Vanessa Marcil (born Vanessa Ortiz on October 15, 1969 in Indio, California) is an American actress of Portuguese heritage. She is probably best known for her role as Brenda Barrett on the soap opera General Hospital, a role she started playing in 1992. She garnered three Daytime Emmy Award nominations (1997, 1998 and 2003) for her portrayal, winning in 2003 as "Outstanding Supporting Actress." In February 1998, she was named "Outstanding Lead Actress" at the Soap Opera Digest Awards.

After six years on General Hospital, she left the show in 1998 to star in the made-for-television movie To Love, Honor and Deceive, and had a recurring guest role on the police drama High Incident produced by Steven Spielberg. Marcil joined the cast of Beverly Hills 90210 in November 1998 as Gina Kincaid and remained with the show for one-and-a-half seasons.