Anne Heche

In the upcoming Mafia thriller "Donnie Brasco," actress Anne Heche holds her own with wit and grace as the tough wife of Johnny Depp's undercover FBI agent. And in "Volcano," with Tommy Lee Jones, she plays a scrappy seismologist who comes up against a lava flow on Wilshire Boulevard. So it's no surprise that Heche can tackle spring's edgiest clothes. A skirt that looks like a test pattern paired with a print shirt. A color-blocked sweater over geometric-motif pants.

In the HBO series "Hung," now in its second season, Anne Heche plays Jessica, the dotty ex-wife of Ray, a football coach ( Thomas Jane) who turns to prostitution so he can afford to rebuild his home after a fire. For Heche, 41, the role caps a career comeback a decade after her much-publicized breakdown and breakup with Ellen DeGeneres. She shares her new life with James Tupper, her former "Men in Trees" co-star, and sons Homer, 8, and Atlas, about a year and a half, in a Mediterranean-style home in Hollywood.

Anne Heche had no problems answering questions--about anything. Chatty, vivacious and funny, the 27-year-old actress talked frankly about her romantic relationship with comedian Ellen DeGeneres, her disapproving religious family and her very hot career, including her latest work, "Wag the Dog." It was the journalists who were a little tongue-tied. After all, it's unusual for a Hollywood star to address his or her sexuality without being coy, calculating or closeted. "You know what's so funny?"

The TV show "Men in Trees" had a brief but memorable run on ABC in 2006-08, and it led to some good things in star James Tupper's life. First, there's his relationship with "Trees" costar Anne Heche, with whom he shares a home in Venice with kids Homer, 7, and Atlas, 7 months. The show also led to his new series on NBC, the medical drama "Mercy" (Wednesdays at 8 p.m.). Check out what the "Trees" alums do with a weekend off, and they don't even have to leave the neighborhood. Walking the town We love walking down to 3 Square Cafe & Bakery on Abbot Kinney for breakfast or lunch.

By her own admission, she's no G.I. Jane. Anne Heche was drowning in the full military garb she donned for the lead role as a Marine captain in the Showtime thriller "One Kill," premiering Sunday night at 8. "There were times I felt like such a stupid little gooney girl, with that helmet falling down over my eyes and my skinny arms sticking out of the uniform," Heche said. "And I'd listen to my voice yelling orders at these guys, and I'd want to fall over laughing."

For months, the public had been gearing up for Wednesday night's episode of "Ellen" during which Ellen DeGeneres' alter ego would become the first openly gay lead character on network TV. Last week, another plot twist was added to the mix: Anne Heche, the 27-year-old co-star of the No. 1 movie, "Volcano," publicly announced that she was the comedian's mate.

The diminutive Anne Heche rules over the rainy Vancouver set of "Men in Trees" by the sheer speed of her movements, darting across the soundstage, chatting with the crew and drinking Red Bull, which she did not appear to need. And when she sat for an interview in her trailer, this declaration sounded like one word: "I had a dream, and my dream was to move after 'Grey's Anatomy.'

Yes, them again. Well, maybe not again, since "this is the first time we're going to sit for a photograph together," says Ellen DeGeneres--comedian, actress and former star of her own sitcom, "Ellen."

Four years ago, you could have called Anne Heche crazy. Why not? That's what the tabloids took to calling her, and it's what she called herself: "Call Me Crazy" is the title of the 2001 memoir she wrote, she said, to purge herself of her childhood demons and split personality, the one that led her to abandon her car in Fresno, wearing shorts and a bra, the day after breaking up with Ellen DeGeneres.

Her real speaking voice falls somewhere between the hard Midwestern of her Jessica on HBO's "Hung" and the cool sophisticate, Samantha, she plays in the new film "Spread." Which only makes sense; Anne Heche is from Ohio but has navigated the palms of Hollywood for more than 20 years now since playing good and evil twins on "Another World." Now, at 40, her two current roles are akin to playing two sides of the same woman again. "I thought it was an incredibly sexual role and a challenge to be an 'older woman' in the film," she says of acting opposite Ashton Kutcher in "Spread."

