{{short description|American actress}} {{Infobox person | image = | name = Gina Hecht | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1953|12|06}} | birth_place = Houston, Texas, U.S. | spouse = Brian Herskowitz (1988–present) | alma_mater = North Carolina School of the Arts | known_for = {{hlist|Mork & Mindy|Night Shift|Dave|A Matter of Perspective|General Hospital}} | occupation = Actress | years_active = 1978–present }}
'''Gina Hecht''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɡ|iː|n|ə|_|ˈ|h|ɛ|k|t}}; born December 6, 1953) is an American actress.
==Early life==
Born in Houston, Texas on December 6, 1953,<ref>Ragan, David (1992). ''[https://archive.org/details/whoswhoinhollywo00raga/page/726/mode/2up?q=%22hecht+gina%22+%22december+6+1953%22 Who's Who in Hollywood : The Largest Cast of International Film Personalities Ever Assembled]''. New York : Facts on File. p. 727. {{ISBN|0-8160-2009-4}}. "HECHT, GINA (S. Cal.) Support. Onscreen from the '80s. IN: Night Shift, Unfinished Business, more. BORN: Gina Hecht; December 6, 1953; Houston, Tex."</ref> Hecht is the daughter of stage actress Pauline Meyer Hecht and stockbroker Harold Hecht.<ref name="crumbaker">{{cite news |title=Actress Gina Hecht—Daughter of Houston's Pauline—making it in H'wood with TV Role |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-houston-post/187469627/ |access-date=December 26, 2025 |work=The Houston Post |author=Crumbaker, Madge |date=December 15, 1978 |page=1C |quote=Holly Harwood has just returned from a visit with H'wood's Gina Hecht. Gina is an actress, following in the footsteps of her mother, our town's Pauline Hecht. Really top-notch career things are happening for Gina: She has a role in a new television series called His Honor. |via = Newspapers.com }}</ref><ref name="pmh obit">{{cite news |title=Obituaries – Hecht: Hecht, Meyer Pauline |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-houston-chronicle/187471645/ |access-date=December 26, 2025 |work=The Houston Chronicle |author= |date=June 14, 2009 |page=B8 |quote=Predeceased by husband Harold Hecht, sister Regina Meyer Stern, and nephew Marcus Ashley Stern. Survived by a son and daughter-in-law, Harold and Mary Hecht of Houston, two daughters and sons-in-law, Esther and Roger Cohn of Nashville, Tennessee and Gina Hecht and Brian Herskowitz of Los Angeles, California. |via = Newspapers.com }}</ref><ref name="mgh">{{cite news |title=Meet Gina Hecht of the TV hit, 'Mork and Mindy' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/centre-daily-times/187469195/ |access-date=December 26, 2025 |work=Centre Daily Times |author= |date=December 8, 1979 |page=12 |quote=Hecht plays Jean DaVinci in the smash hit, 'Mork and Mindy.' She was born in Houston, Texas, where her mother was an actress and her father a stockbroker. At the age of 10, Gina decided to become an actress. She saw her mother in a play and fell in love with the theater. After graduating from high school, she went to several colleges. She got her degree from the North Carolina School for the Arts in Winston Salem. [...] Vital information: "Birthplace: Houston, Texas. Height: 5 feet, 3 inches. Hair: brown. Birthdate: December 6. Weight: 115 pounds. Eyes: brown. |via = Newspapers.com }}</ref> An alumnus of North Carolina School of the Arts, Hecht had already made up her mind to become an actress at age 10, the moment she first saw her mother onstage.<ref name="mgh"/> She attended Oran M. Roberts Elementary School, Pershing Junior High, Bellaire High, and Monticello College,<ref name="skipper">{{cite news |title=Houstonian, famous daughter, in cast of 'Hizzoner' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-houston-post/187475427/ |access-date=December 26, 2025 |work=The Houston Post |author=Skipper, C.W. |date=May 10, 1979 |page=16B |quote=GINA HECHT IS AN out-and-out Houstonian. She attended Roberts Elementary, Pershing Junior High, Bellaire High for a year, a boarding school in Florida, a year of college at Monticello College, and got her degree at North Carolina School of the Arts. 