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The youngest of five children, Heche was born in Ohio and moved nearly a dozen times with her family — eventually settling in Ocean City.
It was there that she "came into her own," and worked at 76 House Dinner Theater in Swainton as a performer, earning $100 a week, South Jersey Magazine reports.
"So, you could definitely say that New Jersey changed my life," Heche told the outlet. "I will always have a soft spot in my heart for Jersey."
Heche was apparently living in New Jersey when her dad died of AIDS and her brother was killed in a car crash, NJ Advance Media reports.
Heche finished high school first before her breakout role in NBC's "Another World," which won her two Soap Opera Digest Awards and a Daytime Emmy Award.
She went on to star in several other blockbuster films including "I Know What You Did Last Summer," "Six Days and Seven Nights," and in 2020 competed on "Dancing with the Stars." Heche has two sons, Homer and Atlas.
The actress was going nearly 100 mph when she crashed her car into a Los Angeles home on Aug. 5, authorities said. Police investigated the incident as a "felony DUI crash."
Heche was rushed to a hospital severely burned. She was declared brain dead days later and placed on life support. She died Aug. 11.
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