Biography for
Rebecca De Mornay

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Rebecca De Mornay was born in northern California, and was raised by her mother Julie and stepfather Richard De Mornay until his death when she was five years old. Rebecca's mother then moved her and her half-brother Peter to Europe, where she was raised primarily in England and Austria. Rebecca graduated "summa cum laude" from a German-speaking high school in the Austrian alps, and still speaks fluent German and French.

She began her acting training in Los Angeles at Lee Strasberg's Institute, became an apprentice at Francis Ford Coppola's Zoetrope Film Studio, and soon thereafter made her film debut opposite Tom Cruise in the box office hit Risky Business (1983), in which she gave a seductive and critically acclaimed performance as a streetwise call girl. She went on to international stardom with her portrayal of a chillingly twisted nanny in the hugely popular The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992). Other acclaimed film work includes Runaway Train (1985) (with Jon Voight), The Trip to Bountiful (1985) (with Geraldine Page), Backdraft (1991) (with Kurt Russell).

Network television work includes the tour-de-force role of Arlie in the stellar Getting Out (1994) (TV) (based on Marsha Norman's play), the tragic title character in Dominick Dunne's An Inconvenient Woman (1991) (TV) (with Jason Robards), the remake of "The Shining" (1997) (produced by Stephen King), a multi-episode story arc about a cancer survivor on "ER" (1994) and Hallmark Hall of Fame's Night Ride Home (1999) (TV) (with Ellen Burstyn).

On stage, she starred as Billie Dawn in "Born Yesterday" (1988) at the Pasadena Playhouse, as Charlotte Corday in "Marat/Sade" (1990) at the Williamstown Festival, and as Anna in "Closer" (2000) at the Mark Taper Forum.

Rebecca's directing debut was with a segment of Showtime's "The Outer Limits" (1995) starring John Savage and Frank Whaley. Rebecca currently resides in Los Angeles with sportscaster Patrick O'Neal, and their daughters, Sophia and Veronica.

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Trivia

Speaks German fluently.

Daughter of TV talk show host Wally George.

Was engaged to Leonard Cohen.

Second daughter, Veronica, born in Los Angeles. [31 March 2001]

Has a half-sister who was born in 1989. Rebecca has never made contact with her.

Her last name was changed as a child, when she was adopted by her stepfather, Richard De Mornay.

She attended the radically alternative English boarding school Summerhill.

She has several half-brothers and half-sisters whom she has never met.

Granddaughter of Eugenia Clinchard

Gave birth to a daughter, Sophia, by Patrick O'Neal (son of Ryan O'Neal). [1997]

Ex-stepsister-in-law of Tatum O'Neal and Griffin O'Neal.

Sentenced to a three-month program for DUI offenders, three years summary probation and a $350 fine, after pleading no contest to one count of DUI on February 5, 2008. Was pulled over and arrested on October 30, 2007 on Sunset Blvd. in Los Angeles.

Personal Quotes

I feel a terrifically painful disturbance in the natural law of things between men and women that must be balanced in the next few thousand years. What has been done in the name of holding up masculine energy as God and feminine energy as subservient has really wiped out everything.

I've made some great movies. Risky Business (1983) still stands up. It's timeless. They study that film in film school.

Where Are They Now

(November 1997) Daughter Sophia born. Sophia's paternal grandfather is Ryan O'Neal and paternal grandmother is Leigh Taylor-Young. Her maternal grandfather is Wally George.

(June 2007) Working on the HBO series "John from Cincinnati" (2007).

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