Jill Hennessy

The resident from Edmonton, Alberta has a multi-generational ancestry that includes Irish, Italian, Swedish, French and Ukranian. The twin of Jacqueline is an actress too. Jill learned to speak different languages, like Italian, French, Spanish while growing older. She became interested in the world of acting when she was 12. In Toronto she started acting professionally as an actress in David Cronenberg's Dead Ringers. She played an escort in the show with their twin sisters. When she began studying improv with Deb Kimmet from Second City, she began her acting career in Toronto. A few years later, she relocated to New York and signed a contract for the role of the Assistant District Attorney Claire Kincaid on the long popular hit series Law & Order. In the time she spent in New York, she worked on the feature film industry, which included RoboCop 3 (1993), Ron Howard's The Paper (1996) and I Shot Andy Warhol (1996). In the following years, she had a chance to appear in a number of forgettable movies However, in 1999, she landed her first starring role in the micro-series uremberg alongside Alec Baldwin. The roles in the major series including Autumn in New York and Exit Wounds followed. She landed the leading role in the NBC criminal show Crossing Jordan in 2001. In 2007, she received the Gracie Allen Award for "Outstanding female lead in a drama series" to honor her work on the series. She got married in 2000 to the actor who played her Paolo Mastropietro. The couple have two children. She was honored in 2007 with an honorary place to be on the Canada's Walk of Fame.