Rebecca De Mornay

Rebecca De Mornay
File:Rebecca-de-Mornay.jpg De Mornay in 2006
Born	Rebecca Jane Pearch (1959-08-29) August 29, 1959 Santa Rosa, California, U.S.
Other names	Rebecca George
Occupation	Actress, producer
Years active	1982–present
Spouse(s)	Bruce Wagner (1986–1990; divorced) Patrick O'Neal (1995–2002; divorced)
Children	2

Rebecca De Mornay (born Rebecca Jane Pearch; August 29, 1959) is an American actress and producer. Her breakthrough film role came in 1983, when she played Lana in Risky Business alongside Tom Cruise. Her other notable film roles include Sara in Runaway Train (1985), Thelma in The Trip to Bountiful (1985), Helen McCaffrey in the thriller Backdraft (1991) and her portrayal of the nanny Peyton Flanders in the 1992 thriller The Hand That Rocks the Cradle.

Early life

De Mornay was born in Santa Rosa, California. Her parents were Julie (Eagar) and Wally George (né George Walter Pearch), a disc jockey and later television host. Her paternal grandmother was vaudeville performer and child film actress Eugenia Clinchard.

When she was two, her parents divorced and, at the age of five, she took her stepfather's surname, De Mornay. She attended the independent Summerhill School in Leiston, Suffolk, England. She later trained as an actress in New York at the Lee Strasberg Institute.

Career

De Mornay's film debut was a small part in Francis Ford Coppola's 1982 film One from the Heart. Soon thereafter came her star-making role in Risky Business (1983), as a call girl who seduces a high-school student played by Tom Cruise. In 1985, 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 was the thriller The Hand That Rocks the Cradle. She also appeared in a 1988 remake of Roger Vadim's provocative And God Created Woman, Ron Howard's Backdraft (1991) and in 1993, starred as a defense lawyer in Sidney Lumet's murder drama Guilty as Sin. Then she appeared in the 1995 drama film Never Talk to Strangers opposite Antonio Banderas, for which she was also the executive producer.

In 2003, she guest-starred as primary antagonist in the first two episodes of season 2 of Boomtown. In 2004, she guest-starred as attorney Hannah Rose for the last few episodes of The Practice and the following year, had a brief role alongside Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn in Wedding Crashers. De Mornay also starred in the 2007 drama American Venus.

In June 2007, she appeared in the HBO series John from Cincinnati with a starring role as matriarch of a troubled Imperial Beach, California surfing family and the grandmother/guardian of a teen surfer on the brink of greatness. She appeared in Darren Lynn Bousman's Mother's Day (2010).

In 2012, De Mornay played the role of Finch's mom in the movie American Reunion where she portrayed an attractive older woman and a love interest of Stifler. In 2015, she appeared in Marvel's Jessica Jones as Trish Walker's abusive mother.

Cultural references

The name "Rebecca De Mornay" is used for a character (played by actress Sonya Eddy) in two episodes of Seinfeld: "The Muffin Tops" and "The Bookstore." Rebecca De Mornay has also been referenced in an episode of The Ricky Gervais Show co-starring with "Clive Warren" [sic] (Clive Owen) as part of a movie pitch by Karl Pilkington.

Personal life

De Mornay was briefly engaged to singer Leonard Cohen. She married writer Bruce Wagner on December 16, 1986, but they divorced in 1990. She later married sportscaster Patrick O'Neal in 1995, and they had two daughters: Sophia (born November 16, 1997) and Veronica (born March 31, 2001). They divorced in 2002.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1982	One from the Heart	Understudy	Credited as Rebecca de Mornay
1983	Risky Business	Lana
1983	Testament	Cathy Pitkin
1985	The Slugger's Wife	Debby Palmer
1985	Runaway Train	Sara
1985	The Trip to Bountiful	Thelma
1987	Beauty and the Beast	Beauty
1988	Feds	Elizabeth "Ellie" DeWitt
1988	And God Created Woman	Robin Shea Moran
1989	Dealers	Anna Schuman
1991	Backdraft	Helen McCaffrey
1992	The Hand That Rocks the Cradle	Mrs. Mott / Peyton Flanders	MTV Movie Award for Best Villain
1993	Guilty as Sin	Jennifer Haines
1993	The Three Musketeers	Milady de Winter
1995	Never Talk to Strangers	Dr. Sarah Taylor	Executive producer
1996	The Winner	Louise	Credited as Rebecca DeMornay
1999	Thick as Thieves	Petrone
1999	A Table for One	Ruth Draper
2000	The Right Temptation	Derian McCall
2003	Identity	Caroline Suzanne	Credited as Rebecca DeMornay
2004	Raise Your Voice	Aunt Nina
2005	Lords of Dogtown	Philaine
2005	Wedding Crashers	Mrs. Kroeger
2007	American Venus	Celia Lane
2007	Music Within	Richard's Mom
2010	Flipped	Patsy Loski
2010	Mother's Day	Mother
2011	A Fonder Heart	Dr. Bach
2011	Apartment 1303 3D	Marilyn
2012	American Reunion	Rachel Finch
2015	Collar	Mayor Ramona 'Nomi' Billingsley
2016	I Am Wrath	Vivian Hill	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	Tall Tales & Legends	Slew Foot Sue	Episode: "Pecos Bill"
1986	The Murders in the Rue Morgue	Claire Dupin	Television film
1990	By Dawn's Early Light	Captain Moreau	Television film
1991	An Inconvenient Woman	Flo March	Television film
1993	Blind Side	Linda Kaines	Television film
1994	Getting Out	Arlene Holsclaw	Television film
1995	The Outer Limits	Woman	Episode: "The Conversion"
1997	The Shining	Wendy Torrance	Miniseries
1998	The Con	Barbara Beaton / Nancy Thoroughgood	Television film
1999	Night Ride Home	Nora Mahler	Television film
1999	ER	Elaine Nichols	5 episodes
2000	Range of Motion	Lainey Berman	Television film
2001	A Girl Thing	Kim McCormack	Television film
2002	The Salem Witch Trials	Elizabeth Parris	Television film
2003	No Place Like Home		Television film
2003	Boomtown	Sabrina Fithian / Jill Foster	2 episodes
2004	The Practice	Hannah Rose	4 episodes
2006	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Tessa McKellen	Episode: "Manipulated"
2007	John from Cincinnati	Cissy Yost	5 episodes
2013	Hatfields & McCoys	Mary Hatfield	Unaired pilot
2013	Hawaii Five-0	Barbara Cotchin	Episode: "A ia la aku"
2015	Jessica Jones	Dorothy Walker	3 episodes

Music videos

Year	Artist	Song	Role
1985	Starship	"Sara"	Sara

External links

• Rebecca De Mornay at the Internet Movie Database