Hunter Tylo

Hunter Tylo
220px Tylo at the Monte-Carlo Television Festival, 2012
Born	Deborah Jo Hunter (1962-07-03) July 3, 1962 Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.
Other names	Deborah Morehart, Hunter Archila
Alma mater	Fordham University
Occupation	Actress, author
Years active	1980–present
Spouse(s)	Tom Morehart (m. 1980; div. 1984) Michael Tylo (m. 1987; div. 2005) Gersson Archila (m. 2009)
Children	4

Hunter Tylo (born Deborah Jo Hunter, July 3, 1962) is an American actress, author and former model. She is best known for her role as Dr. Taylor Hayes (1990–2002, 2004–14) on The Bold and the Beautiful.

Early life

Tylo was born Deborah Jo Hunter in Fort Worth, Texas, the daughter of Jo Anne and Morris Jabez Hunter. She is of Cherokee Native American descent on her mother's side. She has an older sister named Elizabeth and a younger brother named Cliff. Tylo has been credited as Deborah Morehart; Morehart was the last name of her first husband.

Career

In 1984, credited as Deborah Morehart, Tylo appeared in the sorority slasher film The Initiation with future Melrose Place actor Daphne Zuniga. Tylo subsequently became well known after playing regular roles in US daytime soap operas. Her television debut was on All My Children in 1985. She was fired from the role in 1988, on the grounds of having a relationship with another cast member, Michael Tylo (whom she married in 1987).

In 1989, she was cast as Marina Toscano on Days of Our Lives. The character was a rival who caused trouble for one of the soap's most popular couples, Steven "Patch" Johnson and Kayla Brady. Tylo later said, "Everyone hated my character.[...]I hated her. They [producers] said they were going to do something with her, but they never did. [...] I dreaded going to work for the last few weeks I was on the show." The character was killed off and Tylo left the series in 1990.

Discouraged by her lack of success on soap operas, Tylo decided to quit acting, and enrolled at Fordham University in the Bronx, New York to study pre-med. As she and her husband were preparing to move to New York City, she was offered a role of Dr. Taylor Hayes on The Bold and the Beautiful. She initially resisted the part but eventually relented. She began her tenure in 1990, while still pursuing her degree at Fordham.

In 2000, Tylo released her autobiography, Making a Miracle. Tylo left The Bold and the Beautiful in 2002. She returned to the show in 2004 for a two-episode appearance as a vision. In May 2005, she returned as a series regular and left the series again in July 2013. In 2014 she returned to the show for a several weeks story arc.

Lawsuit

In 1996, Tylo was cast in the primetime soap opera Melrose Place and opted to leave The Bold and the Beautiful to take the role. However, she was fired by Melrose Place producer Aaron Spelling prior to filming any episodes for the series, when she announced she was pregnant. The character she was to play, Taylor McBride, was recast, Lisa Rinna taking the role. Tylo quickly returned to The Bold and the Beautiful. Tylo sued Spelling on grounds of discrimination for being pregnant and won $4.8 million from a Los Angeles jury. Spelling argued that Tylo's pregnancy rendered her unable to play the character, who was supposed to be a sexy seductress. During the trial, Tylo published pictures of herself while pregnant which showed that she retained a slim figure. Prior to trial, during the discovery phase of the litigation, Tylo's lawyers won a partial victory in an interlocutory appeal challenging a lower court's order compelling her to answer a broad range of personal questions. The Court of Appeal established Tylo's right to refuse to answer questions in her deposition about marital problems and psychological treatment, although the Court sustained the portion of the order which compelled her to answer questions about her efforts to become pregnant, her husband's ability or inability to impregnate her, and communications with her agent with respect to her efforts and ability to become pregnant. The case is widely recognized as an important one in establishing the right of privacy in deposition and the right of actresses to continue to work while pregnant.

Personal life

Marriages and children

Tylo has been married three times and has four children. She married her first husband, Tom Morehart, in 1980. They have a son, Christopher "Chris" Morehart, and divorced in 1984.

In 1987, she married actor Michael Tylo, with whom she had daughters Izabella Gabrielle and Katya Ariel Tylo and son Michael Edward "Mickey" Tylo, Jr. In 1998, the couple's daughter Katya was diagnosed with a rare cancer of the eye called retinoblastoma. Doctors removed the affected right eye and began chemotherapy. Later in the year a tumor was detected in Katya's other eye; that tumor inexplicably disappeared. Katya recovered and wears a prosthetic right eye. The couple divorced in 2005. On October 18, 2007, their son, Michael Tylo, Jr., drowned in the family pool in Henderson, Nevada. The Clark County Coroner concluded that Michael Tylo, Jr.'s death was caused by "drowning due to seizure disorder," and was ruled accidental.

In May 2008, Tylo filed a restraining order against boyfriend Corey Cofield, claiming that he had acted violently towards her and her children; she asked for the order to be withdrawn in October 2008, telling a judge that Cofield was attending therapy and was much better. Tylo and Cofield broke up in September 2009.

On November 29, 2009, Tylo married Gersson Archila in a secret ceremony in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Religion

Tylo is a born again Christian. She attributes her daughter Katya's recovery from cancer to constant prayer and credits her faith for helping her deal with the death of her son, Michael.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref
1984	The Initiation	Alison	Credited as Deborah Morehart
1988	Final Cut	Anna	Credited as Deborah Morehart
2001	Longshot	Rachel Montgomery
2004	A Place Called Home	Billie Jeeters	TV film
	They Are Among Us	June	TV film
2005	Down and Derby	Teri Montana
	Hammerhead: Shark Frenzy	Amelia Lockhart	Syfy TV film

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref
1985–88	All My Children	Robin McCall	Credited as Deborah Morehart
1989–90	Days of Our Lives	Marina Toscano
1990	Zorro	Senora Del Reynoso	Episode: "Family Business"
1990–2002, 2004–14	The Bold and the Beautiful	Dr. Taylor Hayes	Series regular
1994	The Maharaja's Daughter	Messua Shandar	TV miniseries
1994–95	Burke's Law	Ingrid Rose Penelope Jordan	Episode: "Who Killed the Hollywood Headshrinker?" (1995) Episode: "Who Killed the Soap Star?" (1994)
1996	Baywatch	Heather	Episode: "Windswept"
1997	Diagnosis: Murder	Claire McKenna	Episode: "Physician, Murder Thyself"
2003	She Spies	Dr. Marks / Andres Sarlin	Episode: "Daze of Future Past"
2015	Queens of Drama	Herself	Series regular

Awards and nominations

Tylo has been listed twice on People magazine's list of "50 Most Beautiful People In The World".

Year	Award	Work	Result	Ref
1993	Most Valuable Professional Award for Best Actress	The Bold and the Beautiful	Won
1995	Soap Opera Digest Award for Hottest Female Star		Nominated
1996	Soap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Love Story (shared with Katherine Kelly Lang and Ronn Moss)		Nominated
1997	Most Valuable Professional Award for Best Actress		Won
1998	Telvis Award for Most Popular Television Stars in Finland — (shared with John McCook)		Won
1999	Soap Opera Digest Award for Hottest Female Star		Nominated
2002	Telvis Award for Favorite Foreign Actress		Won
2003	Soap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Plot Twist — (shared with Ronn Moss)		Nominated

External links

• Hunter Tylo Official Site
• Hunter Tylo's Charity
• Hunter Tylo at the Internet Movie Database
• Hunter Tylo on the Net
• Retinoblastoma International