Jill Hennessy
Jill Hennessy | |
---|---|
![]() Hennessy at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival | |
Born |
Jillian Noel Hennessy November 25, 1968 Edmonton, Alberta, Canada |
Occupation | Actress, singer |
Years active | 1988–present |
Spouse(s) | Paolo Mastropietro (2000-present) |
Children | 2 |
Jillian Noel "Jill" Hennessy (born November 25, 1968) is a Canadian actress and musician. She is most known for her roles on the American television series Law & Order, on which she played prosecutor Claire Kincaid for three seasons, and Crossing Jordan, on which she played the lead character, Jordan Cavanaugh, for six seasons. She has also acted in films such as RoboCop 3 and Most Wanted, and the independent films Chutney Popcorn and The Acting Class, the latter of which she also wrote and co-directed.
Early life
Hennessy was born in Edmonton, Alberta. Her father, John Hennessy, was a meat salesman and sales/marketing executive, a job that required considerable travel and resulted in frequent moves for the family. Her mother, Maxine, a secretary, left the family in 1982, leaving her daughter to be partially raised by her paternal grandmother, Eleanor, in Kitchener, Ontario.[1] She has a younger brother, John Paul "J.P." Hennessy, Jr., and an identical twin sister, Jacqueline, who is a magazine writer and TV show host in Canada. Hennessy has Irish, French, Swedish and Italian ancestry on her father's side, and mostly Ukrainian Roma, as well as Austrian, ancestry on her mother's.[2] She attended Stanley Park Senior Public School, then graduated from Grand River Collegiate Institute in Kitchener, Ontario[3] and used to busk in the Toronto subway.[4]
Career
![](../I/m/JillHennessySmile08TIFF.jpg)
Hennessy and her sister played twin call girls in 1988's Dead Ringers, in which both debuted. She was short listed for the role of Dana Scully on The X-Files according to Gillian Anderson, the actress who eventually got the role.[5]
She appeared on Broadway in the musical Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story in 1990.
In 1993, she appeared as Dr. Marie Lazarus in RoboCop 3.
In 1993, Richard "Dick" Wolf signed Hennessy as assistant district attorney Claire Kincaid in the NBC crime drama Law & Order. She played the role for three seasons, ultimately leaving the show in 1996, her last installment being one in which Kincaid was killed in a car crash.
In 1999, she appeared as Lisa in Chutney Popcorn. In 2000, Hennessy wrote, produced, and jointly directed (with Elizabeth Holder) an independent film mockumentary titled The Acting Class, which looked at the trials and tribulations of a dysfunctional acting class. The film co-starred her identical twin sister Jacqueline, and included cameo appearances from a number of Hennessy's former Law & Order co-stars. She also starred in the film Nuremberg, as Elsie Douglas.
In 2001, she portrayed Jackie Kennedy in the film Jackie, Ethel, Joan: The Women of Camelot, and, in 2003, made a cameo appearance in the film Abby Singer. From 2001 to 2007, she appeared on the TV show Crossing Jordan as title character Jordan Cavanaugh. She also played the wife of Tim Allen's character in the 2007 film Wild Hogs. On June 9, 2007, she received a star on Canada's Walk of Fame.
During sessions in Austin, Texas, Hennessy recorded the album Ghost in My Head,[6] which was released in June 2009. She performed as a guest of the Indigo Girls on a November 2009 show of Mountain Stage[7] and was the focus of a show for herself later that same month.[8] She performed on the Village Stage of the 2010 edition of Lilith Fair.[9]
Hennessy starred in the independent crime thriller, Small Town Murder Songs, in 2010. She also appeared as a veterinarian in the HBO series Luck, while serving as an endorser of Zaxby's "Zalads" in a pair of television commercials during 2012.
Her second album, I Do, was released in October 2015.[4]
Personal life
Hennessy is multi-lingual, speaking English, Italian, French, Spanish and German. Hennessy plays the guitar and sings, and enjoys riding motorcycles with her husband, Paolo Mastropietro, to whom she has been married since 2000. They had a second marriage ceremony in January 2001, which took place at New York City Hall with Mayor Rudy Giuliani officiating. Their son, Marco, was born on September 17, 2003; and a second son, Gianni, was born on November 21, 2007.