'When I was a kid, I came back from camp and my mother (actress Pauline Hecht) was doing Bye Bye Birdie at Theater Inc., and that was it.' |via = Newspapers.com }}</ref><ref name="tpt">{{cite news |title=To Perform Tonight at Hatheway; To Perform at Hatheway |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-telegraph/187479867/ |access-date=December 26, 2025 |work=Alton Evening Telegraph |author= |date=December 29, 1970 |page=8 |quote=Rehearsing for their parts in the play, "All The Way Home" at Hatheway Hall, Monticello College, tonight and Friday are, from left, Miss Gina Hecht, Miss Patti Lynne Simerrell and Scott Gardner, son of Mrs. William Gardner of Godfrey. |via = Newspapers.com }}</ref> before obtaining her degree from North Carolina.<ref name="mgh"/><ref>{{cite news |title=Modern Play Troupe Started; Arts School Involved in Effort |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/winston-salem-journal/187481778/ |access-date=December 26, 2025 |work=Winston-Salem Journal |author= |date=June 14, 1975 |page=22 |quote=N. C. School of the Arts faculty members, graduates and students and other performers have put together a theater troupe which will produce three contemporary plays this summer at the arts school. [...] The acting company will include Mark Pirolo of the design and production faculty: arts school graduates Rod Franklin, Wren Goodrum, Gina Hecht, Gordon McKinna, and Linda Strang; and students Lorri Lindberg, R. Vincent Park and Kent Shelton. |via = Newspapers.com }}</ref>
==Career==
Hecht's big break came in the fall of 1978 with a recurring role in the NBC sitcom ''Hizzoner'';<ref name="hodges">{{cite news |title=Natalie Cole proves to be a chip off old block |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-houston-chronicle/187469517/ |access-date=December 26, 2025 |work=The Houston Chronicle |author=Hodges, Ann |date=April 28, 1978 |page=2B |quote=Well-known Houston actress Pauline Hecht was playing the role of proud mother when she called to add another name to NBC's long list of 'daughters of famous people' currently involved in network pilots for fall. Pauline's daughter Gina Hecht has a role in 'Hizzoner,' and if that show starring David Huddieston as a big city mayor makes it to the fall schedule, she'll be a regular. It's a break for Gina, who hasn't been in Hollywood long. But she's already familiar to Houston audiences through such roles shows as 'A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum' and 'The Impossible Years' at the Dean Goss and 'Fiddler On the Roof' at Dunfey's Dinner Theaters. |via = Newspapers.com }}</ref><ref name="crumbaker"/> the following season she was hired for the role of Jeanie DaVinci on the successful TV series ''Mork & Mindy''.<ref name="mgh"/> Her first film role was in the 1982 Ron Howard movie ''Night Shift'', alongside Henry Winkler and Michael Keaton.<ref>[https://catalog.afi.com/Person/253498-Gina-Hecht "Gina Hecht Filmography"]. American Film Institute. Retrieved December 26, 2025.</ref>
In addition to a career on TV and in films, she has also worked the stage. In 2011, she appeared in Neil Simon's ''The Prisoner of Second Avenue'' alongside Jason Alexander.<ref>{{Cite news|title=THE PRISONER OF SECOND AVENUE|author=Favre, Jeff|date=May 12, 2011|work=Back Stage|page=16|quote=After a decade of portraying George Costanza on 'Seinfeld,' Jason Alexander is so right for the role of MeI Edison - complaining, neurotic New Yorker in 'The Prisoner of Second Avenue' - that it feels as though Neil Simon created the role for him. Of course, the actor was only 12 in 1971, when Simon's urban comedy debuted on Broadway, Alexander's signature fits of exasperated sarcasm and irritation inject about as much humor as possible into this uneven Simon play, and Alexander's work is greatly enhanced by co-star Gina Hecht as Mel's wife, Edna.