Early Life & Childhood
Tylo was born Deborah Jo Hunter, in Fort Worth, Texas, on July 3, 1962, to Jo Anne and Morris Jabez Hunter. She is of Cherokee (Native American) descent from her mother’s side. She has an older sister named Elizabeth and a younger brother named Cliff. Her other older brother, Jay, passed away in 2018.
She graduated from ‘Springtown High’ in 1980 and pursued a medical degree from ‘Fordham University,’ New York.
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Career
In 1984, Tylo, credited as “Deborah Morehart,” made her film debut with the sorority slasher ‘The Initiation,’ with Daphne Zuniga.
She subsequently gained popularity with regular roles in soap operas. In 1985, she was cast as a series regular in her first TV series, ‘All My Children.’ In 1988, she was fired from the show for getting married to her co-star Michael Tylo.
In 1989, she was cast as ‘Marina Toscano’ in ‘Days of Our Lives,’ a villainous character who created trouble for the show’s most popular couple. She later admitted that she “hated” the character as much as everybody else did and that she dreaded going to work for the remaining few weeks of the show before her character was “killed” in 1990.
In 1990, she was offered the role of ‘Dr. Taylor Hayes’ in ‘The Bold and the Beautiful’. While she initially resisted accepting the part, discouraged by her lack of success in soap operas, she eventually relented and began her tenure on the show, while continuing to pursue her pre-med degree. The same year, she also appeared as ‘Senora Del Reynoso’ in an episode of ‘Zorro,’ titled ‘Family Business.’
In 1994, Tylo starred as ‘Messua Shandar’ in the TV miniseries ‘The Maharaja’s Daughter.’ That year and the year that followed, she appeared as ‘Ingrid Rose’ and ‘Penelope Jordan,’ respectively, in two episodes of ‘Burke’s Law.’
In 1996, she appeared as ‘Heather’ in an episode of ‘Baywatch,’ titled ‘Windswept.’ The following year, she guest-starred as ‘Claire McKenna’ in ‘Diagnosis: Murder.’ Around the same time, Tylo left ‘The Bold and the Beautiful’ to act in the primetime soap opera ‘Melrose Place.’ However, prior to filming any episodes for the series, she was fired by producer Aaron Spelling after she announced she was pregnant. While she immediately returned to ‘The Bold and the Beautiful,’ she sued Spelling, accusing him of discrimination for being pregnant, and won $4.8 million from a Los Angeles jury. Spelling argued that the role Tylo was supposed to play was of a seductress and that the pregnancy would have rendered her unable to play the character. In return, Tylo published pictures of herself while pregnant, which showed that she had retained her slim frame.
In 2000, Tylo released her autobiography, ‘Making a Miracle,’ which recounted her struggles, such as the infamous legal battle, her daughter’s cancer diagnosis and recovery, and the death of her son. It rose to number 35 on ‘The New York Times Best Sellers’ list.
In 2003, she guest-starred as ‘Dr. Marks’ in ‘She Spies.’
In 2004, Tylo appeared in the TV films ‘A Place Called Home’ and ‘They Are Among Us,’ as ‘Billie Jeeters’ and ‘June,’ respectively. The following year, she made an appearance in the TV film ‘Hammerhead: Shark Frenzy,’ as ‘Amelia Lockhart.’
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In 2015, she was cast as a series regular in the scripted reality drama ‘Queens of Drama,’ where she played herself.
Awards & Achievements
In 1993, Tylo won the ‘Most Valuable Professional Award’ for the ‘Best Actress.’ She won the award again in 1997, followed by a ‘Telvis Award’ for the ‘Most Popular Television Stars in Finland’ in 1998, for her performance in ‘The Bold and the Beautiful.’ She won the ‘Telvis Award’ for ‘Favorite Foreign Actress’ in 2002, for the same show.
After her daughter Katya’s struggle with cancer, she helped pass the ‘California State Bill AB218,’ which provides all infants in California with pupil dilation for detection of preventable forms of blindness and fatal diseases. She also began working with ‘Retinoblastoma International,’ a charitable organization.
Her own legal battle against her wrongful termination by Spelling became a basis for forming her own non-profit corporation, ‘Hunter’s Chosen Child,’ an organization that provides financial, academic, and emotional support to young and low-income parents.
Family & Personal Life
Tylo married her first husband, Tom Morehart, soon after graduating high school in 1980. She gave birth to her first son, Christopher Morehart, before getting divorced in 1984. She has several projects credited to the name “Deborah Morehart,” a name she had officially adopted while she was married.
She married her second husband, actor Michael Tylo, in 1987. She has two daughters, Izabella Gabrielle and Katya Ariel Tylo, and a son, Michael ‘Mickey’ Tylo Jr., from her marriage to Tylo. Her daughter Katya was diagnosed with a rare cancer of the eye called retinoblastoma when she was 4 months old. While doctors removed the tumor from the affected right eye with hemotherapy, another tumor was detected in the left eye. However, the tumor disappeared inexplicably, and her daughter recovered. The couple separated in 2005. Two years later, on October 18, their son, Michael Tylo Jr., drowned in their pool due to a seizure disorder.
Tylo filed a restraining order against her boyfriend, Corey Cofield, in 2008, claiming he had acted violently toward her and her children.
In 2009, she married her third husband, Gersson Archila, in a secret ceremony in Las Vegas, Nevada. The marriage was annulled on August 30, 2018, after evidences of Gersson being of poor moral character, with three convicted counts of spousal abuse, auto theft, drug paraphernalia, misinterpretation by false identity, and hiding a criminal past, were presented to the court.
