Childhood: Heche grew up in the heavily conservative Baptist family of Don Heche, a minister and choir director. His occupation meant that he moved his wife and four children around a lot. The family underwent eleven moves by the time Anne, the youngest, was twelve. After this time, they settled in New Jersey, where Anne attended the Ocean City High School. Her adolescence, however, was anything but settled. Her father died from AIDS in 1983, after which it emerged that he had been secretly gay. Three months later, her older brother Nathan died in a car crash.
Heche excelled at singing and acting at high school, and was offered parts in soap operas before she reached graduation. It was felt by all concerned, including Anne herself, that she should finish her studies before accepting any such contracts.
She honed her acting skills by taking part in local Dinner Theatre productions in this time.

Work: In 1987, immediately after graduating from Ocean City High School, Heche accepted a contract to play the dual roles of Vicky and Marley Hudson in the soap opera 'Another World'. She stayed with the show until 1991, and was critically acclaimed for her work playing the vastly differing twin characters.
She went on to play a few small parts in prime time television shows, before stepping her career up a notch and going for film roles. She debuted on the big screen in the 1993 adaptation of 'The Adventures of Huck Finn'. The film did not do very well at the box office, but led on to other work for the young actress.
Throughout the nineties, she gained many roles, large and small. They ranged from little known dramas such as 'Wild Side' (1996), to the more high profile 'Donnie Brasco', and from large scale disaster movies; 'Volcano' (1997) to slasher movies such as 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' (1997) and a remake of Alfred Hitchcock's 'Psycho' (1998). In the latter, she played the fated character of Marion Crane and repeated, almost shot for shot, the famous 'shower scene'. Although the movie itself was largely disregarded by Hitchcock enthusiasts and the film industry as being utterly pointless, Heche was nominated for a Saturn Awards for her portrayal of the morally challenged murder victim.
In recent years, she has continued to land many more roles in various films, including 'Prozac Nation' (2001), and 'Birth' (2004).

Friends & Relationships: It is perhaps most important at this point to note that Heche has never defined her sexuality with words such as 'bisexual', 'lesbian' or 'gay'. She has had relationships with both men and women, most notably the comedian and actor Steve Martin in 1993, and later the musician and member of Fleetwood Mac, Lindsey Buckingham. His songs 'Come' and 'Down on Rodeo' are said to be about Heche.
Her most famous relationship was with the comedienne Ellen Degeneres, between 1997 and 2000. They met while Ellen was filming the famous episode of her sitcom, in which she came out, and in which Heche had a cameo. During the time they were seeing each other, the couple became the most famous and popular lesbians the press had ever written about, perhaps even more so after the strange events surrounding their break up. Heche is said to have had a psychotic episode at that time, during which she wandered in a confused state, and ended up knocking on the door of a stranger's house, asking to use their shower. This resulted in a brief period of hospitalisation, after which she seemed to fully recover, and even commented later, in interviews and in her autobiography, that this episode marked the return of her sanity after 31 years. "I'm not crazy, but it's a crazy life. I was raised in a crazy family and it took 31 years to get the crazy out of me." She also said that none of these events had anything to do with her split from Ellen.
Heche claimed that her father had abused her, and that she had been insane all her life as a result. She had believed herself to be two people - Celestia and Anne. Celestia claimed to have contacts with extra-terrestrials and God.
Her mother Nancy denied the accusations regarding her Husband's sexual abuse of Anne. Mother and daughter have been estranged ever since Anne began her relationship with Ellen Degeneres.
In 1998, Susan Bergman (Heche's sister) wrote a book detailing how the family dealt with their father's closeted homosexuality. Heche and Bergman were both estranged from their mother, and reportedly also from each other after the publication of the book. Bergman died in January 2006 after struggling with brain cancer.
Heche has now married Coley Laffoon and gave birth to her son, Homer Heche Laffoon on 2nd March 2002.
Her mother claims that her prayers 'cured' Heche's homosexuality, and speaks with 'ex-gay' groups around the US about the subject. Heche denounced these speeches, and maintains that she has not 'changed' her sexuality by marrying Laffoon.

Greatest Achievements: For her performance on 'Another World', Heche received a Daytime Emmy award for Outstanding Younger Actress in 1991.
In 1997, her performances in 'Donnie Brasco' and 'Wag The Dog' won her the National Board of Review's Best Supporting Actress Award. In 2004 she was nominated for a Tony Award for her role in a revival of 'Twentieth Century'.

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