---
name: "Rebecca De Mornay"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/rebecca-de-mornay"
fi1m_id: "rebecca-de-mornay"
imdb_id: "nm0000360"
tmdb_id: 28412
wikidata_id: "Q232851"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "29 August 1959"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 3
average_fi1m_score: 72
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 3
updated: "2026-10-05T03:48:10.671139+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Rebecca De Mornay

## Identity

Rebecca De Mornay

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/rebecca-de-mornay
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** rebecca-de-mornay
- **IMDb ID:** nm0000360
- **TMDB ID:** 28412
- **Wikidata ID:** Q232851
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_De_Mornay, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q232851, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000360/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/28412

Actor. Born 29 August 1959 in Santa Rosa, California, USA.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 29 August 1959, Santa Rosa, California, USA
- **Active:** 1983–2005
- **Also known as:** Rebecca Jane Pearch , ربکا د مورنی
- **Average Fi1m score:** 72, as actor, over 3 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1980s 81 (1), 1990s 62 (1), 2000s 72 (1)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 72 to 61 across 3 titles
- **Score spread:** 1 at 80+, 2 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Lead roles:** 1 of 2 acting credits billed first or second
- **Genres:** Comedy 2, Drama 2, Romance 2, Action 1, Crime 1, Thriller 1
- **Screen time:** 6 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $504m across 3 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_De_Mornay, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q232851, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000360/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/28412

## Streaming the US now

- **HBO Max:** [*Risky Business*](https://film.one/film/risky-business.md) (81)
- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Backdraft*](https://film.one/film/backdraft.md) (62)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Rebecca De Mornay

> Rebecca De Mornay’s unflinching gaze can make a stock role feel less predictable. We value her ability to suggest a woman’s private concerns, especially when the script is busy worrying about the man beside her.

In *Risky Business* (1983), Rebecca De Mornay lets Tom Cruise’s Joel do the worrying. Her Lana has a composure that complicates the teenage sex comedy, suggesting concerns beyond the young man who has hired her. We felt uneasy watching that transaction, because Cruise makes paying for sex look like another task the boy hopes to get right. De Mornay keeps Lana from becoming merely a reward for his curiosity. The attraction works, but it does not make the money cease to matter.

Paul Brickman gets a good performance from her without giving Lana an equal share of his attention. The film follows Joel’s anxieties far more closely, and its eagerness to keep us sympathetic to him limits what we learn about her. De Mornay’s self-possession makes us believe that Lana has a life beyond these encounters. She makes that narrowness forgivable, but she cannot make the script equally curious about both of them.

After that breakthrough came roles in *Runaway Train* (1985) and *Backdraft* (1991), then the central villain in *The Hand That Rocks the Cradle* (1992). Her poise and unflinching gaze lend themselves readily to calculating women. In *The Hand That Rocks the Cradle*, the menace is persuasive because she gives the villain psychological detail without resorting to camp. The risk is that a film asks for the composure and gives her too little else to play.

Later roles include the scheming Milady de Winter in *The Three Musketeers* (1993) and Dorothy Walker in the television series *Marvel's Jessica Jones* (2015). The part need not be sympathetic for De Mornay’s poise to be useful, but the interest lies in what she suggests beneath it. Start with *Risky Business*, and allow a little patience for the prosperous young man who gets rather more of the film’s sympathy than he deserves.

## Biography

Rebecca De Mornay is an American actress. Born Rebecca Jane Pearch on 29 August 1959 in Santa Rosa, California, she trained at the Lee Strasberg Institute in Los Angeles after returning to the United States in 1980.

She made her film debut in a small role in *One from the Heart* (1981). Her breakthrough came in 1983 as Lana in *Risky Business*. Other film roles include appearances in *Runaway Train* (1985), *Backdraft* (1991) and *The Hand That Rocks the Cradle* (1992). She has also worked in television, with credits including *Lucifer* (2016) and *Marvel's Jessica Jones* (2015).

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (3)

- *Wedding Crashers* (2005), Fi1m 72, as Mrs. Kroeger — [page](https://film.one/film/wedding-crashers.md)
- *Backdraft* (1991), Fi1m 62, as Helen McCaffrey — [page](https://film.one/film/backdraft.md)
- *Risky Business* (1983), Fi1m 81, as Lana — [page](https://film.one/film/risky-business.md)

