Rebecca Gayheart (born August 12, 1971 in Hazard, Kentucky) is an American actress.
Gayheart was raised in Pinetop, Kentucky by parents of Irish, Italian, German and Cherokee Indian heritage. Her father was a coal miner. She moved to New York City at 15 where she completed her education at New York's Professional Children's School and the Lee Strasberg Institute
Gayheart was for a time engaged to director Brett Ratner. She and actor Eric Dane were married on October 29, 2004.
Gayheart's break into the 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.
Television roles
In 1992, Gayheart landed her first major role when she joined the cast of the soap opera Loving as Hannah Mayberry.
In 1993 and 1994, Gayheart had a recurring role in the Vanishing Son action pack series.
In 1995, she had a recurring role in the series Beverly Hills, 90210.
She has also been a regular on the television series Earth 2 (1994), Wasteland (1999), and Dead Like Me as Betty (2003) and has a re-occurring role on Nip/Tuck (2004).
Gayheart was initially hired to play the part of Inara Serra on Firefly (2002), but dropped out after only one day of filming. Morena Baccarin took over the role, and none of Rebecca's scenes were ever used.
Gayheart's current role is as Judy Nash in the new series Vanished.
Movie roles
Gayheart has appeared in several films, most often horror films or comedies aimed at a teenage audience: Somebody Is Waiting (1996), Nothing to Lose (1997), Scream 2 (1997), Hairshirt (1998), Urban Legend (1998), Jawbreaker (1999), Puppet (1999), From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter (2000), Shadow Hours (2000), Doppelganger (2001), Harvard Man (2001), and Pipe Dream (2002).
Source: Wikipedia