Vanessa Marcil was born Vanessa Sally Ortiz on October 15, 1968, in Indio, California, to Patricia Irene Marcil-Ortiz, an herbalist, and Pete Ortiz, a contractor. Growing up in Indio, she was part of a close-knit family with her parents and three siblings: big brother Pete Samuel "Sam" Ortiz Jr., born on November 16, 1958, and passed away on November 7, 2019; big sisters Tina, born on October 20, 1959; and Sherry, born on September 7, 1962.
As a young girl, Vanessa discovered her passion for acting, starting at the age of eight, when she began performing in plays and even won a talent show with her own song. This marked the beginning of her pursuit of an acting career, which led her to star in several theatre productions before landing the role of Brenda Barrett on the ABC daytime soap opera General Hospital in 1992.
Her feature film debut came in 1996 with The Rock, opposite Nicolas Cage, and she also starred in the made-for-television movie To Love, Honor and Deceive that same year. Vanessa remained with General Hospital until 1998, when she left to join the cast of Beverly Hills, 90210 as Gina Kincaid, a former ice skater, replacing Tiffani Thiessen as the show's vixen. It was during her time on the show that she met Brian Austin Green, with whom she had a son, Kassius Lijah Marcil-Green, on March 15, 2002.
In the fall of 2002, Vanessa made her long-awaited return to General Hospital, reprising her role as Brenda Barrett, and earned a Daytime Emmy Award for "Outstanding Supporting Actress" in 2003. She later joined the cast of the NBC drama Las Vegas as Sam Marquez, a casino host, where she remained for five seasons until 2008. That same year, she became the host of Lifetime's reality show Blush: The Search for America's Greatest Makeup Artist and made a three-episode guest appearance on the NBC show Lipstick Jungle.
In 2009, Vanessa starred in the Hallmark channel movie The Nanny Express and the Lifetime movie One Hot Summer. In 2010, she appeared in the web series The Bannen Way and, after a seven-year absence, made her return to General Hospital, remaining on the show for a year before departing in July 2011. Although she did make a guest appearance in April 2013 to commemorate the show's 50th anniversary.
In 2014, Vanessa starred in the Hallmark channel movie Stranded in Paradise alongside James Denton. She is currently writing a book about her life, which will be released in the near future. Vanessa resides in Los Angeles with her son, Kassius Marcil-Green.