Her real speaking voice falls somewhere between the hard Midwestern of her Jessica on HBO's "Hung" and the cool sophisticate, Samantha, she plays in the new film "Spread." Which only makes sense; Anne Heche is from Ohio but has navigated the palms of Hollywood for more than 20 years now since playing good and evil twins on "Another World." Now, at 40, her two current roles are akin to playing two sides of the same woman again. "I thought it was an incredibly sexual role and a challenge to be an 'older woman' in the film," she says of acting opposite Ashton Kutcher in "Spread."

The diminutive Anne Heche rules over the rainy Vancouver set of "Men in Trees" by the sheer speed of her movements, darting across the soundstage, chatting with the crew and drinking Red Bull, which she did not appear to need. And when she sat for an interview in her trailer, this declaration sounded like one word: "I had a dream, and my dream was to move after 'Grey's Anatomy.'

Given that it's set in Alaska and built around a will-they-won't-they delayed romance between a high-strung city mouse and an earthy country mouse, it's hard not to think of "Northern Exposure" when watching ABC's new Anne Heche vehicle, "Men in Trees." Or, indeed, of a long string of motion pictures, going all the way back to "It Happened One Night," in which a rough-hewn man rubs up against a sophisticated woman. (And of course there is Tarzan, the original man in a tree.

Four years ago, you could have called Anne Heche crazy. Why not? That's what the tabloids took to calling her, and it's what she called herself: "Call Me Crazy" is the title of the 2001 memoir she wrote, she said, to purge herself of her childhood demons and split personality, the one that led her to abandon her car in Fresno, wearing shorts and a bra, the day after breaking up with Ellen DeGeneres.

Anne Heche will join the cast of "Everwood," the WB drama about a Manhattan brain surgeon who moves to a Colorado mountain town. The actress, who has starred in the movies "Wag the Dog" and "Six Days, Seven Nights," will play the role of Amanda Carver, the patron saint of the town of Everwood, the WB announced. Also joining the third season of "Everwood," which premieres Sept. 13, is Scott Wolf, best known for his role on "Party of Five."

If an actress always brings part of herself to her roles, Anne Heche must have needed some kind of a psychic U-Haul for her role in "Gracie's Choice," a fact-based Lifetime movie premiering Monday. The actress stars as Rowena Larson, a feckless and irresponsible young single mother who is so neglectful of her large brood that her eldest daughter, Gracie (Kristen Bell), eventually sues for custody of her younger siblings. This story "resonated like mad," says Heche, a survivor of childhood abuse.

Anne Heche will join the cast of "Everwood," the WB drama about a Manhattan brain surgeon who moves to a Colorado mountain town. The actress, who has starred in the movies "Wag the Dog" and "Six Days, Seven Nights," will play the role of Amanda Carver, the patron saint of the town of Everwood, the WB announced. Also joining the third season of "Everwood," which premieres Sept. 13, is Scott Wolf, best known for his role on "Party of Five."

Ellen DeGeneres said on Monday that she is quitting Hollywood. The former star of ABC's "Ellen"--the first sitcom with a gay lead character whose coming out made television history--told The Times that she and partner Anne Heche, who co-stars in the remake of "Psycho" opening Friday, "want to take at least a year off." "We've quit our agents, let go of our publicist, we're selling our house and leaving town," DeGeneres said.

"There is something that you learn when you have a broken heart. Not that I didn't cherish love before but I really treasure it now, I really understand how hard it is to find. I think being the person I am now, if I met her tomorrow I probably wouldn't be with her. But I was a different person then, and I've learned a whole lot."--Ellen DeGeneres, talking about actress Anne Heche, with whom she had a nearly four-year relationship.

Matthew Tabak's "Auggie Rose," in which Jeff Goldblum and Anne Heche arguably give their best performances to date, has the earmarks of a sleeper: an unusual and involving premise persuasively and fully realized. Painstakingly and resourcefully made on location in Los Angeles, this modestly budgeted independent production deserves a chance to find a wider audience.