A slender, dark-haired beauty with an intelligent demeanor and an attractive alto voice, Jill Hennessy made her Broadway debut as the Puerto Rican wife of the singer in “Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story” in 1990 and, after a handful of TV appearances, got her break in 1993 when she was cast as assistant district attorney Claire Kincaid on the engrossing NBC police and courtroom drama series “Law & Order”. The show had been running for several seasons, but personnel changes had already occurred, and Hennessy’s coolly confident manner meshed well with those of her more experienced co-stars. That same year, the Canadian actress played her first prominent feature film role, that of Dr. Marie, the mechanized hero’s smart chemist, in the ill-advised sequel, “Robocop 3″. Hennessy later acted smaller supporting roles in the modestly satirical comedy-drama “The Paper” (1994), as Robert Duvall’s daughter. and “I Shot Andy Warhol” (1996), as a reporter.
After three seasons playing the buttoned-down lawyer on “Law & Order”, Hennessy asked to leave the series to try her hand at other ventures. Fearful of becoming typecast as ultra-serious and subdued because of her TV persona, the actress turned to comedy to undertake the thankless role of a predatory architect with designs on married construction worker Greg Kinnear in the cutesy “A Smile Like Yours” (1997). In 1999, Hennessy displayed her versatility as the patient lover of an Indian woman who has decided to act as a surrogate mother for her sister in “Chutney Popcorn”. She then portrayed the doctor who was able to turn an autistic woman into a genius in the fable-like “Molly” (also 1999). The actress returned to TV once again playing a lawyer, this time one assisting in the prosecution of Nazi war criminals in the acclaimed 2000 TNT production “Nuremberg”. Hennessy next portrayed First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy in the miniseries “Jackie, Ethel, Joan: The Women of Camelot” (NBC, 2001) and was seen on the big screen as a cop in the actioner “Exit Wounds” (2001).
In the fall, the performer returned to the weekly series grind, this time headlining the NBC drama “Crossing Jordan”. Cast as an unconventional medical examiner who has returned to her hometown of Boston, Hennessy’s Jordan Cavannaugh was a dedicated if impetuous person who often went beyond the call of duty looking for clues. Working well with a cast that included Ken Howard (as her father) and Miguel Ferrer (as her boss), the actress had a chance to create a complex, intelligent female character that audiences seemed to embrace.
While she had committed to the small screen, Hennessy continued to seek out intriguing feature roles as well. She co-starred in the romantic comedy “The End of Love” (2002), which screened at Sundance and also wrote, co-directed and starred in the comedy “The Acting Class” (lensed 2000), which featured cameo appearances by former “Law & Order” co-stars Jerry Orbach, Chris Noth and Benjamin Bratt.
- Also Credited As:
Jillian Hennessy
- Born:
on 11/25/1968 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
- Job Titles:
Actor, Director, Musician, Screenwriter, Bartender, Restaurateur, Waitress
Family
- Brother: John Paul Hennessy. born c. 1974
- Father: John Hennessy. separated from Hennessy’s mother in 1982
- Grandmother: Eleanor Hennessy. helped to raise children after parents’ divorce
- Mother: Maxine Hennessy. left her husband and children in 1982; Hennessy told TV Guide (November 30, 2001) that her mother “requested that we not be in touch with her, and I’m not sure where she is today”
- Sister: Jacqueline Hennessy. twin; with sister played prostitutes in “Dead Ringers” (1988); appeared with Hennessy in “The Acting Class”
- Son: Marco Mastropietro. father is Paolo Mastropietro
Significant Others
- Husband: Paolo Mastropietro. eloped in Cantalice, Italy in October 2000; remarried in a ceremony at NYC’s City Hall performed by Mayor Rudy Giuliani in January 2001
Education
- Grand River Collegiate High School
Milestones
- 1987 Moved to Toronto at age 18 (date approximate)
- 1988 Feature film debut in a bit part as half a pair of twin prostitutes in “Dead Ringers”; her sister played the other twin
- 1990 Made Broadway debut as the musician’s Puerto Rican wife in the musical “Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story”
- 1990 At age 20, moved to NYC (date approximate)
- 1993 First prominent feature film role, “Robocop 3″
- 1993 Joined the cast of the acclaimed NBC police and courtroom drama, “Law & Order”, in the role of assistant district attorney Claire Kincaid
- 1996 Announced she was leaving cast of “Law & Order”
- 1997 Appeared as an architect who tries to seduce a construction worker in the comedy “A Smile Like Yours”
- 1997 Co-starred with Keenen Ivory Wayans as an eyewitness to a political assassination in “Most Wanted”
- 1999 Cast as the doctor who “cures” the title character’s autism in “Molly”
- 1999 Played the lesbian lover of an Indian woman who decides to serve as a surrogate mother in “Chutney Popcorn”
- 2000 Acted with Richard Gere and Winona Ryder in “Autumn in New York”
- 2000 Returned to the legal world as the assistant to the chief prosecutor of Nazi war criminals in “Nuremberg” (TNT)
- 2001 Returned to series TV as an unconventional medical examiner in the NBC series “Crossing Jordan”
- 2001 Acted in “Exit Wounds”
- 2001 Cast as First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy in “Jackie, Ethel, Joan: The Women of Camelot” (NBC)
- 2002 Had featured role in the romantic comedy “The End of Love”; screened at the Sundance Film Festival
- As a teenager, began performing with an improvisational comedy troupe in Canada
- Became interested in a performing career at age 12 after parents’ separation
- Lived with father and siblings in Kitchener, Ontario
- Raised in Canada; family moved frequently because of father’s work
- Supported herself as a bartender, waitress and street performer
- Wrote, co-directed (with Elizabeth Holder) and starred in the comedy “The Acting Class”; twin sister Jacqueline has featured role; former TV co-stars Jerry Orbach, Chris Noth and Benjamin Bratt co-star
