Anne Heche Biography

It is perhaps unfortunate that Anne Heche's sexuality took priority over her talent in the public imagination during her career. When Heche publically came out as Ellen DeGeneres' partner. Suddenly Hollywood producers were wondering if the public would buy the Aurora, Ohio, native as a heterosexual love interest — as if the concept of someone playing make-believe on the big screen was somehow foreign to them.

Her first publicly "out" film was Six Days Seven Nights (1998) with Harrison Ford. And although the film was not a critical success nor a financial blockbuster, it was certainly not Heche's fault as the actress — chosen by People Magazine as one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world in 1998 — turned in another fine performance. As a sidebar, Heche once had a two-year relationship with actor Steve Martin.

After her relationship with DeGeneres ended, Heche married Coleman Laffoon in 2001, and gave birth to their son, Homer Heche Laffoon on March 2, 2002. Unfortunately, they separated early in 2007. Heche, who began filming her Vancouver-based ABC TV series Men in Trees in mid-2006, admitted to an affair with her married co-star James Tupper. She divorced her husband in March 2009 and the same month, gave birth to Tupper's son, Atlas.

Afterwards, she appeared in the Golden Globe-nominated series Hung between 2009 and 2011, the comedy Cedar Rapids (2011) with John C. Reilly; the crime drama Rampart (2011) with Woody Harrelson, the comedy That's What She Said (2012) with Alia Shawkat; the drama Arthur Newman (2012) with Colin Firth, and the action flick Wild Card (2015) with Jason Statham.

She continued to work steadily, but in her 2001 memoir, Call Me Crazy, she wrote of the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of her father. She had four siblings, three of whom predeceased her, including a brother, Nathan, who died in a car crash three months after their father died of AIDs. Heche claimed the crash was suicide. Her only living sibling, Abigail, denied Heche's claims about their father.

In 2000, Heche drove from Los Angeles to Cantua Creek. She parked the car and walked one-and-a-half miles to the house of Araceli Campiz. Campiz had seen her in a movie and let her in. She took a shower, asked for slippers and began watching a movie on TV. When it became clear she wasn't going to leave, and was saying strange things, including that she was God, and was taking everyone to heaven in a spaceship, he called the sheriff's department. Heche was taken to the psychiatric ward of a hospital, but was released after a few hours. She later admitted to having been on ecstacy.

On August 5, 2022, Heche drove her car into the garage door of an apartment building. Although a man tried to get her out of the car, she refused and drove away at a high speed. She was later caught on a video camera, the tires of her car squealing loudly, just before she crashed into a house. Her car then burst into flames, which spread to the house. She was pulled out of the car with severe burns and later fell into a coma. On August 14, 2022, she was taken off life support. Police had taken samples of her blood, believing she had been drinking, but it later was revealed that she had fentanyl-laced cocaine in her blood. She was 53 years old.

Filmography:

Chasing Nightmares (2023)
Supercell (2023)
Full Ride (2023)
What Remains (2022)
13 Minutes (2021)
The Vanished (2020)
The Best of Enemies (2019)
Armed Response (2017)
My Friend Dahmer (2017)
The Last Word (2017)
Opening Night (2016)
Wild Card (2015)
Nothing Left to Fear (2013)
Arthur Newman (2012)
Black November (2012)
That's What She Said (2012)
Rampart (2011)
Cedar Rapids (2011)
Spread (2009)
Suffering Man's Charity (2007)
What Love Is (2006)
Sexual Life (2005)
Birth (2004)
Timepiece (2003)
John Q (2002)
Auggie Rose (2000)
The Third Miracle (1999)
Psycho (1998)
Return to Paradise (1998)
Six Days Seven Nights (1998)
Volcano (1997)
Wag the Dog (1997)
I Know What YOu Did Last Summer (1997)
Donnie Brasco (1997)
Pie in the Sky (1996)
The Juror (1996)
Walking and Talking (1996)
The Wild Side (1995)
I'll Do Anything (1994) Milk Money (1994)
A Simple Twist of Fate (1994)
The Adventures of Huck Finn (1993)
An Ambush of Ghosts (1993)