![](../I/m/Jill_Hennessy_star_on_Canadas_Walk_of_Fame.jpg)
The Minneapolis-based band Mollycuddle wrote the song "The Ballad of Jill Hennessy" in honor of the actress.[10] Hennessy was reportedly very pleased and offered to perform with the band on rhythm guitar.[11]
Filmography
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1988 | Dead Ringers | Mimsy | |
1993 | RoboCop 3 | Dr. Marie Lazarus | |
1993 | Trip nach Tunis | Kathryn Darby | |
1994 | Paper, TheThe Paper | Deanne White | |
1996 | I Shot Andy Warhol | Laura | |
1996 | Kiss & Tell | Interrogator Angela Pierce | |
1997 | Smile Like Yours, AA Smile Like Yours | Lindsay Hamilton | |
1997 | Most Wanted | Dr. Victoria Constantini | |
1998 | Weekend Getaway | Lily | Short film |
1998 | Dead Broke | Kate | |
1999 | Florentine, TheThe Florentine | Brenda | |
1999 | Row Your Boat | Patti | |
1999 | Two Ninas | Mike the Bartender | |
1999 | Chutney Popcorn | Lisa | |
1999 | Molly | Susan Brookes | |
1999 | Komodo | Victoria | |
2000 | Acting Class, TheThe Acting Class | Amanda Smythe / Jill / Anonymous | |
2000 | Nuremberg | Elsie Douglas | Television movie Satellite Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film |
2001 | Jackie, Ethel, Joan: The Women of Camelot | Jackie Kennedy | Television movie Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film |
2000 | Autumn in New York | Lynn McCale | |
2001 | Exit Wounds | Annette Mulcahy | |
2002 | Love in the Time of Money | Ellen Walker | |
2002 | Pipe Dream | Marina Peck | |
2007 | Wild Hogs | Kelly Madsen | |
2007 | Game of Life | Brenda | |
2008 | Lymelife | Brenda Bartlett | |
2010 | Small Town Murder Songs | Rita | |
2011 | Roadie | Nikki Stevens | |
2012 | Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town | Agnes Leacock | Television movie Nominated—Canadian Screen Award for Best Actress in a Miniseries or Television Film |
2012 | Dawn Rider | Alice | |
2013 | If I Had Wings | Sandy Taylor |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1988 | War of the Worlds | Patty | Episode: "Goliath Is My Name" |
1989 | Hitchhiker, TheThe Hitchhiker | Marla | Episode: "Striptease" |
1989 | Hitchhiker, TheThe Hitchhiker | Elisabeth | Episode: "Pawns" |
1989–90 | Friday the 13th: The Series | Various | 4 episodes |
1990 | C.B.C.'s Magic Hour | Hooker | Episode: "The Prom" |
1990 | War of the Worlds | Scott | Episode: "Max" |
1990 | Counterstrike | Lex | Episode: "The Dealbreaker" |
1992 | Flying Blind | Lauren Benjamin | Episode: "Crazy for You... and You" |
1993–96 | Law & Order | A.D.A. Claire Kincaid | 68 episodes Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (1995–97) |
1996 | Homicide: Life on the Street | A.D.A. Claire Kincaid | Episode: "For God and Country" |
2001–07 | Crossing Jordan | Dr. Jordan Cavanaugh | 115 episodes Gracie Allen Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series |
2004–06 | Las Vegas | Dr. Jordan Cavanaugh | 3 episodes |
2011–12 | Luck | Jo | 10 episodes |
2013 | Jo | Sister Karyn | 8 episodes |
2014 | The Good Wife | Rayna Hecht | 2 episodes |
2015 | Madam Secretary | Jane Fellows | 3 episodes |
2016 | Shots Fired | Alicia Carr | |
References
- ↑ Jill Hennessy Biography - Yahoo! Movies
- ↑ Jill Hennessy chat - baltimoresun.com
- ↑ Michelle Tauber (December 3, 2001). "Jill of All Trades". www.people.com. Retrieved January 24, 2010.
- 1 2 "FNM Exclusive: Actress and Musician Jill Hennessy 'Used to Play Guitar in the Street For Money'". Retrieved October 19, 2015.
- ↑ http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2013/10/13/gillian-anderson-david-duchovny-revisit-the-origins-of-the-x-files/
- ↑ "Jill Hennessy.com".
- ↑ "Indigo Girls On Mountain Stage". npr.org. Retrieved January 24, 2010.
- ↑ "Jill Hennessy On Mountain Stage". npr.org. Retrieved January 24, 2010.
- ↑ Gil Kaufman (December 10, 2009). "Lilith Fair To Feature Mary J. Blige, Colbie Caillat, Jill Scott, More". www.mtv.com. Retrieved January 24, 2010.
- ↑ The Ballad of Jill Hennessy audio
- ↑ Pop of Futures Past Jon Dolan, Minneapolis/St. Paul CityPages, February 3, 1999
External links
![]() |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jill Hennessy. |
- Official website
- Jill Hennessy on YouTube
- Jill Hennessy at the Internet Movie Database
- Jill Hennessy at the Internet Broadway Database