## Complete filmography (67)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *The Gentleman Thief* (2026), as Odessa
- *Saint Clare* (2025), as Arlene 'Gigi' Newberry
- *Off the Record* (2025), as Kate
- *Peter Five Eight* (2024), as Brenda
- *Angel Baby* (2023), as Maggie
- *She Ball* (2020), as Aggie
- *Periphery* (2018), as Vi Warner
- *I Am Wrath* (2016), as Vivian Hill
- *Lucifer* (2016), series, as Penelope, Penelope Decker
- *Marvel's Jessica Jones* (2015), series, as Dorothy Walker
- *Collar* (2015), as Ramona Billingsley
- *Running on Empty: An Interview with Andrei Konchalovsky* (2013), as Sara (archive footage)
- *Apartment 1303 3D* (2012), as Maddie Slate
- *American Reunion* (2012), as Finch's Mom (uncredited)
- *Mother's Day* (2010), as Natalie 'Mother' Koffin
- *Hawaii Five-0* (2010), series, as Barbara Cotchin — Fi1m 65, [page](https://film.one/tv/hawaii-five-0.md)
- *Flipped* (2010), as Patsy Loski
- *American Venus* (2007), as Celia
- *John from Cincinnati* (2007), series, as Cissy Yost
- *Music Within* (2007), as Richard's Mom
- *Wedding Crashers* (2005), as Mrs. Kroeger — Fi1m 72, [page](https://film.one/film/wedding-crashers.md)
- *Lords of Dogtown* (2005), as Philaine
- *Raise Your Voice* (2004), as Nina Fletcher
- *NCIS* (2003), series, as Carla Marino — Fi1m 66, [page](https://film.one/tv/ncis.md)
- *Identity* (2003), as Caroline Suzanne
- *Salem Witch Trials* (2003), series, as Elizabeth Parris
- *A Girl Thing* (2001), series, as Kim McCormack
- *Range of Motion* (2000), as Lainey Berman
- *The Right Temptation* (2000), as Derian McCall
- *Lost On Everest* (2000), Actor
- *Wicked Ways* (1999), as Ruth Draper · Co-Executive Producer
- *Law & Order: Special Victims Unit* (1999), series, as Tessa McKellen
- *Thick as Thieves* (1999), as Petrone
- *Night Ride Home* (1999), as Nora Mahler
- *The Con* (1998), as Barbara Beaton / Nancy Thoroughgood
- *The Shining* (1997), series, as Wendy Torrance
- *The Practice* (1997), series, as Hannah Rose
- *The Winner* (1996), as Louise · Executive Producer
- *Never Talk to Strangers* (1995), as Dr. Sarah Alison Taylor · Executive Producer
- *The Outer Limits* (1995), series, as Woman · Director
- *ER* (1994), series, as Elaine Nichols — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/tv/er.md)
- *Getting Out* (1994), as Arlene Holsclaw
- *The Three Musketeers* (1993), as Milady de Winter
- *Guilty as Sin* (1993), as Jennifer Haines
- *Blind Side* (1993), as Lynn Kaines
- *The Hand That Rocks the Cradle* (1992), as Mrs. Mott / Peyton Flanders
- *Backdraft* (1991), as Helen McCaffrey — Fi1m 62, [page](https://film.one/film/backdraft.md)
- *An Inconvenient Woman* (1991), series, as Flo
- *By Dawn's Early Light* (1990), as Moreau
- *Dealers* (1989), as Anna Schuman
- *Feds!* (1988), as Ellis DeWitt
- *And God Created Woman* (1988), as Robin Shea
- *Beauty and the Beast* (1987), as Beauty
- *The Murders in the Rue Morgue* (1986), as Claire Dupin
- *Pecos Bill* (1986), as Rose 'Slew Foot Sue' Peasley
- *The Trip to Bountiful* (1985), as Thelma
- *Runaway Train* (1985), as Sara
- *Tall Tales & Legends* (1985), series, as Rose 'Slew Foot Sue' Peasley
- *The Slugger's Wife* (1985), as Debby Palmer
- *Testament* (1983), as Cathy Pitkin
- *Risky Business* (1983), as Lana — Fi1m 81, [page](https://film.one/film/risky-business.md)
- *One from the Heart* (1982), as Understudy
- *American Playhouse* (1982), series, as Cathy Pitkin
- *Spinal Tap: The Final Tour* (1981), as Hot Tub Groupie
- *NOVA* (1974), series, as Narrator
- *Giving Thanks*, as Aunt Theodora
- *The Up and Comer*, Actor

## Gallery

- ![Rebecca De Mornay](https://film.one/media/person/118011/gallery-006da7c714ab.jpg) Rebecca De Mornay — Original:  Sara Morishige Williams from San Francisco, CA, USA
Derivative work:  Cryptic-waveform / WikiPedant, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/Rebecca-de-Mornay.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![From left to right: American actress Rebecca De Mornay & Evan. (2006)](https://film.one/media/person/118011/gallery-8e0a79f15587.jpg) From left to right: American actress Rebecca De Mornay & Evan. (2006) — Original:  Sara Morishige Williams from San Francisco, CA, USA
Upload:  Badzil, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/Rebecca-de-Mornay-Evan.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Rebecca De Mornay](https://film.one/media/person/118011/gallery-6803857edcf2.jpg) Rebecca De Mornay — Image via TMDB
- ![Rebecca De Mornay](https://film.one/media/person/118011/gallery-40c363c2007c.jpg) Rebecca De Mornay — Image via TMDB
- ![Rebecca De Mornay](https://film.one/media/person/118011/gallery-f02860e73ed4.jpg) Rebecca De Mornay — Image via TMDB
- ![Rebecca De Mornay](https://film.one/media/person/118011/gallery-4a3a926c0f70.jpg) Rebecca De Mornay — Image via TMDB

## Awards

### Other awards — 2 won, 1 nominated

- Time Machine Award 2010: Time Machine Award (won)
- MTV Movie Award for Best Villain 1992: MTV Movie Award for Best Villain (won), for *The Hand That Rocks the Cradle*
- Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress 1989: Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress (nominated), for *And God Created Woman*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/rebecca-de-mornay