Rebecca De Mornay (born Rebecca J. Pearch on August 29, 1959) is an American film and television actress. Her breakout film role came in 1983, when she played Lana in Risky Business.

Biography

Early life

De Mornay was born in Santa Rosa, California. Her father was the conservative radio and television commentator Wally George (born George Walter Pearch). De Mornay was raised by her mother, Julie (née Eagar), and stepfather, Richard De Mornay. She grew up in France and went to the progressive Summerhill School in the United Kingdom. She studied acting at the Lee Strasberg Institute in New York (which also at one time included veterans Mickey Rourke, Robert De Niro and Christopher Walken).

Career

De Mornay's film debut was a small part in Francis Ford Coppola's One from the Heart (1982). Soon thereafter came her star-making role as a hooker who seduces a high school student played by Tom Cruise in Risky Business.

In 1986, she appeared with Starship's Mickey Thomas in the music video for the song Sara. The song reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on March 15, 1986.

One of De Mornay's most commercially successful films came in the thriller The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992). She also appeared in Ron Howard's Backdraft, in a remake of Roger Vadim's provocative And God Created Woman and in the starring role as a defense lawyer in Sidney Lumet's murder drama Guilty as Sin.

In 2004, the actress guest-starred as attorney Hannah Rose for the final few episodes of The Practice and the following year had a brief role alongside Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn in Wedding Crashers.

In June 2007, she appeared in the HBO series John From Cincinnati in a starring role as matriarch of a troubled Imperial Beach, California surfing family, and as grandmother/guardian to a teen surfer on the brink of greatness.

The name "Rebecca DeMornay" is used for a character (played by Sonya Eddy) in two episodes of "Seinfeld:" "The Muffin Tops" and "The Bookstore."^[1]

Personal life

De Mornay lived with Tom Cruise for two-and-a-half years after they met in Risky Business. In the early 1990s De Mornay was linked romantically to Leonard Cohen. She is credited as a producer and arranger on his critically acclaimed album The Future (1992). In the 80's she was briefly married to noted novelist/screenwriter Bruce Wagner. The two divorced after less than two years.

In December 2007 she was charged with misdemeanor driving under the influence of alcohol; in February 2008 she was sentenced to complete a three-month program for DUI offenders.

Filmography

• One from the Heart (1982)
• Testament (1983)
• Risky Business (1983)
• Runaway Train (1985)
• Sara (Jefferson Starship music video) (1985)
• The Slugger's Wife (aka Neil Simon's The Slugger's Wife)
• The Trip to Bountiful (1985)
• Beauty and the Beast (1987) voice of Beauty
• Feds (1988)
• And God Created Woman (1988)
• Dealers (1989)
• By Dawn's Early Light (1990)
• Backdraft (1991)
• The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992)
• The Three Musketeers (1993)
• Guilty as Sin (1993)
• Never Talk to Strangers (1995)
• The Winner (1996)
• The Shining (TV miniseries) (1997)
• The Con (1998)
• A Table for One (aka Wicked Ways) (1999)
• Thick as Thieves (1999)
• The Right Temptation (2000)
• The Salem Witch Trials (2001)
• Identity (2003)
• Raise Your Voice (2004)
• Lords of Dogtown (2005)
• Wedding Crashers (2005)
• American Venus (2007)
• Music Within (2007)

References

1. ↑ Sonya Eddy

External links

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