her mother and surviving siblings dispute this.

Anne Heche was estranged from the surviving members of her family for many years.

Heche's mother said it was Anne who cut off communication.

In 2011, Anne Heche told The Daily Telegraph that she had reconciled with her remaining sister Abigail, but doubted she would be able to repair her relationship with her mother.

Anne Heche was in a relationship with Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac for about one year in the early 1990s and in a relationship with Steve Martin, whom she had met on the set of A Simple Twist of Fate, for about two years during the mid-1990s.

Anne Heche stated that all of her other romantic relationships were with men.

Anne Heche said that she was told that she would be denied the part in Six Days, Seven Nights for going public with her romance with DeGeneres, but landed the role nevertheless.

However, Anne Heche did not work in a studio picture for 10 years afterward.

In 2000, Anne Heche left DeGeneres for Coleman "Coley" Laffoon, a cameraman whom she met when she hired him as part of the camera crew for the television documentary Ellen DeGeneres: American Summer, which she was directing.

Anne Heche left Laffoon for Men in Trees co-star James Tupper.

Anne Heche wrote that she had blocked out much of her childhood and had first gone into therapy during her time on Another World, undergoing various types of therapy through the mid-1990s.

Anne Heche underwent another crisis that began about the time she had finished filming Donnie Brasco, in which she said that she began hearing God speaking directly to her.

Anne Heche believed that it was her mission to enlighten humanity and that she had achieved fame in order to fulfill this role.

Anne Heche left her vehicle at the side of a rural road and, wearing only a bra and shorts, walked 1.5 miles in extremely hot weather without water, before feeling dehydrated and knocking on the door of a ranch house.

Anne Heche assumed that Heche was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs, but Heche later revealed to officers that she had taken ecstasy.

Unsure of what to do after Anne Heche had been at the house for a half an hour without contacting anyone, the resident contacted the Fresno County Sheriff's Department.

Anne Heche said she recovered from her mental health concerns following the incident in Cantua Creek and had put her alter ego behind her.

The first collision took place when Anne Heche's vehicle struck an apartment garage and caused minor damage.

TMZ reported a second hit-and-run in which Anne Heche's Mini struck a Jaguar without stopping, though without injury to the other driver.

Anne Heche had sustained severe burns and smoke inhalation injuries by the time she was rescued.

Law enforcement officials initially stated that Anne Heche was "deemed to be under the influence and acting erratically" at the time of the crashes.

Anne Heche was taken to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center for emergency care, and then to Grossman Burn Center at West Hills Hospital for specialized burn center care.

The representative said that prior reports that Anne Heche was in "stable condition" were "inaccurate".

Anne Heche was declared brain dead a few hours later, but remained on life support to assess organ donor viability and locate recipients.

Anne Heche was considered legally dead at that time under California law.

Police had investigated the crash as a felony DUI collision but said there would be no more investigative efforts after Anne Heche was declared brain-dead.

On December 6,2022, the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner announced the results of Anne Heche's autopsy, stating that she was not impaired by illicit substances at the time of the incident and that no active drugs were found in her system.

An inactive metabolite of cocaine was found through a blood test taken when Anne Heche arrived at the hospital, which the coroner's office said indicates the drug was used in the past, but not at the time of the crash.

Anne Heche's cremated remains were interred in a mausoleum at Hollywood Forever Cemetery on May 14,2023.

Anne Heche argued that an email sent by Heche in 2011 describing her wishes in the event of her death should be treated as her will.

Lynne Mishele, the tenant of the house into which Anne Heche crashed filed lawsuits against Anne Heche's estate, seeking "compensatory damages" of $2 million.