Jill Hennessy Biography

Quick Facts

NAME: Jill Hennessy
OCCUPATION: Film Actress, Television Actress, Songwriter, Guitarist, Singer
BIRTH DATE: November 25, 1968 (Age: 44)
PLACE OF BIRTH: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
ZODIAC SIGN: Sagittarius

Best Known For

Jill Hennessy is an actress, singer, musician and restaurateur known for her work in TV series like Law & Order and Crossing Jordan.

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Jill Hennessy

APA Style

Jill Hennessy. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 02:31, May 22, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/jill-hennessy-9542272.

Harvard Style

Jill Hennessy. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/jill-hennessy-9542272 [Accessed 22 May 2013].

MLA Style

"Jill Hennessy." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 22 2013, 02:31 http://www.biography.com/people/jill-hennessy-9542272.

MHRA Style

"Jill Hennessy," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/jill-hennessy-9542272 [accessed May 22, 2013].

Chicago Style

"Jill Hennessy," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/jill-hennessy-9542272 (accessed May 22, 2013).

CBE/CSE Style

Jill Hennessy [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 22] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/jill-hennessy-9542272.

Bluebook Style

Jill Hennessy, http://www.biography.com/people/jill-hennessy-9542272 (last visited May 22, 2013).

AMA Style

Jill Hennessy. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/jill-hennessy-9542272. Accessed May 22, 2013.

Synopsis

Jill Hennessy was born on November 25, 1968 in Alberta, Canada, and her movie debut with her twin in Dead Ringers (1988). She later got a lead role in the TV show Law & Order in 1993. She opened up her own restaurant in 1999 and later starred in the series Crossing Jordan. Hennessy has been featured in several other films and is a singer and guitarist, having released the 2009 album Ghost in My Head.

Early Life

Actress Jill Hennessy was born on November 25, 1968, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The daughter of John and Maxine, Hennessy is one of three children, including younger brother John Paul and twin sister Jacqueline (Jacq for short). During her childhood, Jill's family moved some nine times in 12 years all over Canada. When John and Maxine Hennessy split in 1982, the children lived with their father. Jill's grandmother, Eleanor, spent much time with the young Hennessys, driving the 15-year-old Jill to modeling school in Toronto. Hennessy went into modeling for the money, though acting was always her true love.

Early Acting Career

At the age of 18, Hennessy went to Toronto to act. However, she wasn't propelled into the spotlight immediately. Instead, she played a slew of vampires and prostitutes in TV series such as The Hitchhiker and Friday the 13th, and the 1988 thriller Dead Ringers, with Jeremy Irons, in which she and her twin sister Jacq played twin hookers. Jacq graduated from the University of Waterloo and went on to graduate school for French literature at the University of Manitoba. Jill stuck with acting.

Career Highlights

In 1993 she landed the part of Assistant District Attorney Claire Kincaid on the hit show Law & Order. She would keep the role for three years but then leave when her contract was up, deciding to pursue other roles. During her years on the set of Law & Order, Hennessy played a small role in I Shot Andy Warhol. She also spent nights with a guitar in hand on stage with Andy Godsberg and Wally Nichols in the alternative folk band the New Originals.

Hennessy has also appeared as an architect in the comedy A Smile Like Yours in 1997 and with Keenen Ivory Wayans in Most Wanted as an eyewitness to a political assassination.

In 2001, Hennessy returned to television as Doctor Jordan Cavanaugh in the dramatic series Crossing Jordan. Hennessy played a Boston medical examiner with a tarnished past in this prime-time whodunnit.