Julia Who? Benjamin Bratt Marries

After seven months together, Benjamin Bratt ties the knot with Piñero costar Talisa Soto

By Josh Grossberg Apr 16, 2002 9:00 PMTags
For Benjamin Bratt, Talisa Soto is more than just the next best thing to Julia Roberts.

Less than a year removed from his well publicized split with the Pretty Woman, Bratt has tied the knot with former Bond babe Soto in a ceremony that managed to elude the media radar.

The couple swapped vows Saturday in Bratt's hometown of San Francisco, in what the actor's publicist, Ina Treciokas, described as an "intimate family gathering."

"[It was] a day that perfectly celebrated their love and happiness," Treciokas said in a statement Tuesday.

No other details were disclosed. The news comes just a day after the New York Post and Entertainment Tonight both reported the couple had become engaged over the weekend, something reps for the 38-year-old Bratt and the 35-year-old Soto quickly denied--and apparently for good reason. (For the record, the two were engaged in Februrary.)

Bratt and Soto worked together in 2000 on Piñero, the art-house biopic of junkie poet-playwright Miguel Piñero released to critical acclaim last year. Bratt played the titular character; Soto costarred as his girlfriend. However, the two weren't an item during shooting: Bratt was still with Roberts, Soto was getting over her divorce that year from actor Costas Mandylor.

It was only a few months after Bratt and Roberts announced the end of their three-and-half-year coupledom last June did he and Soto hook up. They have been together for about seven months.

Aside from their movie, the couple have something else in common. Both are alumni of People's 50 most beautiful people list.

This is the first marriage for Bratt and second for Soto, who was married to the former Picket Fences star Mandylor from 1997-2000.

Bratt shot to fame as Detective Rey Curtis on NBC's Law & Order before exiting the series in 1999 to focus on his movie career. Aside from Piñero, his film résumé includes Red Planet, The Next Best Thing, Traffic and Miss Congeniality. He'll next be seen in the psychological thriller Abandon. The film, which costars Katie Holmes and will mark the directorial debut of Traffic writer Stephen Gaghan, is slated for a September release.

The Brooklyn-born Soto segued from a prolific modeling career--her bod has graced the covers of Vogue, Mademoiselle, Glamour and Self and has been featured in Sports Illustrated's swimsuit spreads--into an acting career.

Most notably, she played Bond girl Lupe Lamora opposite Timothy Dalton in 1989's Licence to Kill and costarred in both Mortal Kombat and its sequel, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, as well as Don Juan DeMarco and Vampirella. In addition to Mortal Kombat 3: Domination, due out next year, she will appear in the Antonio Banderas-Lucy Liu spy flick Ecks vs. Severs, which comes out in November.