Vanessa Marcil

This petite, alluring actress earned widespread attention and two Daytime Emmy nominations for her powerhouse performance as Brenda Barrett on the ABC daytime drama "General Hospital". A native Californian and youngest of four, Vanessa Marcil frequently traveled with her family living in such far-flung locations as Anchorage, Alaska and Reno, Nevada before they settled in Palm Desert, California. At age eight, she began her acting career, appearing in local theatrical productions. Originally intending to become a lawyer, Marcil dropped out of college to pursue a full-time career in show business. Spotted in a stage production of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", she was cast in her star-making soap role. Over the course of her six-year (1992-98) tenure on "General Hospital", the character of Brenda developed from spoiled rich girl to complex, assured businesswoman. Paired onscreen with actors Maurice Bernard (as gangster Sonny Corinthos) and Ingo Rademacher (as wealthy businessman Jasper Jax), Marcil was involved in two very popular romantic storylines. When her character underwent a nervous breakdown, the actress demonstrated her range and capabilities and netted an Emmy nomination.

It was only a matter of time before Marcil began fielding other offers. In 1994, she starred alongside Dwight Yoakam and Sally Kirkland in the Peter Fonda-directed stage play "Southern Rapture" and received rave reviews. ABC tapped the rising star to host the popular weekly late-night music series "In Concert" (1995) and to star in the 1996 TV-movie "To Love, Honor, and Deceive". In the latter, she portrayed a young wife and mother who discovers her husband had a secret life. Marcil made the jump to the big screen in the brief role of Nicolas Cage's fiancee in "The Rock" (1996). She went on to appear in the short "976-WISH" (1997) and co-star in two independent features, "This Space Between Us", opposite Jeremy Sisto, and "Nice Guys Sleep Alone", with Sean O'Bryan. In the fall of 1998, Marcil traded her daytime stint for a regular role as sultry Gina Kincaid on the Fox primetime series "Beverly Hills, 90210" from 1998 to the series' conclusion in 2000. After a pair of brief guest-starring stints as a detective on "NYPD Blue" in 2001 and 2003, and a leading role in the low-budget sci fi actioner "Storm Watch" (2002), Marcil returned to primetime network television in NBC's populat lighthearted drama "Las Vegas" (2003- ), playing Samantha “Sam” Jane, handler to Sin City's highest rollers at the Montecito hotel and casino.