|id={{ProQuest|879413391}}}}</ref> Hecht had a recurring role on ''General Hospital'' as Judge Rachel Lasser from 2015 to 2019.<ref name="Cushman">{{cite web|last=Cushman|first=Dustin|title=Gina Hecht Returns to ''General Hospital'' as Judge Rachel Lasser|url=https://soaps.sheknows.com/general-hospital/comings-and-goings/551867/gina-hecht-general-hospital-judge-rachel-lasser/|website=Soaps.com|publisher=SheKnows Media|accessdate=October 31, 2019|location=United States |date=October 24, 2019|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20191031063153/https://soaps.sheknows.com/general-hospital/comings-and-goings/551867/gina-hecht-general-hospital-judge-rachel-lasser/|archivedate=October 31, 2019}}</ref>
==Personal life== In 1988, she married writer and actor Brian Herskowitz.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Hecht weds Herskowitz|author=Mesinger, Maxine|date=July 5, 1988|work=Houston Chronicle|page=1|quote=Gina Hecht and Brian Herskowitz came home from LA to be married in a small wedding Monday night in Cohen House on the Rice University campus. There was a dinner afterward, also at Cohen House. Gina and Brian have been living in LA for some time, pursuing careers in show biz. [...] Gina's big start was as a regular on 'Mork and Mindy' with Robin Williams. Since then she's appeared as a guest on many TVers, and as a regular on the defunct CBS sitcom 'Everything's Relative.' [...] The groom is the son of writer Mickey Herskowitz [...] Brian acts occasionally, but mostly he's a writer for TV and feature films.|id={{ProQuest|295266097}}}}</ref> She has a sister, Esther, and a brother, Harold.<ref name="pmh obit"/>
==Filmography==
===Television=== * 1979–1981: ''Mork & Mindy'' as Jeanie DaVinci * 1979: ''Hizzonner'' as Melanie * 1987: ''Everything's Relative'' as Emily Cabot * 1988: ''HeartBeat'' as Patty * 1989: ''Baywatch'': "Panic at Malibu Pier" as Gina Pomeroy * 1990: ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'': "A Matter of Perspective" as Manua Apgar * 1992: ''Taking Back My Life: The Nancy Ziegenmeyer Story'' as Deanne * 1992–1993: ''Seinfeld'': "The Pick", "The Shoes", "The Pilot" as Dana Foley, George's therapist * 1994: ''Without Warning'' as Barbara Shiller * 1995: ''Blossom'': "You Say Tomato" as teacher * 1995: ''Diagnosis: Murder'': "Murder in the Courthouse" as Justine Brady * 1997: ''Friends'' as Richard's Date * 2000: ''Diagnosis: Murder'': "Swan Song" as Rhonda * 2001: ''Jag Past Tense'' as Jane Maples madwoman * 2005: ''Pizza My Heart'' as Gloria Montebello * 2006: ''Dexter'' as Mrs. Tucci * 2009: ''Desperate Housewives'': "The Coffee Cup" as Judge Mary Gallagher * 2009–2012: ''Glee'': "Mash-Up", "Goodbye", "Glee, Actually" as Puck's mom * 2013: ''The Middle'': "Life Skills" as Ms. Schaefer * 2015–2019: ''General Hospital'' as Judge Rachel Lasser * 2020–2023: ''Dave'' as Carol * 2023: ''Tacoma FD'': "Gone Dutch" as Laura the Widow * 2024: ''Grey's Anatomy'': "We've Only Just Begun" as Mrs. Sutton
===Film=== * 1982: ''Night Shift'' as Charlotte Koogle * 1985: ''St. Elmo's Fire'' as Judith * 1986: ''Hyper Sapien: People from Another Star'' as Newscaster * 1987: ''Unfinished Business'' as Vickie * 1993: ''Family Prayers'' as Arlene * 1995: ''One Night Stand'' as Cy Watson * 1998: ''Can I Play?'' as Nancy * 1999: ''EDtv'' as Party Girl * 2001: ''Odessa or Bust'' as God * 2002: ''Clockstoppers'' as Meter Maid * 2008: ''Seven Pounds'' as Dr. Briar * 2008: ''The Last Word'' as Hilde Morris * 2017: ''Fight Your Way Out'' as Jane Stone
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{IMDb name|0372958|name=Gina Hecht}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hecht, Gina}} Category:Living people Category:20th-century American actresses Category:21st-century American actresses Category:Actresses from Houston Category:American film actresses Category:American television actresses Category:1953 births