Rebecca De Mornay 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 from northern California 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 in Einer mit Herz (1982), which was followed by the box office hit Lockere Geschäfte (1983), in which she gave a seductive and critically acclaimed performance as a streetwise prostitute. She went on to international stardom with her portrayal of a chillingly twisted nanny in the hugely popular Die Hand an der Wiege (1992). Other acclaimed film work includes Runaway Train (1985) (with Jon Voight), A Trip to Bountiful - Reise ins Glück (1985) (with Geraldine Page), Backdraft - Männer, die durchs Feuer gehen (1991) (with Kurt Russell).Network television work includes the tour-de-force role of Arlie in the stellar Die Fesseln der Vergangenheit (1994) (TV) (based on Marsha Norman's play), the tragic title character in Dominick Dunne's Späte Leidenschaft (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 "Emergency Room - Die Notaufnahme" (1994) and Hallmark Hall of Fame's Das Herz einer Familie (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 "Outer Limits - Die unbekannte Dimension" (1995) starring John Savage and Frank Whaley. Twice divorced from writer Bruce Wagner and younger sportscaster Patrick O'Neal, Rebecca resides in Los Angeles with her two young daughters Sophia and Veronica.
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