Vanessa Marcil, ne Vanessa Ortiz, was born in Indio, California, on October 15, 1969. The youngest of four children, Marcil moved with the rest of her family to Anchorage, Alaska. By age 8, Marcil began acting in a local theater in Palm Desert, after she and her family returned to California. VANESSA MARCIL DOES GENERAL HOSPITAL
Although she was acting at an early age, Marcil studied law after graduating from high school. She finally decided to pursue a career in acting and took her theatrical talents to the stage in performances such as Neil Simon's Fools, Pygmalion, The Miracle Worker, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Southern Rapture, co-starring country music singer Dwight Yoakam and actress Sally Kirkland, and under the direction of Peter Fonda, and Sweet Bird of Youth, to name a few.
In 1989, Vanessa married actor Corey Feldman. The two later divorced in 1991.
In 1992, Vanessa became widely known as Brenda Barrett, the character she portrayed on the popular ABC daytime soap, General Hospital. Her stint as Brenda Barrett lasted six consecutive years (she later returned in 2000, 2002 and 2003) and was her first recurring role as an actress.
She received a Hottest Female Star Award at the 1997 Soap Opera Digest Awards, Daytime Emmy nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in 1997 and 1998, and a Soap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in 1998.
VANESSA MARCIL DOES THE ROCK WITH NIC CAGE
While working on General Hospital, Vanessa kept busy with other projects. Besides starring alongside Nicolas Cage in The Rock and in the made-for-TV movie To Love, Honor, and Deceive (both in 1996), she had a recurring guest role on the primetime cop show High Incident (1997). Vanessa also starred in the fantasy film 976-Wish (1997).
Fittingly enough, Vanessa was featured as one of the "50 Most Beautiful People" in People magazine's 1995 edition, and was honored by her friend, Prince, who wrote the song "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" for her (she starred in the hit video).
VANESSA MARCIL HEADS TO BEVERLY HILLS, 90210
After leaving General Hospital in August 1998, Marcil joined the cast of the popular Aaron Spelling primetime soap Beverly Hills, 90210, replacing Tiffani Thiessen as the show's vixen. However, Vanessa left Beverly Hills, 90210 in 2000 to pursue other projects.
VANESSA MARCIL STARS IN LAS VEGAS
Amid her stint on 90210, Vanessa starred in the disappointing films Nice Guys Sleep Alone (1999) and This Space Between Us (2000). After another disappointing film in 2002, entitled Storm Watch, Vanessa finally made her return to television in 2003, on the NBC drama Las Vegas with co-stars Molly Sims, Nikki Cox and James Caan, and did another movie entitled Fish Without A Bicycle, with Beverly Hills, 90210 co-star Brian Austin Green, whom she's been engaged to since 2001. She also made a short return to General Hospital, from 2002 to 2003, which was honored by the Soap Opera Digest Awards, with a trophy for Favorite Return in 2003.
In March 2002, Vanessa gave birth to a baby boy named Kassius Lijah Marcil-Green, and is currently living with her fianc, and her two dogs, Woof and Joey.
