Jill Hennessy

For the Australian politician, see Jill Hennessy (politician).

Jill Hennessy
Hennessy at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival
Born	Jillian Noel Hennessy (1968-11-25) November 25, 1968 Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Occupation(s)	Actress, singer
Years active	1988–present
Spouse	Paolo Mastropietro ​ (m. 2000)​
Children	2

Jillian Noel 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. 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. She attended Stanley Park Senior Public School, then graduated from Grand River Collegiate Institute in Kitchener, Ontario and used to busk in the Toronto subway.

Career

Hennessy at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival

Hennessy and her sister made their acting debut playing twin call girls in 1988's Dead Ringers. 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.

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, 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

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. That same year she appeared in a small role in the Steven Seagal action film Exit Wounds, she received particular praise from critic Owen Gleiberman who said "With the right role, Hennessy might just be a movie star." In 2003, she made a cameo appearance in the film Abby Singer. From 2001 to 2007, she starred 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, which was released in June 2009. She performed as a guest of the Indigo Girls on a November 2009 show of Mountain Stage and was the focus of a show for herself later that same month. She performed on the Village Stage of the 2010 edition of Lilith Fair.

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.

In 2015, Hennessy appeared in several episodes of Madam Secretary. In October of that year, her second album, I Do, was released.

In 2018, she appeared on the Michael Weatherly series Bull as the mother of the deceased hacker character Cable McCrory.

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.

Hennessy's star on Canada's Walk of Fame

The Minneapolis-based band Mollycuddle wrote the song "The Ballad of Jill Hennessy" in honor of the actress. Hennessy was reportedly very pleased and offered to perform with the band on rhythm guitar.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988	Dead Ringers	Mimsy
1993	RoboCop 3	Dr. Marie Lazarus
1993	Trip nach Tunis	Kathryn Darby
1994	The Paper	Deanne White
1996	I Shot Andy Warhol	Laura
1996	Kiss & Tell	Interrogator Angela Pierce
1997	A Smile Like Yours	Lindsay Hamilton
1997	Most Wanted	Dr. Victoria Constantini
1998	Weekend Getaway	Lily	Short film
1998	Dead Broke	Kate
1999	The 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	The 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	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
2017	Don't Sleep	Cindy Bradford

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	Not My Department	Twin makeup artist	Episode: "Let's Make Gold"
1988	War of the Worlds	Patty	Episode: "Goliath Is My Name"
1989	The Hitchhiker	Marla	Episode: "Striptease"
1989	The 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	15 episodes
2017	Shots Fired	Alicia Carr	10 episodes
2017	The Blacklist	Margot Rochet	Episode: "The Harem"
2018	Crawford	Cynthia	12 episodes
2018	Yellowstone	Senator Huntington	Episode: "Daybreak"
2018	Bull	Ellen	2 episodes
2019	City on a Hill	Jenny Rohr

External links

• Official website
• Jill Hennessy on YouTube
• Jill Hennessy at IMDb
• Jill Hennessy at the Internet Broadway Database