Heather Donahue
Donahue speaking at the Tavern Book Center inDenver, Colorado, 2012
Born	Heather Donahue (1974-12-22)December 22, 1974 (age 51) Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Alma mater	University of the Arts, Philadelphia (BFA)
Occupations	Actress businesswoman writer
Years active	1995–2008(acting) 2008–present

Rei Hance (bornHeather Donahue; December 22, 1974) is an American businesswoman and retired actress. She is known for her starring roles in thefound footage horror filmThe Blair Witch Project (1999) and the science fiction miniseriesTaken (2002). She retired from acting in 2008 and became amedical marijuana grower. She legallychanged her name to Rei Hance in 2020.

Heather Donahue was born on December 22, 1974, inUpper Darby,Pennsylvania, the daughter of Joan, anoffice manager, and James Donahue, aprinter.^[1] She graduated from Philadelphia'sUniversity of the Arts in 1995 with aBFA in theater, and also performed in productions at theBattersea Arts Centre in London, England,^[2] where she apprenticed in conjunction with theUniversity of the Arts London.^[3] After completing her studies, she worked as an administrative officetemp worker while appearing in New York stage productions.^[3]

Donahue's first screen appearance, and best known role, is in the 1999 found-footage horror filmThe Blair Witch Project. Her role in the film originated in 1997, when she read about an audition that was being advertised inBackstage magazine for actors with strong improvisational abilities, which were needed for an independent horror film. She auditioned at the Musical Theater Works inNew York City and was cast in one of the three principal roles.^[4][5] She and the two other main cast membersMichael C. Williams andJoshua Leonard were cast as characters that would share their given names. She would come to regret this later in life, changing her name to Rei Hance years after retiring from acting.

For the role, Donahue had to learn how to operate a camera, spending two days in a crash course. She said she modeled her character after a director that she once worked with, citing the character's self-assuredness when everything went as planned, and confusion during crisis.^[6] After filming, Donahue and the two other leads were asked not to appear on any television shows or in any films, as the filmmakers made great advertising efforts to portray the events in the film as factual, including the distribution of flyers at festivals such as theSundance Film Festival, asking viewers to come forward with any information about the "missing" students.^[7][8] TheIMDb page for the film also listed the actors as "missing, presumed dead" in the first year of the film's availability.^[9] The promotion for the film was so convincing that Donahue's mother received sympathy cards from people who believed that her daughter was actually dead or missing.^[7]

Once released, the film received unexpected acclaim from critics and became a resounding box office success–grossing overUS$248 million worldwide,^[10] making it one of the most successful independent movies of all time. While being nominated for aBlockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actress – Newcomer, and anOnline Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress, Donahue was also nominated for worst actress at theStinkers Bad Movie Awards, and won in the same category at theGolden Raspberry Awards.^[11] Donahue later admitted there was a considerable amount of backlash against her because of her association with the film, which led to her having threatening encounters with people, and difficulty finding other employment.^[7][12]

A year after the release ofThe Blair Witch Project, she appeared in the independent filmHome Field Advantage, and alongsideFreddie Prinze, Jr. andJason Biggs in the romantic comedyBoys and Girls. In 2001, she appeared in the independent filmSeven and a Match and in the short filmThe Velvet Tigress. In 2002, she had a co-starring role in thescience fiction miniseriesTaken, for which she was nominated for aSaturn Award for Best Supporting Actress on Television. The same year, she appeared in an array of short films and televised films, such asThe Walking Hack of Asbury Park,New Suit andThe Big Time. In 2005, she guest-starred in an episode of the comedy seriesIt's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.^[13] Her last acting role was in the 2008direct-to-DVD horror filmThe Morgue.

Donahue left acting in 2008 to become amedical marijuana grower.^[14][15] In 2011, she signed a publishing deal for her debut bookGrowgirl, about her time as a marijuana grower,^[12][16] which was released on January 5, 2012 byGotham Books.^[15] In 2013 she was residing inNevada City, California. At the time, she was also reported to be developing a line of herbal skin-care products.^[17] In a 2016 interview inGQ, she discussed the ongoing challenges associated with having used her birth name inThe Blair Witch Project – a name she was still using at the time of the interview.^[18] The same interview revealed that she was writing for, and intended to produce, a sitcom tentatively calledThe High Country, based on her experiences in marijuana farming.^[18]

During the development of the2016 sequel toThe Blair Witch Project, she was contacted by the film's producers for permission to use her name and likeness in the film, which she later stated was a difficult decision: "My name and face are forever going to be someone else's intellectual property. My snot-flooded portrait was back. It's all anyone wanted to talk to me about...  ThenLionsgate called. The company that originally boughtThe Blair Witch Project was purchased by Lionsgate and they're the ones behind this new sequel. They asked what they could do to show me how much they appreciated my work in the original. They made sure my last name wasn't used anywhere. In their press materials, their protagonist goes in search of his 'sister' but they don't use my name. For all the talk of Hollywood being populated with jerks and sharks, these guys were actually being considerate and were genuinely concerned that this would not be any more disruptive to my life than was inevitable".^[19]

In 2020, she formally changed her name to Rei Hance.^[20][21] Hance stated in a 2021 interview that she was paid a sum of money for the use of her likeness in the sequel, but that it had followed eight years of "constant failure" in her life, and so she "took that money and just drove around North America, getting shitfaced for about two years, and hoping I would die. Like I did not want to be alive anymore."^[22] She subsequently relocated toFreedom, Maine, and becamesober.^[22] She served on the town's Select Board for a year until 2025 when she was recalled after a dispute over a public easement.^[23] She is a practicingBuddhist.^[24]

• Official website
• Heather Donahue atIMDb

• 1974 births
• 20th-century American actresses
• 21st-century American actresses
• 21st-century American businesswomen
• 21st-century American businesspeople
• Actresses from Delaware County, Pennsylvania
• American Buddhists
• American film actresses
• American memoirists
• American stage actresses
• American television actresses
• American women memoirists
• Businesspeople in the cannabis industry
• Cannabis writers
• Living people
• People from Nevada City, California
• People from Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania
• Actors from Nevada County, California

• CS1: unfit URL
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from October 2020
• Articles with hCards
• Official website different in Wikidata and Wikipedia